Danger of powers

by JadeEleanor

Anna has powers she has to hide from the world in order to survive. If that wouldn’t be enough, she ends up in another mess where she can’t get out, until she saves the life of a certain masked vigilante and her whole world changes.

9. Chapter 9

Warning: graphic details of death, blood, and torture, also adult theme warning. The rating is M for a reason.

The beginning of this chapter is pretty dark - sorry about that. But don't worry, it gets better later on ;)

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Her heart was pounding in her chest the whole way to the bakery, trying to force her legs to run faster and faster. She dodged all the people on the way, didn't care about how rude by-passers thought she was.

There was a closed sign on the door, which confirmed that Dr. Moon and their men were really inside and weren't joking. The bakery supposed to be still open.

She rushed to the back door and swung it open forcefully. There were two huge men on the other side waiting for her, dressed in military uniforms.

"This way." One of them grabbed her arm and pulled her to the direction of the back room, stopping in front of its door. Dr. Moon walked through it.

"Glad you decided to come. Just before we do anything I have to warn you... My men inside instructed to kill your boyfriend right away if you try anything to hurt us."

Anna huffed, she started getting tired that everyone thinks Daredevil is her boyfriend. "I won't do anything. Just don't hurt him."

"Good, I like that you're smart." He made a circle around her. "This is what we'll do." He started and put a device on her head, tightening it with straps. "We walk inside, there's a man there. I want you to kill him with your power."

She took a sharp breath in. "No. I'm not killing anybody."

Dr. Moon raised an eyebrow. "We'll see about that." He attached another device on her arm, and she felt a needle poking into her skin through it. "I'm afraid you don't have other choice, or Daredevil is dead."

She felt someone strong pushed her forward and almost tripped and fell on her face from the force. Dr. Moon opened the door and everyone stepped inside.

Anna was familiar with this room, this was where they came to relax for a few minutes during their shifts, or to have their lunches. It had an old chessboard tile floor, big open space with two tables and chairs, and a kitchenette along the wall. The tables were both pushed to the wall now, stacked on top of each other with the chairs. Daredevil was at the far corner, laying on his stomach, face covered with the usual mask, turned to the wall away from her. His hands were still tied up behind his back. Two military guys were standing by his motionless body. She noticed another man, a civilian, in the other corner. He was in his sixties, dark hair, overweight, starting to get bald on the top of his head. Looked like an office guy, definitely not a fighter. He was shaking badly, sitting on a chair and avoiding everyone's eyes. She looked behind herself where her two escorts were standing with sedative guns.

"So.." Dr. Moon spoke up. "We will do this little test, then we're going back to the lab and you're coming with us."

"And you let Daredevil go. Free." She said.

"Yes, I'll let him go."

"Just like that?"

"Yes."

Anna hesitated, and one of the men next to the masked man took a step toward him and kicked him on the ribs. She heard the bones crack and he growled loud. He sounded different, defeated, and his voice wasn't as deep as usual. She was wondering maybe he was using a deeper voice to intimidate people, and this was his real one. But she got snapped out of her thoughts as her guard shoved her toward the older guy.

"Ok, ok... don't have to be so rude. I get it."

Dr. Moon walked up to the monitors on a cart she just noticed behind her by the wall, and turned a machine on. It started beeping and showing signals from the devices on her body. She stepped next to the man - avoiding eye contact - and looking at Daredevil instead. She whispered quietly, knowing he will hear her, but nobody else. "I start hurting him, and when they'll get distracted enough, kick your guard. I will help you get out." He didn't move or signaled her that he would have heard it, and she was worried he's unconscious.

"Hurry up, lady, we don't have the full day." One of the military guys hissed at her impatiently.

She closed the gap between her and the man and put her hand above his heart. "I'm sorry, so sorry..."

He looked up in her eyes frightened, almost crying. "Please, don't do this to me, I did nothing wrong."

"Shit..." Anna shook her head hesitating. Choosing between two lives, who was she to decide on such thing? She can't do it.

The guy next to Daredevil pulled a long blade knife out from his pocket, and the other one aimed his gun at the masked man's head. Her eyes drifted on them in shock, and closed her eyes to move all her focus toward the old man.

"Please..." the man was crying now.

"I'm sorry, I don't have other choice."

"Yes, you do, please don't kill me. Daredevil wouldn't want that."

"Shit..." her eyes drifted to the masked man, then back to this man. Daredevil definitely wouldn't want that.

"Decide, Anna!" Dr. Moon yelled angrily. "Think about all the lives this Daredevil will save after you spare his life!"

"I can't kill him. But I go with you to the lab if you let Daredevil go."

Dr. Moon laughed. "You come with us either way, I have four men here, you're not going anywhere. Kill that man, or we kill your boyfriend. Simple as that."

One of the men kicked the masked man on the ribs again, resulting in a painful cry. "We will keep hurting him until you decide. Who knows, maybe one of his broken ribs will puncture his lungs. If you want to sentence him to a slow and painful death, just keep delaying..."

She definitely didn't want that, so forcefully connected with the man in front of her and made him feel pain. She hasn't done anything like this since she was 11 years old, carefully avoiding it and wanted to erase it from her mind completely. Her inner monster, the thing she hated in herself. She felt the man's panic and fear, he was completely horrified, then started crying loud more from the pain she caused him, unable to move or fight against it.

Yes, she was a monster. A killer. Who's gonna kill again if keeps going. It's as easy as breathing.

She knew she can't undo the past, what was done is done, nobody can change that, the scientist she killed back then was dead. The only thing she can do now was to accept who she was, embrace it, and try her best to use it for good. She doesn't want to be a monster, a monster like these people were. She wanted to help others, do good. Her inner monster shouldn't define who she was, shouldn't control her. She needed to control her monster. She can do it.

"What's taking so long?" Dr. Moon asked impatiently. "Last time it took you seconds to finish a man!"

She forced her teeth together, concentrating hard not to cause too much pain to the man, but he still made a painful yelp. She was sure they won't hurt her if she decide not to kill this man, maybe sedate her and do more experiments, but she worth nothing dead. But what about Daredevil? What they're gonna do to him if she won't cooperate and fight off these men to save him, but fails? Would they torture him more? Would they really kill him? If they kill him they'll lose their leverage on her, they will have nothing to force her to do what they want. She took a deep breath. What can she live with? And what she can't live without? Can she live with the fact that she killed another person? Killed brutally, not for self defense. What would Daredevil think if she killed the man to save him? Would he also feel guilty and carry the weight of a death on his shoulder? She knew the answer, yes, he would do that exactly. But what if they kill Daredevil? Can she live without him? Can she live with the fact that she's responsible for his death? Someone's death who helps and saves people, which means she will be responsible for everyone's lives who won't get saved by the masked man after his death. She felt frustrated, hated making decisions like this, when other's lives depended on it. She went over the quick facts for the last time: if she kept going with hurting this man, he's gonna die. No question, just fact. If she stopped, then they might kill Daredevil, but not hundred percent and at least she can try preventing it and fight. She has to take the risk, she just can't kill an innocent man to save another. She knew Daredevil will fight, he was probably just waiting for her signal, or a distraction. Quietly whispered to the air, hoping he can hear her. "Daredevil, get ready to fight."

With that she stopped her inner monster instead of letting it completely lose and kill. Removed her hand from the man, who collapsed on the ground unconscious, and immediately turned on her heels to grab the arms of the two big muscle guys by her side with the sedative guns before they'll shoot her. She closed her eyes and forced real pain on both of them, much stronger than she did before. To her surprise she felt it all under control. Their body jerked immediately, and they dropped on their knees in less than two seconds. They need a bit more to pass out and unable to get up for a while.

Dr. Moon froze in surprise of the sudden change of events, and yelled out loud. "Choose now, Anna, choose wisely! Him or Daredevil!"

Her eyes were closed, focusing, and couldn't reply.

"Kill him!"

Anna looked up while releasing the arms of the now blacked out soldiers, expecting to see Daredevil on his feet kicking and punching the two next to him, but instead one of the guys grabbed him, and forcefully pulled him up on his knees, head bouncing with it and drove the long blade through his heart, and like that wasn't enough the other guy sliced his neck. His blood came out pouring, and in a second there was a huge puddle building in front of him on the tiles. Anna couldn't move, her feet rooted to the same tiles, and watched with wide eyes as the man she loved fell on the floor motionless. Everything went quiet, she only heard herself screaming inside, or maybe she was screaming for real, wasn't sure. He can't be dead. He's gonna stand up with that familiar smirk on his face, and kick everyone's asses in this room. He will get up. He will... like always...

But he still didn't move. Maybe this is just a bad dream. She must be dreaming, she's at home, in bed, sleeping. Just needed something to wake her up from her nightmare.

But he still didn't move, his chest didn't rise and fall as it supposed to, and she knew she would have been already awake from this nightmare screaming the second that blade ran through his heart.

He's dead. Daredevil is dead. She will never see him again, never gonna argue with him who was reckless, who needs to keep a distance, never gonna come to her rescue, never gonna save anybody else in the dark alleys. She'll never hug him again, and she will never have the chance to tell him how she feels, then kiss him so passionately that he would lose that famous self control of his. She will never have a chance to say how sorry she was about how today's events turned out. She felt something wanting to push into the surface since that knife cut his throat, something she can't keep inside anymore. As she realized that not just Daredevil died in front of her eyes, she wanted to scream again. She just saw these people took away the life of Matt Murdock's as well. The kind lawyer, who had friends, and life, a job, who helped her more than anybody else, who dedicated his life to help people. Who never hurt anybody, and never did anything wrong in his life. Now, he's dead as well. She was glad he had his mask on, she couldn't bare looking into his eyes, because if she did, she would only see emptiness, and not him. Then she would know for certain that he's gone.

"Come on!... Get up!" She heard herself screaming, but he didn't move. The quiet in the room was unbearable.

Suddenly she realized what she was thinking just a few minutes ago, which felt like an eternity. You can't change the past. Nobody can. And his death is permanent, and she can't do anything about it now. He is gone. She is alone. She made a decision, she played with his life and lost, she counted on him to fight when he apparently couldn't. She is all alone. Alone. Nobody will come for her rescue anymore. She realized that she wasn't crying, she felt anger, and rage, the one that eats you alive and forces you to do things you would never do. Her eyes moved up to the two men next to his body, and she heard Dr. Moon was shouting something, but she didn't care what that was. She only cared about one thing. To make them pay. They deserved pain, torture, and suffering. Her frozen body came into life and with a swift move launched forward and jumped on one of the men, punching him straight into his throat, followed by a punch on his face. He choked and stumbled backward, his blood splashing out from his broken nose, and she turned as she duct low to avoid a high kick from the other one, and hit him between his legs with full strength. He cried out, but she wasn't done with them. While still squatting low, she kicked the knee of the first guy, hearing his joint dislocate and his big body dropped down next to her. She grabbed his arm, twisted it behind him and broke it by the elbow, then with a sudden move punched him on his temple with the shoken hand position, making sure he won't get up any time soon. The second guy was slowly recovering from having his balls pushed into his stomach and reached out to her to grab her by the arm. She twisted it out from his fist fast, raking his eyes with her fingers while completing the circle motion, then jumped and landed her elbow on his collarbone, breaking it with a loud crack. He wasn't able to move his right arm anymore, so she took care of his left one, breaking the wrist joint. He dropped himself on the floor, holding his arms close to his body, knees bent in pain and bleeding from his now shut eyes. She gave him a big stump on the head to knock him out as well.

She felt like her body was moving by itself, no thinking, no speculating, just one straight goal. Make everyone hurt as bad as possible. Her eyes pierced to the doctor now, who was standing by the monitors. She grabbed the device from her head and dropped it on the floor, crushing it with her foot. The other one from her arm - monitoring her blood - followed it. Her eyes didn't leave the doctor's for one second, and slowly started walking toward him. He backed up a few steps until his back hit the wall next to the monitors. She froze for a second, forcing herself to turn around and look back. She did. There he was. Flat on the ground, still, a big knife in his heart. She felt her heart was full of holes as well. He's really dead. Gave his life for her so many times, but there's no turning back this time.

"More are coming, Anna. There's no escape. I warned you about the consequences, you knew this is gonna happen. This..." he looked around the room with bodies on the floor, covered in blood. "This is all your fault."

She didn't say a word, but heard her own breathing being all unrecognizable to her own ears. She sounded like an avenger, someone who everyone's afraid of. A cold shiver ran through her spine as she realized she's not just sounding, but feeling exactly like that, and she liked it. She felt indestructible. Something changed deep inside her the moment they killed Daredevil. She wasn't the old scared Anna anymore who stayed hidden, avoided confrontation, ran away, and only fought when it was necessary. Oh, no, not anymore. This Anna didn't feel fear, didn't feel pain anymore, because there's nothing left inside. Suddenly she understood Daredevil, how much he must have enjoyed this feeling. As she slowly walked toward the doctor and looked in his eyes she saw how frightened he was, how weak and defenseless he was against her. And she liked it.

Before she reached him, the door opened and more military guys stepped inside. Anna didn't waste time, she grabbed the arm of one to force pain in him, while kicking another in his diaphragm simultaneously. She was moving fast, taking them down one by one, punches flying to their face, eyes, necks. Suddenly she felt one of them pushing a needle in her thigh, and her alarms went off. She had no idea what was in that syringe, the guy grabbed it from the tray next to them, containing several different kinds prepared there for the doctor to do his crazy experiments with. Could be a sedative, or just some vitamin, who knew. But she can't risk it passing out here. She jumped up as high as she could and kicked the man in the head with a roundhouse kick, ran straight for the door, then outside to the back alley of the bakery. For a minute she heard footsteps behind her, but then they disappeared.

She climbed up on the first fire escape ladder she found, being all familiar with the rooftop routes from here to Matt's apartment. She arrived panting hard, took a deep breath in and opened the door to his roof access. She didn't have the chance to check on Daredevil. She felt this huge guilt in her chest leaving him there just like that. She betrayed him, she chose another life over his, because she was so confident that he will fight and able to defend himself. He was always so confident...

"You don't have to worry about me..." she remembered him saying.

"See what happens if I stop worrying?" She yelled to the empty apartment from the top of the stairs, tears rolling down her face now.

"I promised you to keep you safe, and I intend to keep it." She heard his voice in her head. "I will always come to your rescue. Won't let anybody hurt you."

"I believed you!" She yelled, and punched the wall forcefully, feeling the skin torn on her knuckles. "You were supposed to get up and fight like always!"

She would give anything to be back there in that room at the bakery. Live it again but save him this time. She wanted to feel his touch again on her skin, hear his deep voice, even if he was arguing with her. She didn't care if he would yell her head off right now, just be here with her.

It's too late.

She walked down on the stairs to the empty and quiet apartment, feeling it all suffocating and dropped on her knees at the bottom.

"No... I can't... I can't say it..." She curled up on the floor in pain. Matt was dead. He didn't move or breathe after that knife went through his heart. She hugged her knees closer to her chest. He didn't move... there was too much blood, way too much to survive it. She forced her teeth together to silence her scream.

"I screwed up! I'm so sorry..." she was sobbing now, and her eyes drifted toward the living room, expecting that magically he would appear on the couch, or just walk in to the apartment.

"No... no... he can't be..." She yelled, then she heard his voice in her head. "Yes. I'm dead, Anna. I told you I would do anything for you, even die for you. You did the right thing, you are not a killer."

"But I don't want to live without you!"

She curled up smaller, and let her body shake with her pain for long minutes. She stopped after a while, then started crying again.

Her life was never easy, mostly all screwed up, but she always got back up and fought. She needed to go back, find his body and clean it, remove his mask, change his clothes so nobody will know he was Daredevil. He would want that, protecting his identity was always one of his priorities. Then she will make everyone hurt who were responsible for this, starting with Dr. Moon. She bit back another scream, and wiped her eyes. No more crying, she had things to take care of.

She knew she can't stay here, they're gonna look under his mask and identify him, coming here straight. She walked to the bedroom to put a few things into a backpack she found laying around in the closet, then walked to the bathroom to clean up a little. As she looked in the mirror, a total stranger looked back at her. Her face was covered in blood, not hers for sure, her hair was a mess, all tangled up, a few strains stuck in the dried blood. But her eyes were the ones what scared her the most. They were sharp and fearless. She turned away from her reflection, and washed her face clean. Stuffed the medical kit into the backpack with a couple of her clothes. What was in that syringe that guy injected her with exactly? She didn't feel exhausted, she felt the opposite. Like she had too much energy, and she felt... she felt aroused? She shook her head. She just watched the most important man in her life being killed. She should feel sorrow, guilt, sadness. She should mourn. Not something like this.

"What the hell was in that syringe?" She asked from her own reflection remembering Dr. Moon mentioning some plan B before, while the need washed over her body and all she felt was lust. "Shit... shit.. shit... this can't be happening now." She felt her legs became unsteady, and the bathroom started spinning around slowly. "I need to cool myself down." Stepped to the tub as quickly as she was able to without tripping, and opened the cold water over her body. She yelped as the freezing shower hit her, and started stripping her clothes down one by one, shivering more. After a good long ten minutes she shut the water off and walked to the bedroom to put on some clothes. All black. She did not want to wear anything else, just black from head to toe. She grabbed the backpack and stepped out to the living room, feeling more steady than before, but her need only lessened a little. "Damn it... I don't have time for this now." She headed toward the front door to go back to the bakery when heard footsteps from the other side. Carefully took up a stealth position by the door, ready to strike at the intruder the second they step through. Her eyes lowered to the doorknob, watching it shake as the person in the hallway was messing with the lock. She realized the deadbolt wasn't secured, so whoever was on the other side was about to break in. The shaking stopped, and the door opened, and without hesitating she turned and punched the man stepping through straight on the temple. He stumbled and went down face forward in the foyer.

"Matt!?" She looked at the man on the floor in front of her eyes with disbelief. His glasses fell from his face by the impact, and he was barely able to stop himself landing on his nose with his hands.

He slowly pulled up on his knees, rubbing the spot she punched him. "What did I do this time to deserve this?"

"Oh... you... you are alive?" She backed up slowly, didn't believe her eyes.

"So far... but not sure how long if I get another of those weird punches."

"You... what are you doing here?" She eyed his body, looking for blood, but there was nothing. His throat was untouched and looked normal, no cut. How was this possible?

"I live here... remember? Is everything all right?"

"Yes, I know... of course you live here. I mean... I thought... Oh my God... I thought you..." She couldn't find words. She was nighty nine percent sure Matt was Daredevil, but he just proved it he's not. He's alive. She lowered herself on the floor in disbelief. Daredevil wasn't Matt. Matt wasn't Daredevil. She was mistaken it completely. How stupid of her!

OMG! She just punched a blind man!

"Oh my God, Matt!" She looked at him still like he was a ghost, so reached out to touch his arm, she needed confirmation that he's real and she's not hallucinating. The sudden she touched him she felt the need washing over her again. That cold shower didn't last long. She wanted one thing, being fucked, right here, right now, by this man. "Shit!" She cussed as she was feeling wet in her panties, and every cell in her body was screaming with lust. She felt she needed something between her legs to ease this painful need. Being so close to him was a torture, she felt the heat coming off his body, big, hard. So she slid backwards a little on the floor to create some distance between them.

Matt tilted his head, watching her with his senses, trying to make sense of what's happening. She felt different, he smelled blood on her, lots of blood belonged to different people, possibly six or seven. She cleaned up, but he was still able to smell it. Her heart rate was elevated, her skin flushed, her blood was boiling, and she smelled like... was she aroused? He watched her more carefully and picked up some weird chemical aroma he never smelled before.

He carefully stood up, and felt her standing up in that same moment as well. But before he was able to ask again what was going on, he felt her body forcing him to the wall. His back collided with it, making a loud thud, and her arms were up around his neck, trying to lower his head for a kiss.

"Anna?" started asking but got silenced by one of the most passionate kiss he ever felt. Her fingers dug into his hair, her tongue making his lips part and he felt the shiver went clear down to his toes. He couldn't help, but returned it, feeling his blood heating up as well.

She didn't hesitate, her hands moved down on his chest, tracing through the strong muscles, and running down to his belt. Who cared what was the explanation of his muscles, she wanted to feel them, feel his hot skin under her fingers. She unbuckled his belt in a second, and Matt forced her body a few inches away from his to stop her as the chemical smell hit his nose again. "Anna? What happened?"

"Doesn't matter. I want you..." She kissed him again. "Now..." Matt was dreaming about hearing these words from her for so long, and couldn't help just giving in to the sensation. She was so irresistible, making him wild. He pushed her back to the opposite wall hard, deepening the kiss while his hands moved up to her neck. She loved when he was out of control, she felt his need in the kiss, and moaned into it. But she needed more, she was impatient, wanted him to be inside her. Her hands were down at his pants again, pulling his shirt out, then running back up on his chest to push down his suit jacket from his shoulders. He helped her quick, and dropped it to the floor before claiming her mouth again. She moved her fingers back down on his shirt and tried to undo his pants zipper, but Matt grabbed her wrists and pulled them up above her head, pinning them to the wall.

Anna smiled wildly, and wiggled her body to rub it against his, and thrusted her hip forward to meet his hardness. He made a deep growl, and bit her neck, starting to lose control more and more.

"I want more..." she panted, trying to free her wrists from his unnaturally strong grip, desperately wanting to feel him inside.

"Stay still, Anna." He said, but she didn't listen. "Could you just be still?"

She rubbed herself against his man part again, oh he was so ready, and he made a raw noise deep in his throat she never heard before, but drove her crazy and she felt like she's just gonna explode if she'll hear it again.

The smell of the drugs hit Matt again, waking up from his ecstatic state. He distanced himself from her as much as possible, making a painful and desperate sigh. "Anna, this isn't you... They did something to you, didn't they?" He asked and she tried kissing him again, was unable to move, since her arms were still pinned high up to the wall. His grip was still holding them strong. "What did they give you?"

"I don't know... it was something in a syringe. But I don't care, I just... I just want you to fuck me..."

Matt growled again, trying to control himself.

"Anna... please, stop fighting."

"I can't... it... it hurts... the need..."

"I'm not gonna do anything to you."

She pouted. "Why not? I know you want to." She bit her lower lip while eyeing the large bulge between his legs.

"Because I'm not gonna take advantage of you."

She reached out one leg, and rubbed it against his. "But I want you to..." She saw the sparkle in his eyes were back for a second, before disappeared again.

"Damn you! You will be angry at yourself and me later if we do this now. Listen to me!" He looked at her seriously, and Anna stopped wiggling. "I know you're stronger than this. What happened today?"

"I don't care... I don't want to think about it... it was horrible and it hurts." She licked her lips. "I only want to think about you..."

"Anna..."

"In me..."

Matt growled loud, she's not making this easy for him. His own self control was reaching its limits he knew it, so lowered her wrists from the wall and pulled her toward the bathroom.

Anna smiled and didn't resist. She loved the idea of the bathroom and jumping into the shower with him. He lifted her up and before she could kiss him again he lowered her into the bathtub. She grabbed his shirt and wanted to pull him in with her, but he was faster and opened the cold shower. She screamed as the ice cold water hit her skin for the second time today, and released him.

"I'm sorry..." Matt said, bending forward and breathing hard to keep himself from stepping in next to her and turning the faucet to a warmer temperature.

After a few seconds she dropped down on her knees and just let the cold water pour over her body. She didn't fight, didn't try to get out anymore, just sat there for long minutes. Matt lowered himself on the tile floor, running his fingers through his hair.

As Anna slowly came back to her senses, the image of Daredevil showed up in front of her eyes. Being killed and bled out in front of her, while she could do nothing to stop it. She knew it in a flash that his life ended the second the blade drove through his heart. He was a hero, but not immortal. She hugged her knees close to her chest while the shivering increased. She couldn't stop it, and it wasn't because of the cold water this time. He's dead. She can't leave town. She's done with running. These people need to suffer for what they did to him. She turned her gaze toward the man next to the bathtub, sitting on the cold floor, hiding his face in his palms. Jesus, what did I do to him?

"I'm sorry, Matt." She said quietly, embarrassment on her face. "For punching you, and then... especially what I did after that."

A weak smile appeared on his face as he turned toward her. "I have no objection about what happened after the punch. But I would prefer that to come from your heart, not from some weird medication."

She blushed and her body heat up by the feeling that he wanted to do that with her. But then remembering the words she said to him and her embarrassment cooled her down immediately. She would be too ashamed just to think of those words, not to mention saying them out loud. He reached out and closed the faucet, and handed her a towel.

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah, all under control." She laughed.

"I'll be outside." He said and closed the bathroom door behind him. Anna hugged the towel to her body and bit her lower lip as her mind remembered their passionate kiss and him shoving her to the wall, biting her neck. They had such a good chemistry and he was more passionate than she would ever guessed. She growled loud, and opened the cold water again to let it hit her body for a couple more minutes before her mind starts wondering how it would feel having that strong body of his on top of hers in bed. After she stepped out, she removed her wet clothes and wrapped the towel around herself and carefully tiptoed to the bedroom to put on dry ones. He was in the kitchen making tea when she stepped out, his belt was tightened around his waist and his white shirt tucked back, as usual. She swallowed and looked away, not trusting herself completely.

He handed the tea to her and she sat down at the table.

"How were they able to inject you if you were here all day?"

The corners of her lips turned down. "They captured someone important to me, and forced me to meet them."

Matt made a big sigh, but before he could start arguing she silenced him. "I was able to escape, I'm fine. Didn't get hurt." She swallowed. But not everyone was this lucky.

"Who?"

She can't tell him. She just said someone important, what he's gonna think if she tells him it was Daredevil?

"It doesn't matter anymore..."

"How did they contact you?"

"On your phone. I called the bakery to quit, and they were watching their phone. Is it registered to your name? Will they be able to trace it back to you?"

"No, don't worry about that. But I will change my number."

She nodded, feeling the emptiness was building in her heart. She lost someone today.

"So tomorrow morning we're going to make you disappear. Karen is gonna leave for Minnesota with the first flight."

"Matt, I'm not..."

He reached his hand through the table and placed it on top of hers. Her skin heat up right away and her need started building, so she pulled it away fast and moved both of her hands to her lap, crunching them into fists.

"Everything will be fine, you just need to stay put." His gaze moved up to her eye level, focused somewhere behind her. "Did you call Lucy and also cancelled your lease?"

"Yes." She said quietly as guilt washed over her. She already was responsible for a man's death today, didn't want to add to that list. "I will fly there by myself and come back under Karen's name. Don't want anybody else hurt." She made a big sigh. "I'm only staying if we do it this way."

Matt didn't like the idea, was more risky than for Karen, but nodded.

He tilted his head, but before he asked she stood up and walked to the bedroom. She dropped down on the bed, feeling the weight of two deaths now instead of just one. And one of them was someone she loved. Daredevil was dead.

---

She woke up at the bright light, realizing it's the sun shining through the windows with full force. It was late, 10am already. It took her a long time last night to fell asleep, but after she did she slept like a log. Matt wasn't on the couch, what startled her for a second. He's dead! She just dreamt that Matt was here last night and he's not the vigilante. But before her panic would overtake her she found a plate on the table with two croissants on it, prepared for her by Matt. She dropped down on the chair with a big sigh. Matt was alive, she was wrong thinking he's the masked man. But Daredevil was dead. Her hands turned into fists with anger and guilt. She needed a plan to make them suffer for what they did to him. She grabbed one of the pastries, and took a bite. As she was chewing her mind reminded her about the events last night, after Matt got home. "Crap!" she slammed her forehead on the table several times, realizing how she acted. She basically punched him, then almost raped him. Well, he wasn't objecting too much, but still, it would have been a rape. You can't change the past... yep, so true, the damage was done. Then she realized she didn't go back to the bakery, she was totally out of her mind after she touched Matt's arm. She quickly put on a hoodie and hid her hair under it, and shoved one of Matt's red glasses on her face. They were too big and wanted to fell off her nose all the time, but at least covered her face some. She sprinted to the bakery through the rooftops, dropping down to the alley behind it. The back door was taped down with yellow tapes across with a police notice to keep out of the crime scene.

"Damn it, I'm late!" She pulled out her phone to check the news and saw the top article of the bakery massacre. The bakery got attacked and employees locked up in the office room, and the police found blood on the scene but no bodies. No mention of Daredevil. Nor the older office guy. The employees are safe and unharmed. No more details on the active investigation.

She rubbed her forehead. At least Daredevil's identity is still intact.

She spent most of the day planning, taking different options in different perspectives, then reading through her Mom's files again.

There were still a couple hours before Matt will be home, so after sitting there in quiet for a while, she decided to make herself useful and do some cleaning. She started with the dishes after her breakfast, then cleaned the kitchen countertop, emptied the fridge and wiped down every shelves before putting things back in. Dusted and swiped the living room and dining area and opened the closet by the staircase to see if anything there needed cleaning. His suits and shirts were hanging nicely, all labeled with braille stickers, and she saw a big old wooden chest underneath. There was a padlock on it, but in open position. She liked the rustic look of it, so lowered herself on the floor, crossing her legs, and pulled it out. It was heavy, much heavier than it looked. What could he keep in it what's this heavy? Her fingers ran through the rough wood surface, and her curiosity pushed her to open the top of it, desperately wanting to learn more about Matt, the real Matt, who wasn't Daredevil and she didn't know as well as she thought. She froze when seeing a red silk fabric in it, on the top of other stuff. She brushed her fingers through it, liking the feel of the soft and shiny material. Carefully lifted it out to reveal the letters embroidered in the back. Battlin' Jack Murdock. She took a sharp breath in, suddenly realizing this is his Dad's cape, who was murdered in an alley. She felt like intruding to his privacy too much, so quickly put it back, and pushed the chest deeper into the closet where it was before, without looking at the rest of its content. She felt guilty all of a sudden, and closed the closet doors, leaning at them with her back. She jumped when realized Matt was in the hallway, standing there with tilted head, anger or something unusual written on his face, maybe panic?

"I'm so sorry, I was just cleaning in the apartment, and I noticed this chest and it was unlocked, I don't know why I opened it, I shouldn't have done that. Please, I'm really sorry. It's none of my business, I..."

"Those are my dad's things... a few what's left from him." His voice was quiet and didn't sound angry to her surprise.

"I'm so sorry. That cape, that was the one...?" She couldn't finish her sentence, suddenly had to force a sob coming out. Death was too close to her heart in the past 24 hours.

Matt sighed. "Yes, he wore that on his final match. Before he died."

"I'm really sorry." She scratched her hand, Matt noticed she's doing that a lot when she's very nervous. Did she see his black outfit with his mask? He forgot to lock it last night after his patrol.

"Thank you." He watched her intensely with his senses. "Do you want to know anything about what you found there?" Asked, trying to find out if she saw Daredevil's outfit.

She froze. She had several questions about his Dad. "How did he died?" She asked carefully.

Matt made a painful expression. "He was shot in the back alley of our apartment."

She took a deep breath in. "And you were 9?"

"Yes. I heard the shot, and ran downstairs." He went quiet, not wanting to elaborate it.

He took his glasses off and rubbed the space between his eyes. "I probably mentioned this to you, you know, he was boxer, a good one."

Matt smiled at the memory. "He never got knocked out. Knocked down, sure, but he, he always got back up. He was always on his feet when he lost. He knew how to take a punch. You know, guys he went up against used to say it was like hitting oak. Sometimes my dad's strategy was to let 'em hit him till they broke their hands." He laughed, and Anna smiled. "But he got into this bad business, losing for money. I hated it as a kid, so that night he wanted to prove me that he can stand up for himself and do the right thing. He won when he wasn't supposed to, because of me. And that got him killed."

"I'm so sorry. But you were just a kid, it wasn't your fault."

He let out a miserable laugh. "Well, I didn't think like that."

She lowered her head, must have been hard growing up with a guilt like that. She felt the same way about her mother's death. And added two more to her list.

"Did he teach you boxing?" She asked after a short break, remembering how strong his body felt when she hugged him and how well muscled his arms looked. This would be a reasonable explanation, so she felt like an idiot thinking more into it.

"Nah, he didn't want me to fight at all, he wanted me to use my brain. To... to have a better life than he had." He smiled at the memory again.

"I'm really sorry for intruding to your privacy, I... I didn't know what was in there, but closed it right away when realized that's his cape." She said, and Matt knew she's telling the truth. Which meant she didn't see his black outfit after all. Part of him was disappointed, he wanted to be more honest with her, he wanted to tell her who he was so many times. But as time went by it's getting harder and harder, and with these scientists it's too dangerous.

"It's all right." He shook his head, smiled, and walked back to the hallway to pick up a bag from the console table by the front door.

"I hope Chinese is good for dinner?"

"Yes, it's perfect, thank you." Now that the tension has lifted in the room, she was finally able to breathe.

"So, have you thought about your disappearance?"

"Yes, I found a flight I can take to Minneapolis tomorrow morning. Has bunch of free seats available, should be able to get on last minute."

Matt pushed a card to her over the table. "Karen's ID, for the way back home." He said, hoping this way she will really come back.

"Thank you."

"I also got you some disguise." He reached into his inner pocket for a small bag with a blonde mid length hair wig, similar to Karen's hairstyle in it.

Anna smiled. "I really appreciate it, thank you. I will land, walk out of the airport, so they will see that I'm there, find a place to change and go back to the airport to catch my return flight."

"Good, just be very careful. Here." He reached into his pocket to reveal a cell phone. "I saved my new number in it. This way you can browse if needed, and also reach me if there's anything, or just want to talk. Please text me, or call me with updates."

"Oh, you shouldn't had to, it must have been expensive. I can't accept it."

"It's not the newest model, so wasn't expensive. Take it. This way I will feel better too, knowing you have a phone on you."

"Thank you." She smiled at him and took it.

"I read all the documents from the laboratory." She started after they finished eating.

Matt raised his eyebrows, listening.

"I was born in their laboratory in Austin, because they kept my mother there. They dropped me off at the door of the orphanage after a few months, because I showed no signs of any powers. I have the papers from my mother's testing, and she had similar abilities as mine. She was able to heal people as well, but also heal herself. They were torturing her, to explore her capabilities." She rubbed her eyes. "They did horrible, painful things to her, Matt. According to the records, she was there for 7 months, so was already pregnant with me." Her tears finally rolled down on her cheek. "How can these people be so evil?"

Matt placed his hand on top of hers to comfort her, then she continued. "They wanted to create super soldiers, who can heal themselves in battle, and also heal their teammates if it comes to that. I found plans of even bringing the dead back, but my mom couldn't do that. I didn't bring home every paper, but wonder who could be behind this whole operation. I doubt it's only Dr. Moon, he must be just the lead scientist, nothing else."

"I think we're dealing with a much bigger thing here." Matt said. "Could be top level people involved in this."

"Most likely, that's why I don't think we can do much about it, at least not now." She lied. She did want to make them suffer, but not involving Matt too much.

"I'm going to look into it, just to see if there's anything we can do. Don't give up this easy."

"Just... please, be careful. They are not like the Russians, they monitor everything."

"I will be careful."

"Matt..." she started and her face turned all red. "I'm really sorry about last night. I would never..."

"It's ok, it wasn't you, but the serum they gave you. Don't worry about it."

"Wish I could erase it. The whole yesterday." She thought about Daredevil's body on the floor.

"If that was possible, there would be no future." Matt said, then noticing Anna's tired heartbeat, he decided to change topic.

"Thank you for cleaning my apartment by the way."

Anna laughed. "Not that you would notice."

"Oh, it smells much better, I can tell that."

"Maybe I just spilled the cleaner on the floor?" Anna teased him.

"Ouch, making fun of the blind man again?"

She blushed. "Sorry, I do that when I'm nervous. I need to find something to occupy myself with, otherwise your apartment will end up sparkling clean."

"Do you have any hobbies?" Matt asked, truly interested.

Anna thought about it a bit. "Yeah... I like practicing karate."

Matt leaned back in his chair, surprise on his face. "Karate? This isn't what I expected."

"Well, I'm not an ordinary girl, if you forgot." She laughed. "I learned Uechi Ryu from my friend Tom in the orphanage. It's a type of karate, very effective for self defense. I used to practice in my tiny apartment, which was a big challenge because of the space available, and sometimes went out to Central Park."

That peaked Matt's interest. "I don't think I've heard of it."

"Well, I'm happy to teach you some defense techniques if you're interested. There's also a routine for body conditioning, so you can take punches better, and block stronger."

"Oh, that might be helpful for me, I keep walking into the door jams."

Anna laughed, "I don't think there's a conditioning exercise for your forehead." She remembered well when he hurt himself last time.

"I might actually have a place for you to practice." He raised his eyebrows and stood up.

"Now?"

"It's just around the corner if we go through the alley." He said. "Do you have workout clothes?"

"Karen gave me shorts and tank tops, those will work." Her heart was beating fast now from the excitement. She had no idea where he's taking her. Are they gonna sneak in to some gym?

She rushed to the bedroom to change, yelling out for him. "What about you? Do you have anything to wear?"

"Oh, I don't think I'm gonna do much."

"Why not? I'm happy to teach you." She replied through the closed door.

"First of all, I wouldn't be able to tell where my attacker is, so can potentially do more damage than help."

"What if they grab you?" She asked. "You will be able to tell where they are then. We can practice grabs."

He laughed. "If you insist." He could tell she got very excited about this, but what he didn't know was that she was excited for multiple reasons. First, there's the fact to touch him, be close to him. Secondly was the excitement of the fight, she loved karate a lot, and loved talking about it. Thirdly she could do something for Matt, like teach him how to defend himself.

It was already cool outside, winter was right around the corner, so she pulled her hoodie up more and crossed her hands in front of her while they walked along the alley behind their building then turned the corner to get to another alleyway, to a back door with dirty window on it saying Fogwell's Gym. To her surprise Matt had a key and he unlocked the door. Anna was searching for a light switch in the dark, finally finding it and flipping it on. Weak neon lights illuminated the place and she looked around amazed. There was a boxing ring in the middle, and training area with punching bags and equipments on the sides. The place was a little dusty and old, seemed like nobody using it anymore. She inhaled sharply when saw the poster of Jack Murdock's final match with Creel.

"Yes." Matt said quietly. "This was the place where my Dad fought. I basically grew up here as a kid, lots of good memories, and a few bad ones.

"Wow." She slowly walked around, taking it in. "Seems like it's closed now."

"Yeah, the owner has been trying to sell it for a while now. I know him since I was a kid, so he gave me the keys. I like coming here sometimes, remembering." He smiled at her gently.

"Just remembering? So you never thought about working out here?" Anna was thinking of the muscles she felt under his shirt, maybe this time she found the explanation for them.

Matt laughed. "Why? Should I? Do I look bad?" He asked nervously, feeling weird lying to her straight, so asking questions instead. He didn't have an idea why was that, he's been lying to his friends for so long, but with her it's started feeling just wrong.

"Oh, no, not at all. You look..." her face turned red. "...perfect actually." And hot - added it in her head, and memories from last night flashed in front of her eyes, warming her body up.

"So, what do you think?"

"It's more than perfect. I don't think I've ever trained in a place like this." She turned around and gave him a hug. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome."

She walked up to a punching bag, and threw a straight punch. The bag swung and she stepped away when it came back, then hit it again from the opposite side. "This is way better than a tree, it's actually moving." She smiled.

"A tree?" Matt asked her confused.

"Yep." She said, while throwing a few more punches, using the swing of the bag to practice her movements. "Obviously I've never trained in a real gym like this, we had to improvise. So used trees to practice the punches. I tied an old t-shirt around it, so it won't take my skin off from my knuckles. At least not as easily. As you might guessed you can't punch a tree as hard as the bag, because it will break your wrist... unless you're some super ninja like Daredevil." She felt the tension squeezing her throat right away. Not anymore, he's not around anymore. She cleared her throat before continuing. "But, you also learn the correct way to punch, because if you do it wrong, it's gonna hurt more."

He was listening to her intensely, watching her moving around the bag with his senses, fighting the urge to comment on anything with too much knowledge.

"I would never guessed you can use a tree for practice." He said, so he's not standing there in complete silence.

"Do you want to try it? I mean, the bag." She asked, and watched him folding his cane and walk up to the bag, hands straight in front of him searching for it. After he found it he stayed at arm reach distance, and threw a punch with his right, trying to look as clumsy as possible.

He smiled. "How did it look?"

Anna smiled back. "Not bad. But try keeping your elbow facing down like this, don't throw it out to the side." She lifted his arm up to the correct position, then sliding one hand over his wrist. "If you swing your elbow out your opponent will know immediately that a punch is coming. But if you keep it underneath, then they won't be able to tell, because they'll only see your fist moving toward them, but no outward movement. Unless it's dark, and you're wearing black... then it doesn't matter." She made a smile, pushing the pain back on the reference of Daredevil again, and watched his face. There it was for a split second, that surprised expression in his eyes, before it disappeared and a faint smile showed up on his face. "And keep your wrist straight, so you won't hurt it, make a fist like this..." she folded his fingers, thumb covering the rest. "And imagine hitting the target with these two knuckles." She rubbed her fingers over the calloused knuckles belong to his index and middle fingers. She swallowed at the sensation, why his knuckles feel like a fighter's? Maybe it's just when he comes down here he uses the bag, just afraid to admit it to her?

She slowly let go of his hand, realizing how still he was. He cleared his throat and dropped his arm down. "Ok, something like this?"

He tried the move, playing clumsy a little.

Anna smiled. "Yeah, much better. Try it with the left as well."

He threw a few weak punches at the bag, pretending to be a beginner.

"Good!" She smiled, then jumped up on the mat of the ring and climbed through the ropes. Walked around looking at the ceiling, taking in the view of the room. She felt some excitement growing inside her just being here.

Matt sensed that, and knew exactly what she's feeling, he feels the same every time he's fighting with someone. The adrenaline, the excitement rush. He walked closer and leaned to the ring and felt her hand on his shoulder. "I help you up, come on."

He climbed up as well, now standing in the middle with her. "It's fantastic, isn't it?" She asked, excitement in her voice.

"Yeah..." he said, turning around. "I can hear their voices, the cheering, the yelling, and the sound of the fight."

She let him with his memories for a few minutes, watching him smile.

"Do you want to learn an easy way to get out of a grab?" Anna broke the silence.

"Even easy for me?"

"Yes, everyone can do it."

"Ok, teach me, sensei." He said, and Anna laughed.

"If someone grabs you like this..." she grabbed his wrist with one hand, tight. "Turn your arm this way and twist it like this." She showed him the movement guiding his hand with her other one. "The key is to always turn your thumb facing the opening, basically where their thumb is. This circular motion works even if they grab you with two hands, which is a big mistake by the way, since they're defenseless, but people do weird things."

Matt tried it, and got out of her grab. "Would it work against a stronger opponent?" He asked.

"Of course, almost everyone who grabbed me was stronger than me. Want to try?"

He smirked, and grabbed her wrist with one hand and her forearm with another. Anna looked in his eyes, he wasn't wearing his glasses, and she saw the most sexual and hungry expression she had ever seen in her life. He enjoyed their little sparring as much as she did. She smiled, and twisted her arm out with one move, but not expecting him to step in closer and put his right arm around her waist in lightning speed, pulling her to his body. Her breathing got faster the second she realized how close he was.

"How did you..." she started to ask, but her words got silenced by his lips touching hers. She thought the experience of their first kiss was a one time thing, and last night's one was clouded by the serum in that syringe, but she felt the exact same pleasure overtaking her every senses. She responded to his kiss right away with a deep sigh. His other hand found the sensitive skin behind her ear, caressing it, driving her to unknown places. She pushed her weight on her tiptoes, deepening the kiss, bringing a deep voice out from Matt. Her hands started exploring his shoulders, tracing over the hard muscles, and moved behind his neck to dig into his hair. This resulted in another deep growl from Matt, and he moved his lips away from hers, drawing a trail down her neck. Anna shivered from the sensation, his tongue was making small circles on her sensitive skin there. She tilted her head to the right, exposing her neck more to him, as his teeth biting her gently. Anna felt her bones turning to water and her legs were giving up on her, getting all weak. Matt also felt her body shaking, so moved both hands to her back, supporting her weight. She felt her breasts are touching his chest, feeling the strong muscles underneath and that energy that always surrounded him. She didn't want to stop, she wanted more, wanted to feel more of him, wanted him to lose that control of his and be wild like last night for a few minutes, so brought her hands forward, holding the collar of his dress shirt. She felt his heat radiating off of his big body, and wanted to know desperately how it feels without his shirt in the way, so with shaking fingers she was trying to undo the very top button at his neck. When Matt noticed what she was trying to do, his body stiffened and brought his lips back to hers, claiming them with hunger she's never felt. Her hands dropped down to his arms, trailing all the hard muscles, getting completely weak from this new feeling.

Anna wasn't sure what happened, but Matt slowly pulled back, resting his forehead on hers while breathing heavily. He was frozen, didn't move from that position for long minutes, and Anna was worried maybe she's done something wrong.

"It's getting late..." he whispered, not able to speak louder. "We should go back home."

Anna wanted to protest, but his eyes were still closed, his brows drew together, concentrating on something. Is he in pain?

She nodded slowly, and moved her hands to his. He opened his eyes to her touch and she saw lust and fire in them for a second, then all were gone, and Matt's brown unfocused eyes were looking at her general direction.

---

The next morning Anna took a cab to the airport and flew to Minneapolis. She spent her last pennies on the ticket - refusing to accept money for this from Matt -, left just enough for her return. Matt was extremely nervous before she left the apartment, wasn't completely sure she's really gonna come back. He knew she was lying about something when they talked about this, but wasn't sure what.

She changed after the plane landed at the bathroom of the nearest Starbucks, carefully avoiding the security cameras there. They looked very similar, especially with her wearing the strawberry blond wig. For a second the thought of not going back flashed through her mind, but the goal of making them pay for Daredevil's death forced her back to the airport and on the return flight, keeping her head down and away from the cameras all the time.

Dr. Moon was in his office, doing research still on both Anna and Daredevil when the military guy stepped in, knocking on the door jam.

"Did you get rid of that dead body?" The doctor asked him right away.

"Yes."

"What about the real masked man?"

"We haven't found him yet, but I think we can set up a trap and capture him. His weakness is innocent kids and women."

"Good, don't waste much time. I need results. The first plan didn't work as well as I thought. I can't believe she kicked all of your asses, apparently she can fight. Probably learned from her boyfriend, that Daredevil is indeed a ninja. Wonder if he has some special power as well... He's too good to be just a man. Well, at least we have some data now on Anna's vitals while forcing pain on that old man and you..." He laughed and the soldier flinched, remembering the pain he felt. "...and while she was fighting. But we need more." Dr. Moon closed his laptop. "I need to fly back to Austin to take care of things. Want that Devil captured by the time I'm back. Understood?"

"Yes, sir. We found something else might be helpful."

Dr. Moon looked up at him, waiting for the details.

"Anna left New York, she's running to Minnesota. Found it on the airport's security footage." He pushed the photos in front of the doctor.

"Minnesota, huh? New state again. She must have been in a hurry to take a plane instead of the usual bus. I can't believe she's already gone, probably she found out her boyfriend is still alive. But it's strange of her flying and walking through airports where there are more cameras. She's never flew before and was more careful..."

"Also, there's this guy who seems like knows Anna Sanders quite well. They were in the same orphanage a good twelve years ago. We caught him searching for the girl, actually he's been searching for her in the past years."

"Where is he?"

"He's back in Austin."

Dr. Moon grinned. "Make him believe Anna is here in Hell's Kitchen, maybe make sure he sees that court video. Follow his every steps, because I'm sure he will find her if she's still here. I'm not totally convinced she's really gone. But in the meantime send a unit to Minneapolis, and find her if she's really there. Just in case."

"Yes, sir."

With that, military guy turned around and left the room.

---

Everything was quiet for a week. Anna stayed in the apartment, walking down to Fogwell's every day to do some workout, trying to get stronger to be able to fight Dr. Moon's army. She was careful hiding her face with a hoodie and using the back alley as a shortcut. Several cases kept Matt busy, so he wasn't home much, and also tried sneaking out at nighttime to help people as Daredevil. He also checked the laboratory, finding no proof of being anybody kept there against their will to do experiments on. Karen found out that Dr. Moon left New York a few days ago on a plane, so Anna felt she can relax a little bit, but still hiding, just in case the doctor's men were still searching for her here.

Matt was sitting on the couch with his laptop and earphones, reading through a case file, while Anna was on the other end of the couch reading a book.

She noticed Matt's eyelids were slowly closing, he's been exhausted in the past couple of days. She smiled and stood up to take the laptop from his lap, setting it on the coffee table.

"Sssh..." Anna said when he opened his eyes, and she walked behind the couch and placed two hands on his shoulders. She felt his muscles twitched to the contact, but then relaxed. She started massaging his shoulders gently and he moaned, which made her smile wide. "Just close your eyes, and relax." She said, and he did just like that, enjoying her touch as the tension was leaving his body. Anna bit her lips as she moved her hands to the edge of his shoulders and a little lower on his upper arms, massaging the strong biceps muscles, then back up to his shoulders. How the hell does he look like that? She never noticed him working out, neither mentioned it to her. She pushed him a little forward to get a better access to his upper back and neck, which resulted in another moan from Matt. After a good 20 minutes her hands gave up, so she stopped and was about to step away when Matt reached back up to stop her by grabbing her wrist and pulling her down to his level. He placed a gentle kiss on her lips, and she smiled in it.

"Thank you!"

"You're welcome, hope you feel better now."

"Definitely." He smirked and she saw his eyes darken.

"Don't you have court documents to study?" She teased him while walking away toward the bedroom. He growled in frustration, and reached for his laptop to continue his work.

---

The next day Anna was doing research on Dr. Moon, planning for his return to New York. She checked the hotel he stayed on the internet, the route he took from there to the lab. If he returns and stays at the same place she will be ready to surprise him and make him pay. She was reading a book on the couch after she finished her research and usual cleaning, when heard knocking on the door. Carefully walked up to it, just to hear Karen's voice.

"So good to see you, Karen!" She greeted her with a hug.

"The boys are at court, so figured I stop by for a minute to see how you are doing. Ah, also brought some Mexican food for lunch, Matt mentioned you like it."

"Thank you! That's great, yes, I love it." She peaked in the bag and started unloading its content on the table, then grabbing the utensils from the kitchen.

"I checked on Dr. Moon again this morning, seems like he's still in Austin." Karen said while they settled down at the table to eat.

Anna made a sigh. "Wish he would stay there for good." She lied, the truth was that she couldn't wait for the doctor to return.

"How's Matt treating you?"

"He's perfect." Anna blushed. "It's so nice of all of you helping me. But please be really careful."

"Of course, you are family now."

She smiled wide, first time in her life she had friends and support.

"This place looks great by the way, I've never seen it this clean." Karen looked around.

"I clean it every single day, just to occupy myself. Plus I can do something good for Matt."

"He really likes you, you know?" Karen said with a smile and Anna's cheeks heat up as usual.

"I like him a lot, too."

"He's a little too closed up, and hard for him to open up, but a really nice guy. I'm glad he found you."

"I'm the same, so totally get it, but I feel like we understand each other much better now. We actually have things in common, which is nice. Plus it's been always so easy to talk to him."

"Yeah, he's a good listener for sure. I'm glad you are patient with him, I'm sure he's trying his best."

"It's me who needs to try better, so far I'm just causing problems. He's just so strong and independent, he went through so much and still optimistic and helping people. Sometimes I forget he's blind, because he can get around so well." She made a weak laugh.

"Oh, yeah. But trust me, he is blind. I questioned it sometimes in the past, but a few years ago the three of us were out at this fair in the hot summer and he got dizzy. A doctor at the medical tent checked him quickly for heat stroke, and he definitely checked his eyes with the flashlight. His pupils didn't react like someone's with sight wound. So he's really blind, but definitely independent and gets around easily. Except those accidents when he trips and falls, or walks into something."

Anna felt the tension was growing in her chest as she processed the information. She couldn't believe there were times she thought he could be the masked man.

"Yes, door jams." She said after a short while, didn't want Karen to notice her shock. Why was she feeling disappointed anyways? Seems like she wanted them to be the same person just so she can feel better about loving two men at the same time? How selfish is that? He's alive, because he's not Daredevil. She should feel relief.

Matt came home around 8pm after a long day.

"Are you ok?" Anna asked as he was stretching his back.

"Yeah, just too much sitting today." He lied, masking the fact that he got thrown to the side of a van last night by a huge man he was fighting with.

"Want to come down to the gym maybe? Some exercise would help."

He laughed, he would need the opposite actually, but didn't want to ruin her mood. "Sure, let's go."

They walked down to the back alley and only took a few steps when Matt froze, head tilted. Anna looked back as she realized she lost him a few steps behind, and was about to ask what's wrong when she heard it too. A scream from a woman not too far away.

"Did you hear that too?" She asked him.

"Maybe we should call the police..." Matt said, but Anna had a different plan in mind.

"It will be too late, stay here I will be back in a minute."

"No, it can be dangerous, I won't leave you alone." Matt protested and started running after her with his cane in front of him.

She shook her head and grabbed his hand, pulling him with her. Just around the corner there was one man trying to rape a woman in the alley. He wasn't big and didn't look too strong, but had a knife in his hand. Anna made a disgusted face, only weak men need knife to threaten a woman.

"Matt, don't move." She told him seriously then yelled at the man. "Hey! Leave her alone!"

The man turned around and looked at both of them, and after a second he started laughing hard. "And who's gonna stop me? You, little lady, or your blind friend?"

Anna didn't answer, instead ran straight up to him. The guy got startled by her aggression and started swinging the knife in front of him as she approached. She stepped in front of him at arm reach and when he swung it again, she moved up close to his body, reaching up with her left arm to block his and simultaneously landing her right elbow into his diaphragm. He coughed and lost his air immediately, dropping the knife on the pavement, but she wasn't done with him yet.

Matt was ready, his body all tensed up, his right hand closed to a strong fist, waiting for the moment to jump in and help her, though he knew he will expose himself if he did. The sound of the dropped knife on the ground made him relax just a tiny bit. She disarmed the guy very fast with a swift move and he watched her with his senses amazed.

After the elbow strike she snapped her right fist to his nose, breaking it with one strong punch. His blood came out immediately and he yelled in pain. While still holding a strong grip on his right arm with her other hand she stepped to his side, twisting his right arm and breaking it by the elbow. He dropped on his knees, screaming loud in pain.

"And this is for what you were planning to do with that woman!" She yelled and kicked his balls hard with a front kick, pulling his body more in to the kick with her hand on his now broken arm. He collapsed to the ground, grabbing his crushed man parts with his good hand.

Anna squat down next to him and started undoing her shoelaces. "Matt, could you please call the police?" She asked casually and looked at him when he didn't reply. Matt was standing there frozen, eyes wide and grabbing his cane strong with his left hand. He was surprised by her actions, he never had any idea that she would interfere like this and give that man what he truly deserved. He couldn't have done it better. He didn't sense any fear in her this time, she was confident, very fast acting, and didn't run out of breath. This was a new side of her he never seen, but he liked it and definitely peaked his interest.

"Matt, you're ok?" Anna's touch on his shoulder woke him up from his thoughts. She already tied the rapist up to the dumpster with the shoelaces and now standing in front of him all calm like nothing happened.

"Yes, I am, sorry. Did you just kicked that guy's ass?"

She laughed. "Yes, I did, he wasn't a fighter luckily, so I was able to disarm him easily. Sorry if the fight scared you, but everything is good now. Do you have your phone with you?" She asked, then looked around, but the woman already ran away, possibly at the first chance she got. Probably better, she thought.

Matt gave her a weak smile, he wasn't scared by the fight obviously. He used to acting weak as Matt in front of his friends, but this time it felt awkward.

Anna's mind shifted to Daredevil, and she was sure this whole thing to that woman wouldn't happened if he was still alive. Guilt washed over her yet again, feeling all responsible for everything, his death, and letting people like this guy roam Hell's Kitchen without anybody to stop them. She halfway heard Matt calling the police.

"Let's go back upstairs." She said and put her hand on his. He sensed her sadness and wasn't sure what was the reason for it. She just saved a woman, she should be happy, or proud. "I don't want to be here when the police arrive."

Matt nodded and they walked up quietly.

---

The next evening Matt was working late again, and Anna was already done with cleaning the whole place again and so her gym workout. Sitting on the couch in the dark, illuminated by the billboard across the street. She finished her book yesterday, giving her nothing to do. Her mind went through her plan of attacking the doctor, and finally she clapped her thighs with her hands.

"This is silly. I need to do something." She stood up as she made up her mind. She needed to check out the route between Dr. Moon's hotel and the lab in real life, not just on the map, and make sure that the spot she's been thinking to do the attack was indeed the best. She put on one of Matt's t-shirts and jacket from the closet, so she won't look like a girl as much. Put her hair in a bun, and her eyes focused on Matt's baseball hat on the coat hanger by the door. "Oh, what the hell!" She grabbed it and covered her hair with it completely.

She stepped out on the street first time in a while, except the stinky back alley. The night was cool, and there were still a few people walking on the streets. She breathed the air in, it felt good being outside. She headed down toward 11th Avenue, looking over her shoulders as usual. After she scanned through the doctor's possible route and checked the attack point, she decided to get some groceries and maybe cook tomorrow. So much better than ordering online. Matt won't even notice she sneaked out, this won't take too long - she was trying to convince herself. That was her plan at least. If she knew who's she's going to bump into at the store, probably would have chosen a different place. As she turned around the corner of the pasta isle, she found herself facing the guy from Don Carlos's gang, the same one who was pissed at her and trashed her apartment.

"Shit!" She cursed, dropping the few products she picked up on the shelf next to her, turning on her heels to head out of the store, hoping he didn't notice her. She wouldn't mind bumping into one of Dr. Moon's men, but didn't want to stir up things with the Italians again. At least not for a while. She tried to be as fast as possible, looking back for the guy to see if he's following her. Right outside of the door she ran into something felt like a brick wall, losing her balance and almost tripping over her own legs. Except the brick wall reached out and grabbed her arm with iron fist, steadying her. She looked up at it to meet the not exactly happy eyes of Matthew Murdock.

"He's here." She started. "Don Carlos's man."

Matt's hand was still on her arm, pulled her closer and started walking fast away from the store.

"What were you thinking?" He hissed between clenched teeth with deep voice, and Anna felt herself shivering. He looked scary when angry, and his tone sounded more like Daredevil, what reminded her of the old memories of her arguments with the masked man.

"Ouch, Matt, you are hurting me!" She yelled as his grip tightened around her arm to make her walk faster. Matt was dangerously strong, she had no idea how's that possible. Felt like he's been maintaining nonstop awareness of his strength, otherwise he would break everything he touched. He released her immediately.

"I'm sorry..." he apologized while still keeping his pace and Anna rubbed her arm before rushing after him to catch up.

"Maybe he didn't recognize me in this disguise." She tried protesting while trying to keep up with his fast steps at the same time. How can a blind man walk fast like this anyway? And how was he able to find me?

"He did." He said and Anna peaked back over her shoulder to see if anyone was following them, but saw nobody.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Why did you leave the apartment? We agreed that it's dangerous!" His voice was still angry, she's never ever seen Matt angry before.

"Sorry, I... I wanted to cook something for you and decided to buy food at the store instead of ordering. I'm going nuts alone there." She protested, skipping the main reason for her recklessness, but her answer just created more tension in him.

"You're risking everything we've done to keep you safe just for some dinner?"

Yeah, that, and check out the scene where I'm gonna attack Dr. Moon after I'll force him to come back. - she thought - Shit, she's not just failing badly to do anything good for him, but got noticed by the wrong group who's after her.

"I'm sorry..." she was trying to talk while running, barely able to catch her breath. He's fast and in top shape. "I was stupid and reckless. Didn't think this through. I'm really, really sorry." She recalled saying similar words to Daredevil on that rooftop, and her heart ached.

They were just at the neighboring house to his building, when everything started happening fast as usual in situations like this. A black SUV turned the corner just in front of them, speeding straight toward Anna, who was on the outside of the sidewalk by Matt. She wanted to react and jump away, but the car was way too fast for her reflexes. But it wasn't fast enough for Matt, who jumped in front of her, pushing her away with both hands. She fell on the ground and watched as not even a split second later the car ran up on the curb smashing into him, hitting him straight at his abdomen level, pushing a few feet, then hitting the breaks and making him fell down on the sidewalk.

"You idiot! You were supposed to hit the girl not the dude!" The man on the passenger seat was yelling at the driver.

"I was hitting the girl!" The guy who Anna saw in the store yelled back at him. "Have no idea where this guy came from, he wasn't there a second ago. Shit!"

"Let's go, you had your fun now, we can't afford to get caught in this shit. That guy is dead, man! You hit him like a deer!"

"Shit!" The driver guy cussed and drove off the scene.

Anna got on her feet, running toward Matt's body, laying still on the pavement. The streets were all empty, there wasn't a soul nearby when she needed help.

"Matt! Matt!" She dropped down on her knees next to him. "No, no, no, no..." He was on his back, and the streetlight was bright enough to see a lot of blood on his torso, his clothes were torn in several places from the impact. She can't lose him too, she's just too dangerous and causing everyone die around her.

He slowly opened his eyes, looking straight up to the sky. "Anna?" He tried to speak, but several coughs prevented him to continue.

"Don't talk, just... just..." She knew his condition was bad, possible ruptures, internal bleeding. "I'm so sorry... so so sorry..."

"We... need to go upstairs..." He tried forming the words, but she barely understood what he was saying.

"No, you need to go to a hospital!" She was digging in his pockets searching for his phone, but he caught her wrist.

"I can't." He said with a serious tone, voice much cleaner this time.

Anna froze, didn't understand it. What's up with guys around her not wanting to get medical care? But he seemed like he meant it, so she didn't want to argue, there was no time for that. "Ok, ok.." She said after a few seconds. She can heal him, it's much faster anyways.

Matt tried to get up on his feet, wobbling a little. "We need to go upstairs, they can come back."

She nodded, and helped him up, supporting his weight. He was as heavy as Daredevil. She said a quiet thank you for being this close to his apartment, so he doesn't need to walk long. They made it to the elevator, and Anna pushed him to the corner, so she can punch in the floor number. In the bright light she saw him looking much worse than she first thought. Lots of blood on his body and head, possible concussion. He coughed again, reaching up to his mouth to wipe off the blood just came out. His face started turning dangerously white.

"Matt...?" Anna panicked. "Please hold on just for a few seconds, we are almost there." She supported his weight more, since he started sliding off the wall. "Come on, come on..."

It felt like a forever ride, but eventually the 'ding' sound signaled they reached their floor. She pulled on him, but his legs buckled and his whole weight dropped on her shoulder. She grabbed the door jam, trying to stay as upright as possible.

"Anna..." He started, but she was busy digging through his pockets for the keys. Finally got it and dragged him to the couch.

He coughed up more blood, and she was wondering how is it possible that he's still conscious. This is Matt, not Daredevil. Matt, who probably never ever got punched, never got into fights.

Anna kneeled down on the floor next to the couch and placed one of her hands on his abs and another on his chest, wasn't sure which injury was more life threatening.

"Anna... please... don't..." He coughed again. "I'm so... sorry..." Matt knew she's gonna find out who he is the second she connects with him. He didn't have other choice though, otherwise he's gonna die. But at least he could tell her, instead of finding out the other way.

"Matt, stop talking now, you need to listen." She started feeling worried this isn't gonna work, he's not unconscious, but he can't focus either.

"I wanted to... I wanted to tell you, but..." more blood came out through his mouth as he coughed again. "I wanted to protect you."

"Matt, you did protect me. It's all right, just don't talk, and listen to me..."

He reached one hand up to her face, his eyes closing slowly. "I need to tell you something..." his eyelids were heavy, and his words faded, and he tried using his last bit of strength to tell her the truth. "Please... forgive me."

She had no idea what he's talking about. "No, there's nothing to forgive, you did nothing wrong. This is all my fault! Matt, listen to me please... I need to heal you."

He coughed up more blood, a lot this time. "Anna... I... I am Dare... ." The end faded to a barely whisper and with that his hand dropped and his eyes closed.

Her heart sped up, touched his neck with her fingers to feel his pulse. It was still there, just very weak. He passed out finally.

She moved her hands back to his body where they were before, and tried focusing on him. She startled by the all too familiar loud noises and intense smells, same as always happened with Daredevil. She heard everything from the distance, all mixed loud noises, crystal clear conversations, sirens, cars, ships honking far away at the piers, the crickets in Central Park, the quiet waves of the ocean. She swallowed hard as she heard her own heartbeat causing a pleasant feeling in her - actually in him -, then forced herself to push all of them aside before his slowing heart gives up and it's gonna be too late. Collected her strength, controlled her breathing and tried to find the sources of his injuries. Didn't take long to feel like hit by a bus, and like her body is breaking apart. She started coughing, feeling the difficulty of breathing. She frowned her eyebrows in pain, concentrating hard on healing him.

After a couple minutes she pulled away, supported her back on the coffee table behind her.

She was right. It's really him, there's no doubt. But how? How was he still alive? And if he's really Daredevil, then who died in the bakery ten days ago? She thought before felt the tiredness overtake her senses.