Anna was careful the next day not to leave the apartment at all. She didn't want to risk any kidnapping, car accident, or other dangerous situations before tonight's date. Not again. She even did her workout at Matt's place instead of the gym.
Matt came home after 7pm with a white lily, since the scent reminded him of her.
"Thank you, it's very nice." She said it with a smile, placing the flower in a glass of water since Matt didn't have vases around. She loved the smell of it, and tried to remember when was the last time she got flowers from anyone. It's been ages.
They agreed to leave late when the streets were quieter. Even if they're taking the rooftops, still less people to worry about.
He changed to clean clothes, gray suit with a white button up shirt underneath, dark tie and dress shoes. Freshly shaved and was wearing the usual red glasses.
She stepped out shortly from the bedroom wearing the blue dress Karen gave her yesterday with a nice jacket on top to keep her warm and her sneakers which were perfect for rooftops. Her dark blonde hair was down, brushing her shoulders and falling down her mid back. Matt took a big breath in, as the pleasant smell of vanilla mixed with lilies filled his senses.
"You are beautiful." He said, and she tucked one strain of hair behind her ear nervously, blushing.
"Thank you."
He hold his arm out for her to take and they walked up on the stairs leading to the rooftop and through a few buildings toward Foggy's parents restaurant, which was only a few blocks from W 46th Street. The roads were quiet down below them and the wind wasn't howling yet, so it was a pleasant and quiet night for an early winter. She was wondering where he's taking her, it's not like they can go out in public. Sitting in a restaurant for an hour or two would give a lot of chance for someone to recognize her.
He stopped in front of a Nelson's Meats and Restaurant, and Anna was about to warn him that the sign says it's closed when he placed a key into the lock and opened the door for her.
"Wow." She was surprised. "Do you have keys to every buildings in Hell's Kitchen?"
He laughed. "Just to the important ones." He led her in to a nice, but not too fancy restaurant, illuminated with romantic lighting, one table set with candles on. The walls were painted light yellow shade and the pastel green baseboards accented them nicely. Matt pulled a chair out for her to sit, then seated as well.
"This place belongs to Foggy's parents - well now more like to Theo - and they were kind enough to let us enjoy it tonight. They recently opened this section as a restaurant, the other part is functioning as their old meat store."
He put his glasses down on the table, and she looked in his eyes. He seemed nervous, and she was feeling that as well.
"It's very nice." She looked around. The place was cute, small and had a family restaurant feel to it what she liked a lot.
Matt laughed nervously. "Glad to hear, because I wouldn't know. We actually worked out of here for a few month after reopening our law business a couple years ago."
"Really? I didn't know you guys closed it."
"It was my fault. I disappeared for three months, and even after that I tried to push both Foggy and Karen away." He furrowed his brows, then laughed nervously. "I'm still not sure why, but they just hold onto me so strong and forgave me for everything. Most of the time I feel like I don't deserve them."
"I can't imagine you three without each other. Feels like you have the type of friendship what survives everything."
He made a weak smile and picked up the bottle sitting on the table.
"Would you like some wine?"
She smiled in relief, hoping that's gonna help a bit with her nervousness. Why was she nervous anyways? This is Matt, the same Matt she knows quite well now. But this was still something different, something what could change their relationship, moving it to a new level. And she didn't want to ruin it. She nodded and hold up her glass for him.
"Thank you." He poured some in his own glass as well.
"I'm sorry, I don't know much about wine, but I'm sure Mrs. Nelson picked us a very good one." Matt said honestly.
Anna laughed nervously, then looked up at him. "I know nothing about wine, so I'm sure it's gonna be perfect."
Matt let out a sigh of relief and both laughed. After that the mood changed to a much more relaxed one.
He lifted the covers up from their plates, revealing baked salmon with wild rice and arugula salad.
"This looks delicious!" Anna said, not remembering when was the last time she had something fancy like this.
"If you don't drink wine too often, what do you usually have?" Matt asked.
"I like lemonade, or tea, but sodas are ok as well. I'm not picky. I don't drink much alcohol, really. Just occasionally maybe a glass or two. Honestly this might sound weird, but I've never been drank in my life. And I'm proud of it."
"I wish I could tell that about myself. We ended up drinking too much sometimes in College with Foggy." He laughed. "Not much since then though. My... nighttime activities require me to stay sober. At least most of the time..."
They both smiled. "Though Foggy and Karen thought I have a drinking problem a few years ago, probably you better know in case they'll bring it up. I used it as an excuse for being beaten up a lot and missing most of our visits at Jose's."
"I know that place, I walked by it a few times. Looks like something sketchy." She smiled.
"Yeah... you need to know what to ask for to drink there. Certainly have to avoid the water and never mention any of the fancy cocktails."
They laughed again. "Maybe one day I can take you there with Foggy and Karen. We hang out there a lot, after work... well, not so much lately though."
"That would be great." She wished it honestly, walking on the streets freely again was a dream of hers.
"You mentioned that you grew up without parents too. Do you know anything about your Mom?"
"Oh yes, she was here in New York the whole time. I only found out about her a few years ago."
"Oh, wow. That must have been a discovery."
"Yeah, I didn't take it well first. But now I wish I forgave her much sooner, because then we could had more time together."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"I'm glad I got to know her at least, we had a good and close relationship in those last few months. Wish God gave us more time though."
Her face saddened. Finding someone finally just to get taken away shortly after... it must have been excruciating.
"What was her name?"
"Maggie." He said it with a kind smile.
She smiled at him, knowing exactly how precious even an hour with her Mom would be. She was happy that he at least got the chance to meet her.
"Silly question, but I don't think I have ever asked... How old are you?"
Matt laughed. "I'm 32 actually."
"So you have been Daredevil for what? 7 years now, right?"
"Yeah, give or take."
"I'm gonna turn 26 next month."
"We'll have to celebrate that then."
She covered her face. "Nope, freaking out getting this close to 30."
"Tell me more about it."
"For men it's different. You look better with age." She gave him a genuine smile, and Matt raised an eyebrow to that.
They stayed at the restaurant for several hours, just talking about random topics, getting to know each other in a new way, a way without secrets or lies. It was nice, and Anna completely forgot about time until a yawn unintentionally left her mouth.
"I guess it's time for us to go home." Matt said and stood up to help her with her jacket.
It was freezing outside, and she hugged herself. Matt gave her his coat and they walked home hand in hand.
Karen was sitting on the hardwood floor of their reception area, all sorts of papers and pictures scattered around her. She shifted in her position, then eventually kicked off her high heels to be more comfortable as digging through all the documents she found on Dr. Moon. She created a list of people higher up in SciTech, and trying to find what other companies had contracted them that could possibly be involved in this project. She searched for the names of CEOs and upper level people in each of those companies, maybe one of them will be familiar, but nothing. After she put their names on the list as well, she eyed the paper and was trying to make any connections between them and Dr. Moon. She pulled her laptop closer to her and as she was digging more online, she realized that not just companies contracted them, but several private military and government units as well. Her heart sped up while putting the Department of Defense on her list, which was directly responsible for coordinating the U.S. Armed Forces.
"Shit, it's gonna be hard founding anything on those guys." She murmured under her nose and hoping that they're not the ones involved in Anna's case. But now she saw how big of a mess they're getting into.
Names of two senators, and five Generals ended up on the top of her list. She moved her hand to her temple while trying to focus more, legs crossed under her on the floor. After several hours she still wasn't able to make any sense of it, and she knew she was missing something important.
"That's it!" She yelled in the quiet office, realizing it's just her now and everyone else went home already. It was already dark outside, Foggy left around 5 to meet with his client and Matt left at 7pm to go on his date. She smiled at the memory of Matt's face, he looked so happy and excited for their first date. Karen haven't seen Matt this happy in a very long time, and made a mental note to call Anna in the morning and ask about how their date went.
She completely lost track of time, so checked on her watch to see how late it was. It was after 10pm already. She stood up from the floor and walked across the papers scattered around to check on her phone and quickly reply back to Foggy's text, then get some more coffee. She knew now what was missing, what she needed to find out to make the connection and identify who was the one who approved this operation. She needed to know what this project was about. After some more digging all she could found was the name of the project. It was called Moonshot, ridiculously named after Dr. Moon. What was this project about? What were they trying to achieve with this? Why they needed Anna, why they tortured her, and why they can't just use someone else instead of her? They've been hunting her for years, why was she so important to them? If she could find out what the outcome of this project was, she would know immediately what type of organization or department was interested in paying for it and willing to take the risk of getting charged with illegal experiments and torture. According to Matt, Anna didn't know the answers to these questions, but Karen wasn't completely convinced about that. She walked back with the coffee in her hands and started researching on the internet to find out more about this classified Moonshot project.
Anna woke up the next morning hugging a pillow to her chest. It was Saturday and they both slept in, the sun was shining in with full strength. She dreamt about their date last night, filling her heart with warmth. She couldn't believe they finally did it, went out on a real old fashioned romantic date and just talked about personal every day stuff. She let herself to be happy and enjoy this feeling, and her smile grew bigger.
After a couple minutes she walked in to the kitchen quietly to prepare breakfast for both of them. Matt was still asleep, and she was sure he went out on patrol after their date, and who knows what time he got back home. Since it was the weekend and he didn't have to rush to work, she had time to prepare two big omelets. The coffee maker made a beeping noise and Matt sat up on the couch.
Anna looked at him nervously from behind the cooktop, slightly blushing while placing the cut up veggies and ham in the skillet. She wasn't sure how to act now around him that they're officially dating. How do couples usually spend their Saturday mornings? He quietly walked up to her and hugged her from behind, placing a kiss on her neck.
"Good morning."
All her worries were gone and immediately replaced by the usual sexual excitement and lust.
"Good morning. Breakfast is almost ready, we could..."
"Hmm.." He nuzzled her skin there, and his arms still hugging her form pulled her back more, closer to his body. She arched her body against his and she had no idea anymore what she was going to say. She dropped the spatula next to the skillet and turned around in his embrace to give him a deep and long kiss, while crossing her arms behind his neck.
"What time did you get back?"
"Just before 5."
"That's a long time out. Sit, I bet you're hungry."
He smirked, and she shook her head laughing. "I mean hungry for food."
"That too." He laughed and she moved the omelets to plates. She was wondering if she saw him laughing like this before, but couldn't recall any memories. He seemed happy and relaxed, and she felt like that too.
After breakfast they just spent the day cuddling on the couch, listening to one of Matt's audio books like a normal couple, and completely forgetting about all the troubles.
Early afternoon Anna's phone rang on the coffee table and Anna peaked out from Matt's arms to see who's that.
"It's Karen, can you reach my phone?" She asked laughing, all tangled up in Matt. He stretched his arm out from the couch, trying to reach the phone and eventually hitting the answer button.
"Hey Anna! I hope I called you the right time and didn't interrupt anything." Karen's voice came through the speakers with some embarrassment and excitement mixed together.
Anna smiled into Matt's shoulder. "Not at all, we were just listening to an audio book. Is everything ok?"
"Yes, I just wanted to hear about your date!" She said and Matt carefully sat up to give them some space to talk, but Anna pulled him back on the couch.
"It was perfect." She said blushing and saw a smile on Matt's face hearing that, so her lips turned upwards as well. "We stayed at the restaurant for hours talking, it was very nice, then walked home hand in hand."
"I'm so happy to hear that! I don't think I've ever seen Matt that happy as last night before he left the office. But don't tell this to him please."
Anna chuckled. "Sorry, too late, you're on speakerphone."
They all laughed then Karen got all excited.
"Hey Matt! I'm really happy for both of you! By the way... I have the list!"
"The list?" He asked, not sure exactly what she was talking about.
"Yeah, all the names of the upper people of SciTech and all the companies and government units. We just need to narrow it down to the ones who could have any interest in the Moonshot project."
"That's great!"
"Can I see that list? Maybe I recognize someone on it?" Anna asked quickly.
"Oh yes, of course. We'll come over to your place in an hour, how's that?"
"Perfect." Matt and Anna said together.
"Oh, and one more thing... Dr. Moon is back in New York."
"So, Dr. Moon is back." Anna said quietly after Matt hung up the call, remembering her old plan. "I've been planning to attack him since they killed that guy dressed as Daredevil." She said casually, and Matt raised both of his eyebrows. "But then I learned you're alive, so now not sure if I should do anything to him."
"You've been planning what?"
"I know... so I found out which hotel he stayed last time, and hoping he's using the same one now that he's back. It's only three blocks from the lab, and I bet he's walking there every day, alone. I found the perfect corner to attack him. I checked out everything, it's a perfect plan."
"And what exactly were you planning to do with him?"
"Well, hurt him of course. For what he did to that man, and for making me think he was you."
"And then?"
Anna thought about it. She never really planned anything after the attack. She was only thinking of ways of making the doctor suffer, but not afterwards.
"Anna, be careful. As I said earlier, don't let your anger control you, because it's gonna turn into rage. Trust me, I've been there."
She sighed, he was right. "It was a silly plan."
"We'll figure something out, I promise. Let's see what Karen found first, ok?"
"Yeah..." She said disappointedly with a big sigh. "I hope she was careful while digging those names out."
"Me too. She's being extremely distracted in the past few days and staying late in the office after hours. I always check on her when I'm out as Daredevil. At least she hasn't gone anywhere close to the laboratory."
"That's good at least, I really don't want anyone to get hurt."
"I know."
Just an hour later Karen and Foggy showed up as promised.
"So..." Karen started as they settled down on the two armchairs while the other couple sat down on the couch. She put a letter sized paper in front of them on the coffee table. "On this side there are the names of the SciTech company, all who are in a higher position. And on the other side I put down some of the companies and government units who contracted them with all sorts of different projects. Now, I was trying to go back to 2004, when Matt mentioned you were in the lab first, but not much data could be found around that date. Not sure if that's because they weren't digitalized everything and they keep them in the archives, or they just hid everything. And Dr. Moon's main project - called Moonshot by the way - is highly classified, nothing can be found about it, so I couldn't connect any of these companies to it."
"Wow, this looks like a lot of work you did." Anna said amazed, while looking through the names on the list, trying to remember if she ever heard about any of these people or companies. She also knew that whoever approved this project goes back to early 1996, when they experimented on her Mom. That will be indeed in the archives, possibly not on the internet. Especially since it's classified.
"Wish we could go into their archives room and take a look..." Karen said quietly and Matt made a disapproving expression.
"You promised you won't do anything like that again, Karen." Foggy said seriously.
"I know, I know..." She eyed Anna with hope who was still reading the list. "Any names seem familiar?"
"Not really, I don't think I heard any of these, ever. Not even the company names. I'm sorry. I know these senators, but not from the lab, it's just public knowledge." She went into deep thoughts and Matt picked up her increased heartbeat. She lied. "It's also possible that whoever approved this project, approved other things as well in later years, so it's already here on your list and not just in their archives."
"What is the Moonshot project about?" Karen asked out of the blue. "If we knew that we would know which units or companies would benefit from it."
Anna tensed, but tried hiding it with a neutral expression. Matt was listening to her erratic heart beat, and carefully put his hand on hers to make her relax and others won't notice it.
"I don't know. I'm sorry, I wish I could be more help. They never told me."
Karen sighed. "Ok, I will look into these in more details."
After Karen and Foggy left Anna grabbed Matt's hand and pulled him into the bedroom. She closed the door on them, and started whispering, like the other two from the elevator would still could hear her talking.
"Matt..."
"Which names did you recognize?" He asked, knowing exactly that she had a guess.
"I saw four private military company names on Karen's list. I think it's one of those."
"Why?"
"The uniforms those guys were wearing are not standard, didn't look like the government official ones. And would make sense for them to use their own team to capture me and do all sorts of illegal stuff, than hire a different unit for it. Just reasonable to think that they don't want anyone know about this."
"Yeah, except if it's a government operation, they wouldn't mind hiring a private team to do the dirty job. But I will look into that. What were those company names on the list?"
"Are you planning on checking on them tonight?" She asked later after they went through the names and did some basic research on the companies.
"Yeah, but it's still early, and I need to practice some. Maybe you would like to join me?"
She thought about it quickly, it's better than sitting in the apartment. Plus she was interested to see him training.
"Yeah, I would like that! So you do practice at Fogwell's, don't you?"
He smiled and she rushed to the bedroom to change while yelling back. "I knew it!"
When Anna stepped back out to the living room, all dressed she saw Matt already changed to sweatpants and an old t-shirt with a jacket, no glasses. He was holding his cane in his right hand and a bag in his left.
"Ready?"
Anna nodded and opened the door for him then hooked her arm in his left.
"So, the cane is only for show?" She asked while she was pretending to guide him down the stairs.
"Yes. But occasionally it's nice to relax and just rely on it instead of focusing on my surroundings."
"Hmmm." She didn't even think about having to focus on things around him.
The gym was empty as expected, and everything was exactly at the same spot Anna left it yesterday. Matt dropped his jacket and bag on the bench, pulled out a wrap and started working it around his hands with precise motions. She stopped staring him and walked up to one of the bags, and began punching it slowly while moving around it to warm up.
Matt picked the one next to hers, and started with straight punches. She couldn't help peaking at his direction, checking on his technique. It was totally different than last time they were here together him as Matt. He was faking it then way too well.
"I don't recognize that style. What martial arts did you learn exactly?"
Matt stopped for a second, an unrecognizable expression on his face.
"I learned several ones, like Silat, Kali, Wing Chun, Wushu, but kept a few elements from boxing as well. The kicks are mostly from Tae Kwon Do obviously, the takedowns from Judo. Whichever is the most effective in certain situations."
"Wow, Wing Chun has some similarities to Uechi Ryu karate as far as I know. Especially the circular blocks and crane movements. I love your kicks by the way, especially when you do the backflip." Anna smiled. That's a quite impressive amount of martial arts he knows, but what did she expect? He's the best, and there's a reason for that.
"I can teach you one day if you would like to."
"Really? That would be great!" Her excitement grew, she always wanted to learn it, but never knew where to start. "I don't think I can do backflips, at least never tried. But can do handstands."
"That's a good start."
"So do you practice with the bag only?" She asked, genuinely interested.
"Yes, mostly. I try swinging it harder, to be a little more challenge, or sometimes use these two at the same time, like they were the enemies." He swung the other bag to demonstrate it. "I also do general strength training, there are weights over there. Body weight exercises for functional strength, mobility routines and stretching for flexibility." Anna's eyes followed his fingers to the weights area what she used quite often after the bakery incident. "I go out almost every night, what sorta gives me real fight practice. And keeps my endurance up by running on the rooftops."
"Yeah... I remember the aftermath of some of those unsuccessful practices..." she was referring to his serious injuries after some of the fights went wrong.
There were times when Anna's mouth was quicker than her mind, and this was one of those occasions. "Do you need a training partner? A real training partner who won't injure you?" She asked, with the intention of helping him.
His eyebrow raised in surprise, and the corner of his lips turned to a smile. "Are you sure?"
Anna's mind caught up with the words just left her mouth, suddenly realizing who was in front of her. He's Matt, the kind guy who was also the Devil. But seeing the look on his face was calling her for a challenge. She narrowed her eyes. "Maybe I will be more challenging than those bags. Unless you're afraid..."
"I'm terrified." He said jokingly while climbing through the ropes of the boxing ring, undoing the wraps around his hands and tossing them precisely to his bag on the bench several yards away, then slowly backing up and turning around.
Anna picked up a broom laying on the floor and jumped up on the raised platform easily, ducking under the same ropes. She was extremely curious about his abilities, though she saw him fighting before, she felt the thrill running through her body to experience it in first hand. She never fought with a trained martial artist, except Tom when they were teenagers.
While his back was facing toward her she swung the broom at his direction, aiming at the back of his head, but ready to stop the movement if for some reason he won't block it. He lifted his arm to deter hers without looking or turning around, holding it high up. "I always wanted to see this close-up!" She said with excitement in her voice. His 360 degree senses were amazing. "It's so surreal that you don't have to look at things to see them coming."
"It's pretty much the same, doesn't make any difference."
She swung it at him several times, trying to hit him on his legs, torso, or head, with no success. He was moving extremely fast, his reflexes were like ten times better than anybody else's. When she swung it toward his legs, he easily jumped over it, ducked when the broom was flying high.
After a few minutes he stepped into her space fast without her being able to move and took the broom from her, throwing it to the side of the ring. "Now, give me some punches."
Before that day at the bakery, before she saw those men kill the fake Daredevil Anna never punched someone first, she only used her knowledge on defense, basically blocking a punch and counterattack. She remembered how vicious she felt then with one single purpose. To make them hurt. She knew that the Anna who walked out from that room wasn't the same anymore who walked in. If she would had to do this with Matt before that day, she would feel nervous and intimidated. But now, she felt excited, passionate to test her and his limits, to learn something new from him, and to help him train. She started delivering all sorts of different techniques in different speed. To his torso, head, sides, spinning around him, bending or jumping slightly to find an opening in his defenses. He was good, way too good and she enjoyed seeing him block her punches with ease, even her fastest strikes. She was watching his eyes, they were shining with excitement as well. After a while she decided it's time to get more serious. The way she learned kicks was always starting with lifting the leg in her center first, so the enemy can't tell what type of kick is coming until it's too late. So she did the same this time as well, rotating her hip in the last second to hit him with a roundhouse kick, right on the side of his ribcage, just above the old bullet wound. Anna froze in surprise that she was actually able to get the kick in, and covered her mouth. He also had a surprised look on his face for a second, what confirmed that he wasn't playing nice on her, then he smiled wickedly.
"Nice one! I didn't hear your heartbeat skip when you changed your mind about the type of the kick."
"Because I didn't. I originally planned to do a roundhouse kick, this is the way I was taught. To confuse the enemy, and no telegraphing with my body."
He tilted his head. "I like it."
She blushed and made a weak smile. "So you rely on listening to our heartbeats during fights?"
"Heartbeat can tell me a lot of things, enemy's location, emotional state, even some of their thoughts. But I also listen to their breathing, feel their temperature, smell if they start sweating more, being nervous, or getting more aggressive. The air movement tells me their speed. And then there are the weapons as well, same, sound, smell, vibration they cause in the air."
"Fascinating." She said and tried to surprise him with a few more kicks and punches.
"So what if I attack you this time?"
He asked and Anna's heart sped up while taking a few steps backwards.
"Stand in your fighting stance." He said, and she just stood there hands next to her body.
"I'm standing that way."
He tilted his head again, focusing on her, maybe he missed something. When Anna noticed his confusion she explained.
"My fighting stance is always the stance I am currently in. I don't walk on the streets with hands up, so I learned to block from more natural body positions. Like this. But I can lift my hands up if you'd like."
He looked very focused and interested in what she's saying. "That actually makes sense." He took a step toward her. "You ready?"
"As much as I can be." She said with her heart beating fast, because she's about to get attacked by Daredevil.
He started with punches, and Anna was shocked by his strength, it was astonishing, and she knew he was still holding back big time. She was able to block the first couple of hits, but could feel the restraint in his body, his punches as she blocked them with her forearms weren't as hard nor fast as when he fights for real. She was even able to grab his arm a few times, disturbing his balance by pulling him in for a counterattack. He was very careful with her.
"You're protecting your center quite well."
"Thank you. But I want to learn something new, so please don't play too nice on me. I know you can do better than this."
"Is that so?" He raised an eyebrow. "As you wish." She saw a spark in his eyes for a second before found his fist just an inch from her face. He stopped it precisely with perfect control before actually hitting her. He was extremely fast, she had no idea how he got through her defenses.
"You leave an opening here, and here." He pointed to the outsides of her arms. "Someone can hit you with a hook if they are fast enough. Also you were blocking it on my upper arm, so my forearm and fist can coil in and hit you."
"Wow, I didn't even see that coming, I was barely able to put my block there, not to mention the correct position. Show me again please, slower?"
He did and she was so excited to learn how to deal with these types of hook punches. They tried it several times, faster and faster. Then Matt showed him a couple more new techniques she's never seen before. They switched to real sparring what simulated a real fight and Anna felt her blood was boiling in her. As he learned more about her capabilities he started attacking faster, and she really needed all her focus to keep up with him. And she knew this still wasn't even close to his full speed. He tried kicking her legs out a few times, and she was proud that she was able to avoid ending up on the mat at least. Anna started feeling warm and her face heat up from their session, while he seemed like didn't even feel these workouts.
"Ok, ok. I need a minute." She breathed it out after a fast round of attacks, rubbing her forearms a bit. She made a mental note that she needed to take her arm conditioning exercises to the next level so will be able to block his strong punches better and with less pain. She looked in his eyes, only noticing now that the fire she's seen before starting to build.
"You are very good." He said seriously, which was a big compliment from someone like him.
She blushed immediately. "Thank you. This was great, thank you for showing me new things. I definitely need to learn how to fight with someone who knows what he is doing. With those military guys I will need it for sure."
He smiled at her, she was pretty good and fun to train with. Matt enjoyed teaching her, training with her and feeling her close to him. Her smell drove him crazy, and when her skin flushed and heard her fast heartbeat he just couldn't resist anymore. He took a step closer to her, and she reached her right arm out with one finger touching his chest.
"You're invading my personal space."
He crooked his lips and took another step, forcing her to take one backwards. She kept her finger pinned to his chest, trying to hold him back. Then he took another step, and another one. She switched from her finger to her palm, feeling all his muscles tense underneath, pushing on his chest in an attempt to keep him at a distance while she took a few more steps backwards until hitting the padded post of the ring with her back. She got cornered, literally, nowhere to go. Her breathing sped up and her excitement grew.
She was about to say something when looked back up to his sightless eyes again, finding them burning straight into hers. She saw this look before, a few times now actually, and she knew what he's thinking.
He took another step, forcing her arm bend by the elbow and making him stop just inches away from her. She felt his heartbeat under her palm racing at a crazy speed. How could she ever thought he doesn't want her? She slowly dropped her hand, letting him take the last step before kissing her lips with thirst. This kiss wasn't gentle, it was hungry and demanding. She let him in, feeling her own heart hammering under her skin. Oh how many times she was dreaming about experiencing this passion. She bit his lower lip while her arms slid up on his back, fingernails digging into his skin through his shirt as he deepened the kiss. She moaned, then felt his hands grabbing her ass, lifting her up. She locked her legs around his waist, her back was supported by the post behind. One of his hands still holding her up by her butt, while the other slowly slid along her thigh, teasing her skin and causing shivers through her whole body. She was grateful for wearing shorts instead of leggings, this way she's more exposed to his touch. His hand then moved up on her side under her tank top and she took a big breath in. Feeling his rough fingers on her gentle skin was wonderful. His mouth left hers, and started kissing her neck, biting in it gently. She dropped her head backwards to give him better access, exposing herself to him completely to let him do whatever he wanted. That made him wild, losing his control and she felt his hand running up on her abdomen to her breast, grabbing it through her sports bra. Yes, finally! She screamed inside in pleasure, then made a sound she never knew can leave her throat, and she felt the heat starting to be unbearable between her legs as his hand cupped and teased her breast. She was all wet and ready, and wanted to feel him closer and deeper, so moved her hands to the waistband of his pants, yanking his shirt out, and sliding her hands up underneath on his bare skin. Damn he was hot, and she felt all the muscles twitching under her fingers as she moved them upwards. He was kissing her again, one hand is still on her breast massaging it the way she felt like she's gonna explode. Then it moved down to her abs, what she was always proud of because of all the workouts she's been doing. He draw small circles there, then moved up to her other breast. She hated the fact that her bra was in the way, her mind was screaming at her to take it off right now so she could feel his touch on her bare skin there, but she was pinned to the post strong, unable to move that much. So instead she arched her back, pushing her breast more into his hand, and tightening the grip around his waist with her thighs. As her need grew she started moving her hips against his waist, rubbing herself in slow motion, wishing she could lower herself a little and feel what's between his legs. She heard his breathing became ragged and deeper, hands shaking slightly and slowly he lowered her to her feet, removing both hands from her body to spread them out and grabbing the ropes on her two sides for support. His head was dropped and he stayed there for a while without any movement. Anna tried to control her breathing, her confusion growing inside more and more. What just happened? Why he stopped again? Did she do anything wrong, and if so what was it? She desperately wanted to know, even if it's embarrassing for her. She reached out to his chin, lifting his head up to look at him. His eyes opened slowly and his look wasn't what she expected to see. She saw guilt, and maybe embarrassment in them, but it was hard to identify. What just happened?
"Matt?" Her voice was barely a whisper, full of worry now. Did she hurt him somehow, touching one of his injuries?
He thinned his lips, looking all ashamed, and now the guilt was more visible on his face.
"I'm... I'm sorry, Anna. I shouldn't have done that."
She snapped, why was he apologizing?
"Hell you should have! I wanted to!" She didn't care at this point if this was the most embarrassing thing she had to hear, she just wanted to know what's wrong with her. "Did I hurt you somehow that's why you stopped? Pushed on one of your bruises maybe?"
"No... no, you didn't do anything wrong."
"Then what? I don't understand, is there anything wrong with me maybe? I smell weird compared to those other women?" Her face turned red in embarrassment, she hated the fact that he slept with all sorts of women, but he loses interest in her for some reason. Maybe she had some disgusting smell for his super senses, or she made some weird sound what puts him off?
His look was all confused. "What other women?"
Ok, this is embarrassing, and probably she won't be able to look at his face after this, but she just can't handle the unknown. Maybe it's something she can fix.
"You know... All those hot women you..." she trailed off a little, feeling her face heat up again. "The ones you have been sleeping with... Maybe I have a bad smell what gross you out or... or... my skin is dry, or... I don't know. I know I'm different and not that..."
He silenced her with a gentle kiss. "No, there's nothing wrong with you. It's the opposite actually, you are..." He furrowed his brows. "Why do you think I've been sleeping with a bunch of women?"
"Well... I talked with Foggy, and he mentioned that you're very popular with hot women, and..." she coughed in embarrassment. "And like having one night stand type of relationships." She couldn't look into his eyes, just staring at her toes. "I know I'm not that hot and confident like those type of girls when it comes to dating..."
He laughed miserably, so Anna had to look up to see what's that funny. How can he laugh when she's feeling the most awful in her life?
He placed one hand on her cheek. "I don't do one night stands with anybody. Those are all Foggy's imaginations, what I also let him to believe." His smile was honest. "And maybe even encouraged it. They seemed like a good excuse to stay in bed while I was recovering from a serious injury, or while I was out fighting and didn't answer my phone."
She made an O shape with her mouth, all the information sinking in.
"The truth is the opposite actually." His expression was embarrassed this time, and she was confused why would that be. She was looking into his eyes patiently, waiting for him to elaborate.
He licked his lips, hesitating. "The truth is it's very hard to date for me. What I told you that night on the rooftop, that I don't do relationships, that was true. First of all, it's not good to build a relationship on lies, and it's not safe for people to learn about my alter ego. I take that very seriously, more seriously than anything else."
"This would actually explain the one night stands." She said fast.
"Yes, except the fact that how would I explain all the old injuries? Even if it's dark, they can be felt, and start to raise a lot of questions. And honestly, one night stands are not really my thing."
"So there are no other girls?" She asked carefully, crossing her fingers mentally for the answer to be no.
He smiled gently at her. "No other girls. The truth is..." that embarrassed look was back on his face. "Last time I had a real girlfriend was in College, before I started being a vigilante."
Anna's eyes widened, that was like what? 7-8 years ago? A relief washed over her, realizing she doesn't have to be nervous about her none existing dates and experience as much. Elektra... she thought when remembered what Foggy said, the perfectly beautiful woman. So this means they weren't together when she came back a few years ago? Where is she now?
"When I put on the mask I made a choice. I knew I can't have it both. Helping people and risking my life, or a normal life with normal relationships. I almost lost Foggy and Karen a few years ago. It's just very hard to have both... even friendship, lying is not what builds good relationships." His face saddened.
"So yeah, you definitely don't have to worry about other girls." He said after a few minutes silence and smiled at her.
Anna still didn't get her answer to the biggest question.
"So... if you don't think that I'm less desirable than the non existent pretty girls..." she looked down at her shoes again. "And if you're serious that nothing is wrong with me... Then what's wrong? Maybe it's a religious thing, like marriage first?"
"No, definitely not." He furrowed his brows to the thought. After a minute pause he took a step toward her and took both of her hands in his. He looked serious, and Anna's anxiety started to build.
"I love you, Anna." His eyes were focused somewhere on her face, and she saw so much love in them. She didn't expect hearing this from him, but after a second her arms found their way around his neck.
"I love you too, Matt, for a long time." She felt his lips on hers, and closed her eyes to take in and enjoy this moment. His kiss was gentle and caring, he caressed her hair with his right hand.
"You mean everything to me, and I... I don't want to lose you."
"You won't, Matt."
"You don't know that. I have this tendency to bring the worst to all good things in my life, and losing them eventually." He closed his eyes for a minute, remembering how everyone left in his life, and continued with a painful expression. "I don't want to screw this up, don't want to rush things, because you deserve the best, much much better than me. And I'm not even sure why you're still here with me after everything we went through, but I'm so thankful you are. Which makes me selfish and.."
"I'm here because I love you. And because I want to be with you. You are everything I wanted in my life." She smiled at him, and felt relieved to learn that it's not just her with all the insecurities when it comes to relationships.
"I love you so much!" Matt kissed her again, pulling her closer by her waist.
Later that night Matt went out to check on Karen first, making sure she didn't sneak out and went to the laboratory. After confirming she's still at their office searching on her computer, he left to check the private military companies from the list.
He was very thorough, didn't want to miss anything. He 'looked' for suspicious activities, noises, equipments, anything at the companies offices, founding nothing illegal or unusual. His feet took him automatically to the rooftop of Dr. Moon's hotel what Anna told him about earlier today. He couldn't believe that she was actually thinking of attacking the scientist as a revenge for Daredevil's death.
He was sleeping in his room now peacefully - two stories below him - and the masked man's hands closed into tight fists. It would be so easy just climb in through his window and end this, threaten him and make him leave New York for good. But he knew it just sounded easy, but in reality it was difficult. He needed to know who approved and still funding this operation, otherwise if he takes the doctor out of the picture they'll just find another scientist who can continue hunting her. The temptation was there though to go in and scare the doctor away, so he would run out of this country far. His friends were in danger, Karen was getting closer and closer at figuring things out, and if Dr. Moon notices her... He can't let that happen, had to do something.
He walked up to the tv antenna and broke off a piece from it, then jumped down the fire escape and lowered himself in front of his window. It was locked, he knew that without checking. Ideally he would use a pry bar, but none was handy, so he pushed the thin antenna piece into the gap between the frame and the window itself just beneath the latch and pushed the lock open with it.
He stood above the sleeping doctor for a minute, then with a swift move covered his mouth with one hand, while the other grabbed his throat to apply pressure and make him pass out. It didn't take long and he was unconscious.
Dr. Moon woke up face down on the gravel surface of his hotel's rooftop. As he carefully lifted up on his four his eyes shifted to the dark shadow just a few feet in front of him. Daredevil stepped closer - hist figure lit up by the full moon - and towered above him.
"This is what's gonna happen. I ask questions, and you're gonna answer honestly. And don't lie, because I will know."
"Why would I answer to anything?"
"Because we're on top of your ten story hotel building, and falling 110 feet will definitely kill you."
"You wouldn't do that."
"Try me." Daredevil said with deep voice and grabbed the doctor by the collar of his shirt, pulling him up easily with one hand and pushing him close to the parapet. He lost his balance and fell onto his knees, bumping into the low wall and grabbing it with his hands for support.
"Ok... ok... What do you want?"
"I want to know everything about the Moonshot Project."
"I don't know what you're talking about!" He lied and Daredevil grabbed his wrist, twisting his arm painfully.
"I told you don't lie."
"Alright... alright..." He hugged his arm painfully after it got released. "You're barbaric..."
"Start talking."
"Geez... Ok... I heard about that project, it's highly classified."
"Tell me something I don't know. 1996... who approved it?"
"Nobody! It was my project! My idea! Those idiots up there had no clue how big discovery I made, they thought I was crazy!" He was telling the truth, so Matt stayed calm this time.
"What about since then? They would have shut you down by now, but they didn't."
"In 2004, when Rob brought Anna back to me I was able to prove it to them, but they were afraid of the risks and didn't want to spend much resources on it."
"Until...?" Daredevil asked impatiently, grabbing that same wrist painfully.
"Until 3 years later they found someone who was extremely interested in my project. Look, Anna's healing power is huge, but her killing ability... now that's something what interests a lot of people. And this guy would do anything to help me with transferring her abilities to others."
"Who is he?"
Dr. Moon stayed quiet. "He owns this company... they are funding everything."
"Who?"
The doctor stayed quiet.
"Who is behind this?" Daredevil was yelling now, loud, threatening, but the doctor just covered his ears.
"I can't tell you that."
Matt's jaw tightened, then he launched forward again, pushing the doctor over the parapet. He started falling face down, but the vigilante grabbed his left ankle in the last second. The doctor cried out in panic, his eyes were watching the street deep below. He was hanging head down, desperately trying to find anything to hold on with his hands, but his fingers were only scratching the brick surface of the wall. Another desperate yelp left his throat.
"I'm listening..." Daredevil said with dead seriousness.
"Ok, ok, just pull me up, please!"
"Then I suggest you to start talking. I'm losing my patience."
"Please... Don't hurt me! I can't tell you the name! They will kill me if I do."
He listened to his heartbeat, knowing that he was telling the truth.
"Those... people... they're powerful. One of the biggest organization in the country... I can't... They would kill me just being here talking about them with you."
Daredevil didn't move, just kept holding him by his ankle.
"Look, I'm not lying, you have to believe me... If you knew who's behind them you would understand me. They will kill me, I can't run away, I can't hide. Please! I would rather die here than by their hands." He said eventually as he heard a growl escaping from Daredevil's throat.
"Alright..."
Matt took a step forward and lowered the doctor as much as his arm extended. The doctor started sobbing, and the vigilante slowly started listing the government units, then the private military company names to the doctor what Karen found, taking several seconds breaks after each name.
The doctor tensed, wasn't sure what he was doing, then after hearing the name of Tactical Elite Corps his heart jumped into high speed.
Daredevil went quiet and tilted his head with a smile.
"Thank you, doctor."
The next day Matt was already gone when Anna woke up, which meant it was late in the day already.
She was daydreaming about last night, and letting herself to be happy about the things she learned. He loves her, and he said it out loud. No other girlfriends, no one night stands, and nothing was wrong with her. And they're dating, she had a real boyfriend! She was spinning in the living room and hugging a pillow to her chest. She was deeply in love, and this time she didn't have to hold it back or hide it.
But how slow exactly he wants to take this relationship? Sometimes it was very hard for her to resist him, they had this strong chemistry what was hard to ignore and wasn't sure how much longer she will be able to keep a slow pace. She started wondering, but slapped herself immediately not to worry about it too much, and just enjoy the good things instead. Even with the sudden stops of their make out sessions she loved them a lot, and now she knew it's nothing to do with her.
Anna thought it would be good if she starts her day with a workout, so walked down to Fogwell's. The first surprise when she arrived was that the back door she always used was unlocked. She remembered they locked it last night, so knocked and pushed it open.
"Hello?" Called inside, wanting to know what's going on. She saw a dark haired tall man with a tape measure by the bags - kneeling on the floor - who turned around to her voice.
"Anna?"
She furrowed her brows, then realized who was that in front of her. "Tom?"
He laughed and ran up to her, hugged hard and lifting her up in the air. "I can't believe it's you! Where were you? I have been trying to find you for years! I can't believe you just walked in here like this!" The smile didn't leave his face for a second.
Anna pulled back a little from his embrace to catch some air, smiling wide still.
"It's so good to see you! I didn't know you are in New York!" Anna said with joy. It was so good to see a familiar face.
"I just moved here recently. I lost my job from out of nowhere, and needed a fresh start. I heard it from several people that Hell's Kitchen is still uprising and there are a lot of opportunities here, so decided to check this part of town out. So glad I did, because I liked it so much from the start that I rented an apartment here."
"What are you doing in this gym?"
"I bought it!" Tom said proudly. "Figured this part of town would benefit from a dojo here. It's not the safest area and people could benefit from learning how to defend themselves. This is a new beginning for me, doing what I love and having my own business."
Anna's eyes grew wide. "Are you opening your own dojo here? That's so exciting!"
"Yeah, that's the plan. Will see how it goes, I'm not too confident, this is gonna be my first one." He looked up and down on her, noticing her wearing workout clothes. "Are you using this place?"
"Oh, not officially... I mean my friend... actually boyfriend..." she blushed, first time using this word. "The previous owner let him use it... they know each other since he was a kid, lots of good memories here. Anyways he let me workout here." She lifted her key up. "He probably forgot to mention it to you."
"Yeah, but no worries. So your boyfriend? How long you two being together?"
Anna's cheek heated up, she had no idea what date she should count their relationship. "Officially I guess for two days now, that's when our first real date was. But we've known each other for a while."
"Congratulations then!" He smiled. "Oh, feel free to keep using this place, I don't mind. Probably gonna take a while to clean it up anyways."
"Do you have a plan what to do with it?" She asked, worried about transforming it too much and losing its familiar feel.
"First I thought I just clean it, and start the school to see how many students I'll get. Then will see if I have to move or remove the ring to create more open space."
She swallowed, hoping that's not gonna happen.
"Probably leaving the bags here, they will be perfect for practice."
"And definitely better than the trees we used." They both laughed at the memory.
"I have to leave now, meeting with the bank, but can I ask for your cell number? I don't want to lose you again, not now that I finally found you after all those years."
"Of course." She said and they exchanged their numbers.
"Maybe we could go out for coffee or lunch tomorrow if you're free? So much to catch up on."
Anna almost said yes, forgetting about her situation for a second, but bit her lip. "What if we meet here instead? You bring the coffee and I'll help cleaning. How's that sound?"
"Sounds perfect! See you tomorrow... maybe 10am?"
She smiled. "10am sounds good."
He gave her another big hug and left in a hurry.
"Sir, we found someone looking into SciTech and the Moonshot project, also asking questions. She tried to hide her IP address well, but our IT guy was better and was able to trace her. Her name is Karen Page, she works at the Nelson, Murdock and Page law office in Hell's Kitchen."
"Well, well, interesting turn of events. Weren't they the same ones helping Anna with that Russian case?" Dr. Moon asked, putting a sling around his right arm. It wasn't broken, but he felt the pain from Daredevil twisting it last night in every second he moved it.
"Yes, sir."
"Bring her in, but be very careful. I hate lawyers, they're always a pain in the ass, so make sure they won't be able to find out we are responsible for her kidnapping. Check their apartments as well, make it look like someone broke in for money. I don't want any lawsuit, so be smart. It's possible they are still helping Anna. I have plans with Karen. And want Anna's boyfriend, that Daredevil, to suffer for what he did to my arm."
"Definitely, consider both done." Military guy said to the doctor.
"Don't mess this up. Any news on Anna's old friend?"
"Yes, everything as planned, we made him get fired a few weeks ago and planted the bait to move here to Hell's Kitchen. He bought an old gym, trying to open his own business."
"Good, good. Keep an eye on him, follow him everywhere. I want to know if he finds Anna."
"One of my man is on it already. He's working on gaining his trust."
"Good. This time we will get her and she won't be able to escape. So you are hundred percent sure she's not in Minneapolis?"
"Yes, most certain. We analyzed the security footage from both airports and the face recognition software found a partial match, so we checked the video out in more details. We think it was her coming back with the next flight wearing a disguise. We're eighty percent sure that was her, she was keeping her head down, suspiciously avoiding every cameras."
"What name she used to fly back?"
Military guy was going through his notes, then rubbed the back of his head. "Karen Page."
"You idiot..." Dr. Moon rubbed his palms together. "Get her!"
Military guy nodded and walked out of the door.
Anna spent the late morning reading through her mother's paperwork from the laboratory again. She was amazed by the fact how she was able to heal herself. "Maybe I can do it too?" She looked around and grabbed a knife from the kitchen, taking it with her to the couch.
She forced her teeth together and cut her palm just enough to bleed, making a hissing sound when she felt the pain. She touched the wound with her other hand and tried focusing on it. Her thoughts and feelings were all she could hear, but even after a long hour of trying, nothing happened. Frustrated and exhausted, she walked to the bathroom to at least wrap her palm up so she won't leave blood stains everywhere.
"Are you bleeding?" Matt asked standing by the coffee table head tilted. She wasn't even surprised this time he showed up so quietly. He definitely had his way of sneaking up on people.
"Yeah, cut myself. On purpose, don't worry. I was trying to see if I can heal myself, but failed obviously." She dropped down on the couch with a disappointed huff.
Matt lowered himself on his knees in front of her on the floor and took her bandaged hand. "You will figure it out, but please find another way than cutting yourself."
She laughed. "I will be able to use this wound for a few more days for practice."
He looked at her disapprovingly, but then planted a kiss on her forehead.
"How come you're home this early?" She asked with one eyebrow raised. "Hope every is ok."
"Yeah, just had a few hours break between clients and thought I stop by for a minute."
"Glad you did. Well, I went to the gym this morning, and Tom was there. He bought Fogwell's, and planning on opening his own karate dojo there. He said we can keep using it though, and the good news is that he's gonna keep the punching bags."
He raised an eyebrow. "Tom? From the orphanage?"
"Yeah... I was surprised, small world I guess."
Matt looked at her general direction suspiciously. "Are you sure that's it?"
Anna shook her head. "What else could be? He was my friend, I know he has nothing to do with Dr. Moon."
He narrowed his lips. "Ok, just be very careful."
She gave him a smile. "As always."
Matt snorted to that, then loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top of his shirt.
"Did you have a busy morning?" She asked, eyeing him. He definitely looked exhausted, and noticed fresh wound on his knuckles. "Or busy night?"
"Both." He laughed and dropped his tie on the armrest with his suit jacket, and sat down on the couch.
Anna curled up next to him, her head resting on his shoulder. "Wanna talk about it?"
He sighed. "I checked out the companies from Karen't list first, but nothing suspicious stood out."
"Oh. I guess I slept through it, didn't notice you leaving."
"You always sleep through it, I can be very quiet."
He stayed in silence for a short while, then added. "Have you heard about the private military company called Tactical Elite Corps?"
Anna shook her head. "No, never. I know it's on Karen's list. Why?"
"I believe they're the ones funding the Moonshot project."
"And... how is that?"
"I might stopped by at Dr. Moon's hotel last night before I came home."
"Hmm.." She hummed and moved closer to his body, then saw him tense to the contact. "You got hurt." She said as a statement.
"Just a bruise, nothing serious to worry about. "
"I wish I could tell if you're telling the truth."
He gently took her hand and placed it on his chest. Her own heartbeat sped up right away, his shirt was thin and she could feel everything underneath. His heart was beating evenly, just a little slower than hers. "I'm fine, really. Only got a few bruises, that's all. Nothing serious. We are working on another tenant case, and turned out it's bigger than we first thought. Daredevil had to help in a little last night after I finished searching through those companies." His heartbeat stayed the same, so Anna calmed down. She knew exactly that she will need to deal with his injuries when started dating with him, so just nodded, and wrapped her arm around him, avoiding the painful spot. She wanted to enjoy his presence a little longer.
"Should we tell Karen about the company?" Anna asked after a while.
"I'm worried they're gonna notice her looking into them if we do. But I'll think about it."
They both went into deep thoughts.
"Oh, by the way! We need to talk about our sleeping arrangement." She said seriously. "You can't get a good night rest on that couch, and I know you need it, even if you say you're fine. You have been sleeping there for months now..."
"What are you thinking?" He asked curiously.
"Well... I'm fine with you sleeping in the bed." She said cheeks turning red.
"Yeah, I don't think it's a good idea for you to sleep on the couch, remember that billboard?"
Her cheeks heated up even more. "I know... I wasn't thinking of sleeping on the couch either." She said, burying her face into his shoulder in embarrassment, but then feeling his heart rate speeding up to the idea, so she looked up at him.
He had a gentle smile on his face, looking toward the wall behind her. "We can try. Maybe tomorrow night? I don't want to wake you up when I come home tonight."
She smiled back nervously. "Tomorrow night."
Matt stayed home for another hour before he had to go back to the office. Anna spent the rest of the afternoon searching on the web, trying to find anything on Dr. Moon and that military company.
It was around 6pm when her phone rang. She picked it up smiling when saw Matt's caller ID.
"Anna, you have to leave the apartment, now!" His voice was worried and he was breathing heavily, fast footsteps pounding on the ground as he was running.
"What? Why?"
"Foggy called me, Dr. Moon has Karen! She went down to take the trash out and never came back, so Foggy checked the alley and found her phone on the ground, smashed. We're sure it was Dr. Moon. Which means they know about us helping you, and my apartment isn't safe. You need to run!" While Matt was talking she automatically put her jacket on, then grabbed Matt's laptop and her phone's charger from the coffee table with the pile of documents from the laboratory, quickly pushed them into her backpack and rushed to the bathroom. The medical kit and her toothbrush followed them, she knew they would take the toothbrush to check for her DNA. She can't let them know she was staying here, ever. After that she shoved in two of Matt's t-shirts, his sweatpants as a change of clothes after he comes back from saving Karen. She was moving fast, having experience with how to disappear in seconds.
"Ok, ok. Do you have the chest unlocked?" She asked fast while hurrying up to the closet, shouldering her heavy backpack.
"Yes, why?"
"I take Daredevil's stuff to the roof and hide it inside the breaker box. If they come, they'll tear this place apart, we can't let them find out who you are."
"Ok, thank you! I'm on my way, gonna change and have to go and find Karen."
"Ok, just be careful. Meet me at the motel a few corners from here on West 43rd Street."
"Ok, see you later. Be careful." He said and as they hung up she heard noises from the front door. Quickly hugged all Daredevil's stuff with clothes, spare objects and his burner phone to her chest and ran up the stairs to disappear through the roof access.
She checked in the motel under a fake name and used cash to pay. For Matt's sake she asked for a top level room. Her heart was racing and anxiously was looking at her phone in every minute, feeling like the time stopped. She eventually called Foggy.
"I heard what happened to Karen, I'm so sorry Foggy."
"Hey, it's not your fault. We're going to find her! I'm heading to the Police now to talk with sergeant Mahoney. Where are you?"
"I'm at the motel, waiting for Matt. He should be here soon."
"Ok, good. Stay there, I'll call you if I learned anything new." Foggy said and the background noise got louder as he stepped in to the Police station.
"Karen Page." A man with deep threatening voice addressed her. She was sitting on a chair in a cold and empty room, blindfolded and her hand tied together behind her back.
"Who are you and what do you want from me?" She asked confidently, not showing any fear to the man, whoever he was.
"Where is Anna Sander?"
"I don't know."
The man laughed, then she heard the sound of a gun cocked and swallowed hard.
"I really don't know where she is."
"But you know her."
"Of course, she was our client. Everybody knows that. What do you want from her?"
"It's me who's asking questions."
"Well, I don't have the answers."
"Too bad."
"You're Dr. Moon's man, aren't you?"
He stayed quiet for a minute, then she felt a sharp pain on her face as the man slapped her. "I told you. I'm asking the questions!"
Karen's breathing sped up, and tried freeing her arms out from the zip tie without any success.
"Why are you looking into the Moonshot project?"
"I wanted to know what it is about, I need it for a case. It's my right to look into it, I work at a law office."
"That project is highly classified. Where did you hear the name of it? Was it Anna who told you about it?"
"No. I found out about it on my own, maybe you are not hiding your secrets as well as you thought. Apparently you're very involved in this project if you're afraid of me digging and willing to tie me up like this. You know that the minimum sentence for kidnapping in the first degree ranges from 15 to 40 years, right? If you want to add torture to that, you'll rot in prison forever."
"You are not in the position to threaten me, Miss Page. And you have no idea who I am." He stood up again and walked closer to her, and she felt his breath on her skin. "And if you won't cooperate you will only leave this room in a bag. So, let me ask this again. Where is Anna Sanders?"
Daredevil remembered the list of buildings Anna read to him when they were searching for the old man, so started checking those out one by one, hoping they were keeping Karen in one of those. He went to that warehouse where they actually found the man last, finding it empty, but by the entrance there was a table with a post-it note on it. He ran his fingers through it, feeling the ink on the paper, and slowly identifying the words. It was a number and the word hangar at the La Guardia Airport, only a couple miles away. He got to the tall fence of the airport in a good 40 minutes, and stopped outside to scan the area. He didn't sense anybody around the hangar, which was very suspicious, so he extended his senses to the inside of the building. Matt immediately recognized Karen's heartbeat, she was agitated, but alive. He climbed through the fence with ease and as he walked closer to the hangar he heard the buzzing sound of the security cameras as they moved to capture his figure. Dr. Moon's men were watching him, which meant this was a trap. A trap to capture him, and use him against Anna the way they tried with the fake Daredevil. But this time for real.
The door was unlocked and he pushed it open, expecting something to happen, but everything was quiet. Carefully took a few steps and walked through it into a large room, noticing 5 cameras all around the perimeter. It was a huge tall space, able to host two mid-sized aircrafts, but now there was only one smaller plane on the right side, under repair with its front wheel off and some parts scattered around it. The far end of the hangar he sensed Karen by the wall, tied up to a chair what was sitting on a wide knee high platform.
"Karen?" He asked quietly on his usual deep voice.
"Daredevil! Is that really you? I can't tell, they blindfolded me."
Before he could answer two figure jumped down from the ceiling with ropes, just a couple feet in front of him. Daredevil tensed, he didn't know these men were here, and as he focused on them he realized their heartbeats were extremely slow - almost unnoticeable - same as the ninja Nobu Yoshioka's heartbeat was. He thinned his lips as he remembered his close to death experience with the man six years ago, and took a step backwards, waiting for them to move first. He scanned them and these men weren't ninjas, they belonged to Dr. Moon's military team. Both of them were tall, around 6'2", strongly built. He was wondering why the doctor would send only two men for him.
He closed his eyes and focused on his surroundings more. The airplane, the tire, the tools around it they used for repairs, a tall ladder next to the plane, two chains hanging from the high ceiling, a hydraulic lift, a step stool.
After a few seconds the man to his right stepped forward, and Daredevil heard him slicing the air with a baseball bat a couple times. The other one to his left followed him, holding a throwing knife in his palm, ready to toss it at the masked man. Since their heart rates were very low, Matt tried focusing on their breathing and weapons. He knew that the man to his left with the throwing knife had a longer range, but he sensed more tension in the man with the baseball bat, which meant he was ready to launch at Daredevil in any second.
And he was right, the guy to his right approached him with fluid motions, swinging his bat at him with precision. Matt avoided the club and was focusing on the guy's partner, who finally threw the knife at the vigilante. He quickly grabbed the man with the bat, and spun him around to use him as a human shield against the flying weapon, making it penetrate in his back. Without any pause Daredevil pulled it out from the man's skin and swung it back at the other guy. He dodged the knife, and to Daredevil's surprise the soldier with bleeding back punched him on his stomach. Seemed like he didn't care that he was just got stabbed. Matt spun around and landed his elbow on the guy's ribs, then kicked his legs out, then started running toward the airplane as fast as he could, trying to space his two enemies out, since fighting with one at a time gave him better odds. He climbed up on the 12 foot "A" frame ladder, then from there jumped to the top of the plane with ease. He immediately noticed as one of them was trying to climb up on the same ladder, following him. He launched himself from the plane to grab one of the hanging chains and swung himself toward the ladder, kicking it hard with his heels, then lowered himself to the ground. The ladder and the man on it went down with a loud bang, but like some terminator he stood right back up and started walking toward Daredevil. He shook his head in confusion, this man supposed to stay down after that big fall. He blocked his first punch, then countered on his stomach, feeling the presence of some protective vest underneath his uniform. Since his punches won't do anything, he twisted the man's arm and broke the bone, expecting to hear that pleasant to his ears cry, but didn't happen. Instead he grabbed Matt's throat with his other arm, and applied pressure there.
"How do you like our new experimental drug, Devil of Hell's Kitchen?" The man with broken arm asked laughing. "You can punch us, or break our arms, we don't care." He laughed again. "We don't feel any pain!"
He elbowed him back with full strength without any results as his partner slowly walked up to them with the intention to hit Daredevil. He grabbed the man's arm holding the lock on his throat with two hands, lifting himself up and kicking the approaching guy hard. He stumbled backward several steps landing on his butt, then just stood back up and came back at the vigilante, this time swinging his baseball bat toward him. Matt twisted his body, swirling his restraining person around, and the club hit that guy on the back of his head. He released his arm from Daredevil's neck and passed out on the ground.
The one still standing swung the bat at him again, and as Matt dodged it he stepped closer to grab his arm from the outside, breaking it hard and tearing all the tendons in it. The club fell on the ground as the man's right hand stopped functioning. He immediately kicked toward the masked man though, who was faster with his own kick to break the ankle of the guy's supporting leg. His left leg buckled but he was still standing and moving with that ankle rotated inward.
Matt made a disgusted face as his opponent trying to hit him on his ribcage with his one good arm. Daredevil ran a few steps backward, lifting the heavy tire up to spun around with it and threw it straight to the guy. It hit him on his chest and made him fall backwards, knocking out the other guy yet again who was about to get up.
The two guys were making growling sounds as trying to climb out from under the heavy tire, their broken bones sticking out now from their arms.
"Oh, come on!" Matt said frustratedly as he realized these men were still ready to fight. Before they were able to get up he grabbed one leg, put it up on the tire and stumped down on it to break it into two pieces, followed by his partner's leg. At least they won't be able to move from this spot. Then punched them on the face several times until they were unconscious finally and was hoping they will stay that way for a while.
He was panting hard, all confused about what just happened and slowly raised up to his feet. Now he knew why that drug was still in experimental stage. He heard Karen's panicking heartbeat.
"Daredevil?"
"Everything is ok. I'll get you out of here Karen."
"Thank God, you're still alive."
He picked up the knife what the guy used at the beginning of their fight, and walked up closer to her, but stopped on his track dead still as the smell of explosives hit his senses. The bomb was under the platform where Karen was sitting on. Carefully took a few more steps toward her after scanning through this section of the room for any tripwires. Karen was seated on a wooden chair by the wall, facing toward him. Her hands were tied to the chair behind her by the wall, her ankles were also restrained and she was wearing a blindfold around her eyes. His senses picked up some sort of screen in front of her legs on the platform what eliminated LCD sound. Must be the countdown device for the bomb without the ticking noise. He can't read it, had no idea how much time they have left.
"Karen?"
She swallowed. "Yes...?"
"They injected me with something, so my vision is very blurry. I need you to help me. Can you do that?" He lied, but since he wasn't able to read the screen, he needed her help.
"Yes..." She said as her breathing changed to a little louder one.
"I want you to stay calm. I'm going to remove your blindfold and I need you to look down in front of you on the platform and tell me what number you see there."
She swallowed hard. "What is it down there?"
"Do you trust me?"
"Yes, of course."
"Then don't panic, ok? I'm gonna get you out of here. I promise."
She nodded, her breathing was very loud now and her body was shaking slightly. "Ok."
Matt took the last few steps and stopped just before the platform, and leaned forward to cut her blindfold off of her eyes. Karen blinked a few times from the bright lights, then slowly lowered her gaze, swallowing hard and Daredevil heard her heart rate taking off.
"Karen? Just stay calm, ok? What number is on the screen?"
"It's... it's one minute and 3 seconds..."
"Ok, we have plenty of time, everything will be all right." He cut the zip ties from her ankle, and she nodded, tears slowly falling down her face.
"Fifty one seconds..." She said with a sob.
Matt stepped up on the platform to cut the ties around her wrists behind the chair, and the second he put his weight on it three loud beep sound came from underneath them.
"What was that?" Karen asked in panic, her body tensed up immediately.
Daredevil lowered his head with a frustrated expression and a deep growl left his throat. "Damn it!"
"Daredevil? What was that sound?" She asked again, her panic was over the roof now.
"How much time we have left?"
Karen looked down. "The countdown stopped at 42 seconds."
"Damn it!"
"What? It stopped, that's good... or not?"
"I just armed a secondary bomb."
"How do you know?" She asked and the vigilante carefully lifted one of his leg up, just to make the device echo loud and fast beeping sound. He quickly put his leg back where it was before and the beeping stopped.
"That's how..."
Without moving his feet from their spots this time, he reached behind her and cut the last zip tie, freeing her arms. Karen quickly jumped on her feet, and Daredevil picked up her chair and threw it to the window, shattering the glass into small pieces.
"They are coming from the South side, but there's nobody there in the back. Go climb through that window and run toward the tower as fast as you can. You will be safe."
"What about you?"
"I can't move. If I move, we're gonna die."
"I'm not leaving you here..."
"Yes, you will. I trust you, Karen. Run toward the tower and call the airport police. Tell them about the explosives, they will know what to do."
Karen hesitated. "What if we explode if I step off of this?"
"I don't think we will. They want me. You can do this."
"Shit..." She said and took a deep breath as carefully stepped down from the platform shakily with one leg, followed by the other. Three beeps broke the dead quiet in the room, and she turned around in panic. The countdown continued ticking again from the 42 seconds.
"Run!" Matt yelled at her with his most threatening voice, and Karen climbed through the broken window to run for her life, hands hovering over her ears, expecting to hear the loud explosion in less than 30 seconds now.