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.

13. Chapter 13

They arrived at the office a few minutes before 5pm. Foggy and Karen were already there. When they saw Matt's face both froze in horror.

"Jesus! What happened to you?" Foggy asked in shock. Even after she masked the black marks with makeup, the swelling and the wounds covered with bandaids were kinda obvious. His right jaw and eye area were the worst, the swelling didn't want to go down, even icing it wasn't helping much.

"I stumbled on the stairs and went down badly."

"How many flights?" Foggy walked around him observing his face. "Because it looks like at least six."

"I'm pretty sure it wasn't that many, it might look bad, but doesn't hurt much." Matt hushed him.

"Obviously you hit your head and lost your senses. That shit must hurt like hell."

Anna had to swallow to Foggy's comment, she already felt how badly it hurts when she healed Matt for a minute in the lab. It was painful as hell, especially the hits to his head.

"Did you break anything? What did the doctor say?" Karen asked worriedly.

"Guys, I'm fine, really. Don't have any broken bones, just slammed my head into the stair steps. So who are we meeting with?" Matt asked, hoping to change the conversation to anything other than his injuries.

"Her name is Sheila." Karen spoke up, keeping her eyes still on Matt in shock. "She works for Dr. Moon as a nurse, and she asked for our help. She knows Anna and wants to talk to her first."

Matt nodded.

"She didn't tell me much on the phone, said she's not sure if it's safe, so better talk in person. That's why we're meeting her, to hear the details. She seemed very scared, I have a feeling that it's something bad. I already looked her up, and according to the records she's telling the truth about her work."

Both Matt and Anna nodded now, they knew exactly that Sheila wasn't lying, but they can't really show it to the other two.

It was already 5:15pm, and still no sign of the nurse. All four settled down around the table, waiting.

Foggy occasionally looked at Matt and Anna with a big grin, trying to put the puzzles together what exactly happened in the last three days with them. He wasn't completely convinced by Matt's cover story about his injuries, and thinking maybe the two had some very rough sex, especially since his friend referred to it on the phone. Or maybe he really did go down on the stairs, their roof access stairs while making out with her. It would be a possibility, since Anna looked guilty and troubled. Who knew, but his fantasy couldn't rest. Matt was hundred percent sure Foggy's gonna question him in the second the two men were alone.

At 5:30pm Karen tried calling Sheila, but she didn't answer her phone. Anna eyed Matt next to her crunching his cane with whitened knuckles, ready to jump and rush to check on the nurse in any minute now.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Karen stood up from her chair. "I brought you something!" She rushed out to her desk and came back with a bag, putting it in front of the other girl.

Anna peaked in it, seeing a black wig, some makeups, lipsticks and clothes Anna never wore before. "Karen, you really shouldn't..."

"Of course I should have. Those clothes are totally different style, to make it harder for anyone to recognize you in them. I hate seeing you all locked up in the apartment. This way maybe you can go out a little." Karen said smiling, but Foggy laughed up loud. The blonde turned toward him with narrow eyes and killing seriousness on her face.

"Sorry, sorry. I just don't think she minds much being locked up in the apartment with Matt."

"Foggy!" Karen yelled at him, and Matt realized Foggy must think they have spent the past couple of days in bed together. The guilt on his face deepened, and Anna laughed up to distract the other two before they noticed his expression. Plus she wanted to ease Matt's guilt a little, she really didn't mind the cover story. Just imagining spending a night with him like that caused pleasant feelings in her body.

"I have to say it has its perks." She said blushing, putting her hand on Matt's to force him to relax a little before he breaks his cane, and both Foggy and Karen looked at her smiling. "But I would like to be able to leave the building sometimes without worrying for my life. So thank you, Karen, I really appreciate it." She smiled at the blonde.

At 6pm they decided Sheila wasn't coming. Karen left a voicemail on her phone, and they all left the office.

Anna put on the wig - just in case - and the two rushed home through the usual rooftops, and Matt changed to his black outfit right away.

"Be careful, please." Anna hugged him gently, didn't want to cause pain for either of them. Her own bruise felt better, but still a little tender to touch, so she was sure Matt was still feeling pretty banged up.

"As always." He smiled at her and pulled the mask on. Anna felt the usual shiver running through her spine at his sight, then he disappeared through the roof access.

She settled down on the couch, decided to wait for him. She wouldn't be able to sleep anyway, worried about both Tom and Sheila.

Browsing on her phone to kill time she stumbled across another website about Daredevil. Seemed like a fan created it and kept it updated. She started reading about his appearances, this writer kept everything very detailed. She found an old article about Midland Circle, and the building explosion, burying Daredevil underneath. She had to cover her mouth, remembering Matt mentioned something like this when he lost his hearing. The article said nobody saw him for 3 months. She quickly scrolled the page back up, like it would erase the horrible event, and clicked on a random link on the webpage. Daredevil's favorite things, his favorite color, music, place, hobbies, movies and so on. She shook her head in disbelief, yeah, right, like they would really know these things about him... even she wasn't sure about a few. Up in the menu bar there was a link called the sexy Devil. She looked around the room to make sure she's alone before clicking on it. Her eyebrows turned up when the webpage revealed a bunch of pictures of her boyfriend in indeed sexy poses. Some were obviously photoshopped, or maybe all, because she had a hard time imagining Daredevil posing that way on those pictures. All these girls were dreaming about meeting him, or just to see him once in a lifetime, and here she was basically living with him and still struggling to get closer to him. She gaped when seeing a photo of Daredevil with a beautiful girl in his arms, probably also photoshopped, but who knew. She turned her phone screen off, suddenly feeling that weird feeling in her stomach. He loved her she knew that, but times like this she just wasn't sure why her, when there were so many gorgeous women out there wanting him and he could get any of them.

"You're stupid, stop thinking about it." She said to herself, frustration in her voice, then heard a thud on the roof and soon Daredevil showed up in the door above the living room. He was still limping a little as he walked down the stairs, pulling his mask off in the process.

Anna checked the time and it was almost 4am in the morning to her surprise. Was she reading articles about her boyfriend all night?

"You are definitely not stupid." Matt said when got to the couch.

"Oh trust me, I am." She looked at him sitting down next to her, not even surprised anymore that he heard her comment from the roof. "I was reading silly articles and they just hit my feelings hard, which is stupid. I shouldn't take them seriously." Her eyes were glued on him and couldn't look away. "They were about you actually." She bit her lower lip, and saw Matt raising his eyebrows.

"Not everyone likes me, so you're right, shouldn't take those seriously."

"Right." She cleared her throat, not wanting to get into details about the nature of those articles.

"I'm surprised you are still awake."

"I wanted to know if everyone is safe. Are they?" She asked nervously.

"I couldn't find Sheila anywhere. She wasn't home, but also wasn't kept in the laboratory either. If she's with her friends, I'm not sure where that would be. Also checked all the five buildings we know about, but she wasn't in either of those. I'm sorry. Will try searching for her today, and later at night again. It's also possible that she's been kept in one of the buildings belonging to the Elite Corps. Tom was home, and I noticed a guy in a car parked in front of the building. He was watching the entrance all night. I questioned him and he was Dr. Moon's man, they have been watching Tom since he moved to Hell's Kitchen. Hoping to find you this way."

"How did they know Tom knew me?"

"Apparently he's been searching for you for a very long time and caught up on their radar."

"Why would Tom be searching for me?" Anna asked in confusion, but Matt just thinned his lips and his eyes filled up with pain, but he said nothing. He knew exactly why a man would search for a girl for years...

"Do you think they will hurt Tom?" She asked after a long silence.

"The guy said they only ordered to watch his every move, and only interfere when they see you."

Anna let out a sigh. "Ok, so if they won't see me again, he will be fine. Good."

"I made the guy leave, then checked back on Tom periodically, even a last time just before I came home. He was fine, sleeping, and nobody new came watching him." He took a deep breath in. "But they will put another man on him after they realize this guy left. Please be very careful, I... I just don't think it's safe meeting him."

Anna nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and most likely it's safer for him as well if I just stay away."

"Dr. Moon wasn't in his hotel, not sure if he moved to a different one after my visit, or left town again."

"Thank you, Matt. I'm so worried Dr. Moon's men got Sheila. He must have found out that she helped me somehow. I didn't see cameras in the lab, but maybe there were hidden ones?"

"Not that I sensed... though I wasn't in my top shape then... I'm sorry."

She put her hand on his leg. He removed his gloves and covered her hand with his.

"How are you feeling? Is your hearing back to normal?"

"Most of the time. I still have some difficulty time to time, but it's not a complete loss anymore and only lasts for a minute. Even if I lose it it feels like I'm in underwater, not a dead quiet. Maybe one or two days and all will be good."

"I hope." She said and curled up closer to him, lowering her head on his shoulder.

"This whole situation is getting worse and worse, more people getting in danger because of me." She whispered sadly and Matt hugged her closer to his body.

"I will find Sheila, I promise." He said and sensed her exhaustion overtaking her, so slowly stood up, pulling her on her feet. She growled, knowing he's gonna drag her to the bedroom to sleep there alone, but she was too tired to argue. Matt covered her with the blanket and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Good night, Anna."

"Good night, Matt."

---

Both Foggy and Karen pushed Matt to stay home and get better, so he spent the next morning meditating again, trying to heal as fast as possible, then they both were searching for any details on Sheila online, anything that could help finding her. Anna was going through the nurse's social media accounts, hoping to find her close friends where she could possibly hide if the doctor didn't kidnap her. Matt was also digging for some information about the Tactical Elite Corps, maybe they're involved in her disappearance.

After a few hours Anna huffed in disappointment.

"I can't find anything helpful. I should have been more careful when I let her help me."

"It's not your fault." Matt pulled her closer and Anna leaned on his left shoulder, pushing the laptop to the coffee table. She stayed there a while just listening to his breathing. It always had a calming effect on her. Matt moved his left hand behind her and drew circles on her waist.

"I wish for just one day things would be normal and everyone would be safe."

"There will be, we will find her, and then we will deal with the doctor and his team. We have the company name who's funding the project and I'm sure we will find out soon who's behind all of this."

"Maybe after that we could just stay on the couch like this, all day?" She asked with hope.

"After that we can do whatever you will like. Even go down for a walk. Or go to a real public restaurant."

She sighed. "And we could talk about simple normal topics other than kidnapping and injuries. Like, when is your birthday? I know you're 32, but never asked the date. We have to celebrate it." She looked at his eyes smiling, but his expression changed into a painful one.

"What's wrong?"

"It was in late October... on the 21." He said.

"I didn't even know that... Oh..." Her smile turned into a sad expression as well as she realized she was kidnapped and kept in the lab around that time. "I'm sorry... Seems like I brought so much trouble into your life, and into everyone else's around you."

"This whole thing wasn't your fault. And it feels like I'm only alive since you came into my life." He shook his head miserably. "Sometimes it seems like a dream and I'm horrified what's gonna happen if I wake up and you're not here with me." He went quiet for a few seconds, then kissed her gently. "I don't think I could live without you."

She felt deeply touched, so hugged him closer and Matt placed a kiss on the top of her head.

"I'm not going anywhere, Matt. Please, don't even think about that." She gave him a gentle kiss. "I'm here, and it's definitely not a dream."

"How is your bruise?" He asked after a short silence.

"I barely notice it anymore." She said and kissed him on the lips again. "Matt, I know you would never ever hurt me, it was just an accident. You were kept there, tortured, couldn't hear, see, smell. It wasn't reasonable to think that the person who touched you was me."

He made a big sigh. "I'm glad it's feeling better." The guilt was still visible in his eyes, and Anna realized he might never going to forgive himself completely. But at least he's not torturing himself as much anymore.

She traced her fingers over his left jawline, then digging into his hair behind his ear. "You know that I love you?"

He smiled and kissed her. "I love you too. You are my world, and I would do anything for you."

She snuggled closer to him and enjoyed as his fingers ran up and down her arm.

"But, your birthday is in a few days, and we have to celebrate that."

"I've never celebrated it."

"Well, that's going to change." He said with a smile.

"Can I ask you something? About something different." She asked, blushing. There was one topic bugging her mind she desperately wanted to know more about. They never really talked about previous relationships, which was ok, but some things would be good to learn, at least she won't make the same mistakes.

Matt raised an eyebrow. "Of course."

Anna nervously bit her lower lip. "Why did you break up with Elektra in College?"

Matt's body tensed up for a second, then he let out a short surprised laugh. He hasn't heard her name in a long time and was surprised Anna knew about her. "Seems like you and Foggy had quite the conversation about me."

"Well, he can talk about things very openly. But now I know that some are just cover stories about your nighttime activities, so figured it's better to ask these questions directly from the source."

"Back in College we realized we had a very different perspective on life, and she left."

Anna remembered Foggy mentioning that Matt never really talked about that night Elektra left and now he was keeping the story very short as well. She knew him well though that this meant it was a painful memory, something that hurt talking about. "But she came back, right?"

"Yes, five years ago. She needed my help with something." He kept his answer short again, but Anna's insecurities pushed her to ask more.

"Does she... live here in New York?"

Matt distanced himself a little and his eyes landed somewhere on her face as he sensed her fast nervous heartbeat.

"She died, at Midland Circle."

Anna took a sharp breath in. She remembered that story from the internet, when the building buried Daredevil underneath.

"I'm sorry, Matt."

He thinned his lips. "I learned that day that it's impossible to save everyone, no matter how hard I try. It's the painful truth."

Anna went into deep thoughts. Everyone left him. His Dad died, the girl he loved left him then years later died, his Mom died... Stick left him... now she suddenly understood his actions and protectiveness better. And he blamed himself for most of these, he was there with Elektra and couldn't save her life. What probably gave him another reason to push Anna away at the very beginning, keeping her out for danger and also save him from another potential trauma.

"Since we're talking about past relationships, you and Tom weren't just friends, were you?" His question surprised her, yeah they never really talked about previous relationships.

"You are really good at reading me..." She laughed. "Yeah... We dated for a couple months, before he left for College."

"But now he's back."

Anna lifted her gaze to his face. "Yes, and now we're just friends."

"I know... I'm not jealous... but... just wondering... I mean you would have a much more normal life with... with someone like him... I mean after Dr. Moon is out of the picture of course."

Anna looked at him in shock, then smiled as she pushed him down on the couch from sitting position, and laid next to him. Matt moved his hands around her, and she interlocked her right leg in his.

"I don't want any life where you are not with me."

"Are you sure?"

"Oh I've never been this sure in my life." She pushed him to his back with one swift move and climbed on top of him. His eyes turned dark and he reached out with his hands to hug her around her waist, but she grabbed both of his wrists and forced them down next to his ears. His surprise was only visible for a split second, then replaced by fire and passion. Anna lowered herself and gave him a deep and long kiss while her hands left his wrists and ran down along his sides and back up on his ab muscles. She bit his neck and he moaned, one of his hand moving into her hair and down her neck.

"I love you Matt Murdock, and only you." She whispered in his ear, then kissed him again. "And I can't imagine a life without you."

He pulled her closer, hugging her tightly to his body. They stayed there for a while enjoying the peace and quiet, when Anna sat up fast.

"Give me your phone." She said seriously with excitement.

"Why?"

"Because mine is in the bedroom and I don't want to leave the couch." She smiled while holding her hand out and Matt reached behind his back, trying to find his phone somewhere under the couch pillow, and eventually handing it to her. Anna turned the camera on and pulled closer to Matt.

"We have known each other for so long, and still don't have a picture together. Smile!" She said happily and leaned closer to Matt. He pulled her in completely to his body and Anna took a picture. Then turned her eyes toward Matt to see a smirk on his lips, so she made a face at him, who laughed while she was snapping the photos and eventually both were laughing loud as 'seeing' the funny expressions on each other's faces. After a while he went quiet and kissed her passionately and his phone fell out of Anna's hand as she got all weak and shaky from the sensation. His kiss deepened and he pulled her down on the couch to cuddle. She loved just laying there like this in his arms, and unintentionally started nuzzling his neck, while his left hand caressed her back. She missed this so much and was happy he's slowly forgiving himself a little about her bruises and letting her being close again.

A loud knocking noise on the door made them sigh and Matt slowly untangled himself from Anna's embrace.

"It's Foggy and Karen, they both are very excited about something." He said quietly to her while walking up to the door, and Anna was hoping maybe they found something about Sheila, or maybe she called the office again.

Matt opened the door and the two rushed in with big smiles on their faces. Anna was standing in the living room by the staircase and her lips turned upwards as well unintentionally, just seeing the two this happy made her smile.

"Hey, Matt!" Foggy laughed and they hugged each other, followed by Karen, then they walked up to Anna and hugged her too.

"Come on in, and settle down." Matt motioned toward the approximate direction of the living area, missing it by several feet.

"So..." Foggy started, lifting Karen's hand up with a ring on it. And Karen finished his sentence. "We couldn't wait a minute to share the news with you two." She smiled ear to ear. "We are getting married!"

"What?" Matt's lips turned into a big smile in surprise.

"Wow! That's amazing, congratulations!" Anna and Matt both hugged Karen, then Foggy again.

Foggy dropped down on one of the armchairs and pulled Karen in his lap.

"You're one lucky man!" Matt said to Foggy and he nodded.

"Sure I am... The luckiest! Do you have beers? I want to celebrate!"

"Of course I have. Beer?" Matt asked Anna and she nodded with a smile.

"How could I say no?"

The guys walked to the kitchen and Anna sat down on the arm of Karen's chair to take a second and closer look at the ring.

"It's so pretty. I'm so happy for you!" They both giggled. "Do you have a date yet?"

"We don't want to wait too long, but also not in a big rush. Maybe in February, like around Valentine's Day. We are thinking something nice, but simple, only close family and friends."

"That sounds perfect, and so exciting!"

"I know! Can't wait to start looking for a dress."

"Let me know if you need help with anything, I would be happy to help."

"Great, I definitely will need help."

Matt focused on the girls for a while, they both seemed very happy, which filled his heart. His friends were getting married! It's been a long time since he had happiness around him, and it felt great. But at the same time he's nervously waiting for a tragedy to happen. Maybe it's going to be something with Sheila? Or Tom? His life never been happy like this for long. Ever. Anna was with him, who loved him, his friends were getting married. Too many good things, like quiet before the storm. Foggy opened the fridge and started handing the bottles over to Matt, who placed them on the countertop.

"You never mentioned it to me what you are planning."

"Yeah, I know... I've been thinking on it for a long time, but things have been crazy lately, so kept delaying it. But then Dr. Moon kidnapped Karen and I just realized life is too short to wait for the perfect moment that maybe never comes. I could have lost her that day, never be able to tell her how much I want her in my life. I just didn't want to wait any longer."

Matt went into deep thoughts, yeah, their life was very unpredictable. But his life was always like that, nothing lasted long, and it was impossible to plan for the future. He barely planned for the next week, not to mention for the long term future.

"I think you're right. And I'm so happy for you two."

"Thanks, she's the best, isn't she?" He smiled toward Karen's direction, the girls are still chatting quietly and Matt heard them talking about the proposal now. He focused on it, suddenly all interested in Anna's opinion on these types of things. Did she want to get married in the future? What life and husband she wanted? He knew he loved her, and wanted her in his life. And even that their relationship was still new, he was sure she's the one. And he truly wanted to be the one for her as well. But just the thought of marriage felt like he was living someone else's life. He didn't deserve things like getting married. But he also felt like he didn't deserve having someone like Anna, but she's still here with him. She accepted him the way he was, didn't want to change him or force him to stop what he was doing at night. She came to his rescue, and she was smart about it. He finally had someone he could rely on and understood him, and he would do anything to keep her safe and make her happy. It felt like he finally found his missing half. So maybe there's a chance for them to have a future? Maybe this time it will be different and she really won't leave him?

"Earth to Matt..."

"Sorry, Foggy... yes, put two in my hand." He hold one of his hands out, and his friend put two bottles in it.

"Are you thinking about asking her too?" Foggy whispered to him.

"What? Oh... we just started dating, we have to see first where things are going."

"Alright, alright. Just don't wait for too long. She seems like really loves you, and you also look happy. You guys know each other for a long time now, so your relationship isn't that new."

"Yeah... we do." Longer than Foggy knew about - he thought.

"Ok, let's walk back..." he helped guiding Matt back to the couch.

The conversation was about the wedding now, when and where, and some details they're thinking. Anna and Matt finished their beers and switched to drinking sodas, while Foggy found some liquor on top of Matt's fridge and decided it's better to make it disappear before his friend drinks it, since Foggy was still in the belief that Matt had some serious drinking problems a few years ago. So he and Karen switched to shots. After about two hours the engaged couple left with a cab.

Matt sat down on the couch, spreading his arms out on the headrest in exhaustion. Anna walked up and sat in his lap - carefully avoiding his injured leg - and snuggling closer to his chest. His arms immediately wrapped around her.

"They seemed so happy." Anna said eventually after a long silence.

"Yes, and a bit wasted at the end." Both laughed.

"They sure were."

Matt pulled her closer and they stayed there together until bedtime.

---

The next morning Anna pushed Matt into the bedroom to meditate there while she used the open space in the living room by the stairwell and hallway to do her exercises and practice karate. She was avoiding the gym for obvious reasons. After she was done she cooked them some lunch and they both relaxed on the couch, just cuddling and enjoying each other's closeness while they could and things weren't crazy.

"Would you like to come with me for a walk? I want to show you something." He asked early afternoon.

"Yes, a walk sounds great." She replied with a surprised smile. "You know that it's still daylight, right?"

"We won't go too far."

"Ok, let me put on warm clothes."

Ten minutes later she was walking up on their stairs with Daredevil, hand in hand.

"This way." They walked South from their apartment in a comfortable pace, taking the usual rooftops, then turned to East as they climbed up higher and higher. He was right that it wasn't far away, because after ten minutes he stopped her at the top of a tall building. Anna looked around on the empty rooftop, wasn't sure what exactly was that he wanted her to see here. She let his hand go and walked the perimeter, then her eyes scanned the view. It was nice, she could see the river and even the Statue of Liberty in the far distance from here. Her gaze dropped to his direction, noticing him sitting on the floor close to the edge with his back leaning against a utility box.

"Come." He reached his hand out and she took it, letting him to lower her next to him. "You're gonna see it in five minutes."

It was 4:32pm, and Anna sat down next to him, looking toward the Hudson River, when realized that the sky slowly starting to change colors at the bottom as the sun disappearing in the horizon.

"Wow." She hugged him as she watched the beautiful sunset, orange color reflecting on the water and the buildings disappearing in the darkness until their lights came on and shining through the shadows. The sunset from up here was breathtaking and she leaned her head on his shoulder, enjoying the view.

"It's beautiful." She said when she was able to speak again and looked at him. His black form had orangey shadows now and his smile was full of love. An expression that not too many can see on Daredevil's face. He hugged her closer, rubbing her arm with his fingers. Anna slowly repositioned herself, then climbed up to his lap and kissed him on the lips.

"Thank you. This is truly beautiful." She whispered and he pulled her down for another kiss. Her hands moved up to his chest, feeling the heat from his body. She unintentionally traced her fingers over the muscles, then moved up to his strong shoulders as her passion grew. He quickly removed his gloves and his bare hands slid up on her thighs then up on her arms and shoulders, until she felt him finding the zipper of her jacket. He pulled it down half way and those fingers of his slid underneath, exploring her sides and digging into her skin through her sweater gently. She moaned and shifted her body closer to his until she met with his hardness between his legs. A deep raw sound came out from the back of his throat and she couldn't help rocking her pelvis into it again. Matt's hands ran down her back causing shivers in her, then moved forward to her breasts, massaging them while his tongue explored her mouth. She felt like her body was on fire despite the freezing temperatures and she deepened their kiss even more. She knew that she wanted him, wanted him to do things to her that her old self was shocked and blushed to just mentioning them. She wanted to feel him closer, to be under his skin so badly it hurt.

"Matt..." she broke their long kiss after a while and forced herself to talk over her heavy breaths. "I... I want to go home..."

Daredevil's lips parted slightly, but Anna knew even with his mask covering half of his face that his expression meant that he thought he'd done something wrong, so before he started apologizing she quickly added. "I want to go home and continue this there..."

He kissed her deeply for a minute, thinking about Foggy's words from yesterday. Matt has been trying to take things slow with Anna, even if it was very hard for him. She deserved a decent man, and wanted her to know that she meant more to him than just physical pleasures. He wanted to take her to many romantic dates, give her flowers, giving them time to get to know each other. And time for her to be sure she really wanted to be with him. But maybe Foggy was right. They could never know what danger tomorrow might bring, and he knew she wanted to be more intimate with him. And obviously he wanted that badly as well. So he stood up without a word and they slowly headed back toward their apartment in the now dark evening, stopping in every couple minutes for a kiss.

The sexual tension in Anna's body was at an unbearable level by the time Daredevil kicked the rooftop door in and walked her inside while they're kissing each other passionately. Anna shut the door behind them and pushed his back against it as her hands ran down his torso to the batons strapped to his right leg, pulling them out and tossing them over the handrail down to the living room below. One of the sticks hit the pendant light with a loud bang then landed on the hardwood floor, the other one ended up on the armchair, a bit quieter.

"I have to teach you how to throw those." He said between kisses.

"Yes, definitely... Later." She said and saw his smirk for a second before he removed his gloves, tossing them over, down next to the sticks. She felt his lips back on hers, bare hands moving up to her breasts. She moaned and unbuckled his belt, pulling it out and throwing it down below as well, followed by the straps and holster from his leg. He unzipped her jacket completely and pulled it off of her shoulders, making it fly and follow the rest of the items down below. He hugged her close to his hard body, deepening the kiss, then went down to her neck while his hands were rubbing over her arms. He sensed her scent changing and her skin getting flushed and he knew she wanted him and it drove him crazy.

"Are you..." he was trying to ask between two kisses. "Are you sure you want to..."

"Yes." She said without the need to consider her answer or waiting for him to finish his question. "Absolutely." She lifted her right leg up to his thigh, rubbing her foot against his calf, when he grabbed her leg under her knee, pulling her closer and higher up to his waist. She hooked her right leg around his hip and felt him being hard again - or maybe he was still hard since that rooftop - and her head started spinning. His hand was holding her thigh strong, squeezing it as slowly moving up on it inch by inch, then eventually grabbing her butt. She sighed in pleasure and her hands moved up to the back of his neck, untying his mask and pulling it off, just to throw it above her head to the back, letting the lightweight fabric fly down to the living room floor slowly. Matt lifted her up with one move and she locked her legs around his waist while he carried her down the stairs, lowering her by the bedroom door. Anna grabbed his hands and pulled him one step toward the bedroom before he changes his mind. He stopped there and kissed her neck, then his hands moved to her waist and slowly pulled her sweater up and over her head. She cursed that she had three layers on - now only two - separating her skin from his touch. While his hands were exploring her upper body, she moved hers to the waistband of his pants and pulled out his black shirt from his cargo pants, noticing he was wearing an under-layer as well to keep him warm outside. Winter sucked. Her hands slid under the fabric and her nails ran through his hot skin on his lower back. She was sure she'd never get enough of touching his body, his skin was so much tougher and stronger than hers, so masculine and excitingly different than her soft one. She loved feeling it under her fingertips, and seeing the shivers running through Matt's body. His sensitivity was exciting and she felt someone special who's able to have an effect like this on him. He was different tonight, he finally wasn't holding back and she didn't care what changed his mind, just wanted to enjoy this. As usual it didn't last long, but this time it wasn't Matt who stopped, but a loud noise made her jump.

"Foggy... Foggy... Foggy..." Matt's daytime phone from the coffee table cut aggressively into their moment.

She growled in frustration, but seemed like Matt didn't care about the phone call, because he was busy with pulling off her second shirt. She screamed inside in pleasure, feeling his hands closer to her skin, only separated by one last barrier.

Just a minute later the robotic voice started up again.

"Foggy... Foggy... Foggy..."

His hands traced down along her sides with a big sigh, but then the voice stopped again as the call got redirected to voicemail. Finally, Anna thought, but they had no such luck, because her own phone started ringing loud in her back pocket, resulting in a big sigh from both of them. Reality was calling and can't be ignored.

Matt was clumsily reaching for it, pulling it out from her jeans pocket, dropping it accidentally. He grabbed it with sharp reflex just before it hit the floor.

"Hi Foggy... "

"Matt, I think Karen is about to do something dangerous!"

"What happened?" Both Matt and Anna were wide awake now, they knew their pleasant moments were over.

"She's been trying hard narrowing down the possible company names, and she mentioned me something about trying it on the financial route."

"You mean checking on SciTech's financial data?"

"Yeah, like knowing which companies transferred the most money, or something like that. I had my client arrived, so we couldn't talk about it longer. But she was gone by the time I finished my meeting. I checked her computer, and she had SciTech's employee list on her screen, scrolled down to their accountant."

"You think she went to the lab?"

"I'm not sure, I'm heading there now. Just wanted to call you in case she contacts you. She's not picking up her phone, I called her like a dozen times."

"Ok, I'll definitely call you if I hear anything from her. Also try calling, maybe she'll answer to me. I'll go to the Police building, maybe she's there trying to find out more from Mahoney."

"Ok, yeah, who knows what was in her mind when she left."

Matt was already in the living room picking up pieces of Daredevil's outfit scattered around on the floor, while Anna looked up the accountant's address. Matt gave her a quick apologetic kiss and headed to the lab first, and after making sure Karen wasn't there he hurried to the accountant's home.

He lived in the nicer part of town, and as Daredevil got at the top of the building he sensed Karen immediately. She was pacing in circles in the back alley of the building, very troubled and deep in thoughts. When she finally made up her mind and started walking toward the back door the vigilante jumped down from the fire escape ladder right in front of her.

Karen reached for her pepper spray, but dropped it back in her purse when she recognized the masked man.

"Oh my God! It's you!" Her hands went up above her heart, frightened by his sudden appearance. "You scared me."

"Sorry, I just can't let you go in there."

She made an uneasy expression. "I have to. Look, this guy might know who approved the Moonshot project, or has some evidence in his apartment. I need to find out who is behind all this, so we can finally put an end to it."

"What are you planning to do with him?"

"Not sure." She replied nervously. "I just want to see if he's home first... and if he's not then maybe search his place for anything helpful. Look, I have a list of companies that contracted SciTech, I just need to know which one is funding this project." Karen's eyes brightened suddenly. "Maybe if he's home you could help me making him talk?"

Daredevil tilted his head. "He is home. But that's not necessarily. I already know which company is funding the Moonshot project."

Karen looked at him with high hopes, waiting to continue.

"But you have to promise me to be very careful with these guys."

"I... I won't do anything stupid, I promise."

Daredevil sensed she meant it, so continued. "They called Tactical Elite Corps. I know it's owned by multiple smaller companies, but might help narrowing it down to the person who actually responsible for this."

"They are on my list! They are a private military company, one of the biggest ones in the country. Thank you! This is great, I can help you narrow that down to the person who approved it." Karen said with wide smile. "Where did you hear this?"

"From Dr. Moon." He said it with a smirk.

"Oh..." She didn't have to ask how he was able to convince the doctor to share this little detail with him.

---

The next day Matt went into the office and Anna obviously stayed home, pacing around nervously. She was on the edge because of Sheila's disappearance, and hoping for a call from Matt that they found something, or maybe she called their office. Daredevil was looking for the nurse last night as well, finding nothing.

Anna's phone rang, but when she excitedly picked it up she saw Tom's name on the screen. She ignored it, but one minute later it rang again. She clicked on the Ignore yet again, but started ringing right away. She hit Accept frustratedly.

"Hey, what's up?" Asked, trying to keep her anger at bay. She wasn't in the mood to talk with Tom right now.

"Anna, do you know a girl Lucy?" Tom started, worry in his voice.

Anna's anger changed into panic right away. "She's my friend, what happened?"

"I don't know, she just bursted into the gym crying, looking for you."

"Where is she now?"

"She's still here, curled up in the corner, sobbing loud." Tom took a few steps toward the girl, so Anna can hear her on the phone.

"Don't let her leave! I will be there in a few minutes!" She said fast and hung up, shoving her phone in her back pocket, and rushing down the stairs as fast as she could. Several questions ran through her mind. How Lucy knew about Tom? How she knew that Tom knew Anna? Maybe she saw the Uechi Ryu gym flyer and remembered Anna mentioned this to her in the past? She couldn't recall. Anna also left Lucy in the belief that she left New York, so why she was looking for her still? The only explanation was that Dr. Moon got to her and told her things. Maybe even hurt her? Or could this be a set up? But Lucy needed her help, most likely Dr. Moon did something bad to her, so she pushed away all her suspicious thoughts. Maybe if she's going to avoid the front entrance, the men watching Tom wouldn't notice her there and everything will be fine.

She opened the back door of the gym forcefully, and ran straight into Tom.

"She's there, in the corner." He pointed toward the small woman crying, her back facing them. Anna ran up to her and touched her shoulder. She slowly turned around, looking up into her eyes.

"Who are you?" This girl wasn't Lucy and that's all Anna was able to say before at least a dozen military guys rushed in through both entrances, surrounding the three of them with machine guns.

"I'm such an idiot..." Anna murmured under her nose. Of course it was a trap, she should have listened to her gut instincts. Probably they found out about Lucy. The girl in question stopped sobbing and faced them with a grin. She reached up and took the black wig off of her head, and pulled out a gun as well.

"This time we came prepared." She said.

Tom was watching Anna, all confused. The two slowly got encircled closer and closer by the soldiers with guns pointing at them.

"You know these guys?" Tom asked, all confused.

"I'm sorry Tom..." she said, guilt and panic mixed in her voice. The men stepped closer to the two, closing in completely around them in a circle.

"Move!" One of them pushed Tom by his back toward the door. He reached up fast and grabbed the man's arm, twisting it in an angle it's not meant to be. The soldier yelled out in pain, and they heard all the others cocking their guns as a warning, so they'd know that they're ready to fire.

"Please, leave him out of this!" Anna yelled. "It's me who you want, he has nothing to do with all of this. Just let him go."

"No!" Tom protested. "Leave her alone. Look, it doesn't matter what mess you are in, Anna, I can help."

"Shut up!" The guy who's shoulder got dislocated yelled loudly. "Both are coming with us, that's the order. Now, put your hands behind your backs. And you little shit don't even think about hurting us, or we put a bullet in your boyfriend right away."

Anna froze, she didn't want Tom to get hurt, she would do anything to keep her friends safe.

"He is not my boyfriend." She pointed it out while locking her fingers together behind her back, hoping this way they won't go too hard on him, since he didn't mean that much to her. "I barely know this guy."

"Is that right? 5 years in the orphanage mean barely to you?" The same man smirked at her, and she felt the blood running out of her body, feeling all lightheaded. They knew... what else they knew about her life? "I can't believe you're fooling around with two men at the same time. Daredevil and this guy... such a whore."

In the corner of her eyes she saw Tom's shocked look on his face hearing the masked man's name. He knew that whatever this was, if Daredevil got involved in it it must be serious.

She let them handcuff her and push her toward the exit, and she saw Tom's eyes full of questions and worry in them. They put them in a van which parked right at the door. Anna felt the frustration was growing inside her, felt like she's in a never ending cycle. She gets kidnapped, her friend gets kidnapped, Daredevil gets kidnapped, then starts over again. She needed to do something to stop this, come up with the perfect solution as soon as possible. She was sure they will use Tom to force her to cooperate, and she knew that she will, just to keep him alive.

---

Matt was in the office alone, doing research on the Tactical Elite Corps, while Karen and Foggy went down to make some arrangements about the venue for their wedding. His senses picked up someone at their door, frightened, hesitating to knock, hands shaking. As he walked up closer he immediately recognized the smell of Sheila's shampoo, so opened the door for her.

"Hello, can I help you, Miss?"

"Hmm... I'm looking for Nelson, Murdock and Page." She whispered, stressfully looking behind her back in every second.

"I'm Matthew Murdock, come in please." He lead her to his office and Sheila was feeling better being indoors and less exposed to possible public eyes.

"Thank you."

"Please, sit down." He motioned towards the approximate location of the couch, and Sheila sat down, while Matt took his chair.

"How can we help you?"

"Are you... do you know Anna Sanders?"

"She was our client, yes." Matt replied and she relaxed a little. "She mentioned that you might contact us."

"Anna told me I can trust you... and I really need your help..."

Matt leaned closer. "What can we help you with, Miss...?"

"Just Sheila..." She said, not sure if she's trusting him hundred percent with her full name. He looked different than normal lawyers do, with multiple scratches decorating his face still. The swelling and bruises disappeared, but the two deep cuts on his forehead and temple were still visible.

"I have information on very bad people... and I... I want them behind bars." She said, hugging her bag to her chest. They heard the front door open and Sheila jumped.

"These are my associates, don't worry. He opened his office door and invited Foggy and Karen in.

"We were seriously worried about you after you didn't show up Sunday." Karen said right away, worry in her voice. "I'm Karen Page and this is Franklin Nelson. Is everything ok? What happened?"

Sheila relaxed more now that the other two were here as well, especially Karen who she talked with on the phone before over the weekend.

"No, it's not..." She sighed. "I'm not sure how much you know about Dr. Moon and SciTech, but they're horrible people, especially the doctor. They were kidnapping and torturing others, even killed someone."

"Yes, we know them, and working on building a case against them, though it's not easy to find anything." Karen said.

"I... I might be able to help. Actually that's the reason why I'm here."

The three froze, they didn't expect to hear this. "Please. Tell us what you know."

"My name is Sheila Johnson. I work at the laboratory, and our job is to keep soldiers safe and healthy. So we're developing serums, pills, and all sorts of medications, vitamins, and so on. We have this classified project called Moonshot, which now I know ridiculously named after the leading scientist, and I only heard about it a few months ago. Nobody knew what it is about, but then one day I got called up to level 3, what is a restricted area. There was this girl in a hospital bed, all tied up, unconscious. I didn't know anything about her, or why she was there." She looked down at her hands guilty. "I'm really sorry... Then in the room next to hers there was another woman... they were torturing her."

"What did they want you to do?" Foggy asked.

"I'm a nurse, so they just wanted me to check on both of them and make sure they stay alive. Then I got introduced to Dr. Moon who flew here from Austin. He seemed strange, and not someone you would want to disagree with. He was giving orders to everyone like he owned the place, and wanted everyone to keep out of these two rooms unless he needed help."

"I assume one of these girls was Anna. What he wanted from her?" Karen asked, taking notes of everything.

"He did all sorts of tests on her, some were very painful. Not exactly sure what they expected to find, but everything came back normal." She lied, keeping Anna's abilities out of the picture. She was sure Anna wanted to keep them secret and she didn't think it would change much about the case. Plus she also wasn't sure if the lawyers would believe it. The last thing she needed was people think she was crazy. "They were also giving her drugs, I assume they were in the experimental phase of production and wanted to test them out on humans. The other woman, named Miranda, they tortured her who knows why. But I assume they wanted to see how much their drugs speed up her recovery. But then after a few days thankfully Daredevil came and rescued both of them." Sheila looked up to their faces. "Me and Miranda, we both want to testify against Dr. Moon."

The trio gaped, they thought Sheila got hurt, but seemed like she's the one who wanted to step up and fight against the doctor. Matt was the first one who recovered from their surprise. "Where is Miranda?"

"She and her family are at her friends' house, hiding. She has a husband and two kids, and they're horrified these people gonna kidnap her again, or hurt them, since she saw their faces. Miranda wants to end this as much as I do, to put Dr. Moon and his men in prison." Sheila said, hugging her bag tight. "Do you think you can help us with that?"

"Definitely." Matt said with confidence. "You both are very brave standing up against Dr. Moon."

"I hope I'm really brave and not stupid." She laughed nervously.

"Definitely not stupid, fighting for what's right is never stupid." Karen said, and Sheila reached into her bag and pulled out a folder with documents and handed them to her.

"I'm sorry I didn't show up Sunday. I... I was at the lab and I knew I will need physical proof to take these people down, and I had the opportunity to sneak into the archives... I took the security guard's keycard, and then found this in there."

Karen's eyes widened and opened the folder - labeled with 'Moonshot' and had the red 'Classified' stamp on it - going through the papers Sheila just handed her.

"After that I was sure they'll notice that I broke in there, so I had to disappear. I'm sorry, I was too afraid to call your office in case they're tracking my phone, so I just disposed it."

"It's ok, what's important is that you're safe and you're here." Foggy said.

"Have you guys done anything like this before?"

Foggy and Karen exchanged glances and Matt lifted his head. "Yeah, several times."

"I'm going to call Brett and have you and Miranda with her family go to a safe place. He's at the Police department and a good friend of ours. We worked together on multiple cases before." Foggy said and picked up his phone to make the call.

"Thank you."

"We will need the address where Miranda and her family is hiding." Matt said and Sheila nodded.

"Brett is on it, he'll have a place ready in the next hour." Foggy walked back in to the room.

"Guys..." Karen looked up from the papers in shock.

"What is it?" The two asked at the same time.

"You're not gonna believe this..." She put the open folder on Matt's desk in front of them with a signed paper on top. Foggy looked down and read the line where Karen's finger pointed.

"Holy shit!"

"What?" Matt asked with tension in his body.

"It's Fisk! He's behind the Tactical Elite Corps, and he signed the documents, and he's financing this whole project!" Foggy said with excitement.

"But he's in the prison, isn't he?" Sheila asked with confusion.

"Now, yes. This document was signed in 2008. They have been financing it since then. I assume it's under Vanessa now, since she's taking care of most of his old businesses."

For Matt, finding out that Fisk was involved in this made complete sense. He shouldn't be surprised. Fisk got to Melvin Potter after finding out his invention on that special fabric what could protect him from cuts and bullets. Threatened him and forced him to make suits for him. So Matt was pretty sure that Fisk would do anything to put his hands on a power like Anna had. Having it transferred to his body, probably into Vanessa, or even to his bodyguards to be able to heal him, in addition to kill with one single touch. He would have that weapon with him everywhere he goes, and nobody could take it away from him.

"Do you think we can use these documents?" Sheila asked, hoping her risky break-in mission wasn't for nothing.

"More than that, these will prove everything. And with your and Miranda's testimony we have a very solid case against them. Both Dr. Moon and Fisk will rot in prison for life. And Fisk most likely will end up in solitary forever."

They all smiled and soon Mahoney knocked on their door with four police men behind him. "Are you ready, Miss Johnson?"

"Yes. Thank you for everything."

"Of course, stay safe and see you soon to go over everything. We're gonna talk with the judge and get a date for a hearing." Foggy said with confidence. After Sheila left with the police Karen jumped in Foggy's arms for a big hug, then pulled Matt in as well.

"We did it, guys! Anna will be free soon!" Karen said, then added. "By the way Matt, we have the reservation for the wedding, for Valentine's Day! She can be there and be safe!"

"Hey, Matt, smile! You can relax now." Foggy said after looking at the shocked face of his friend. Matt couldn't believe this was really happening. She's gonna be free, no more running for her life, no more hiding, no more kidnapping. She'll be free to go anywhere, and he can take her to a real dinner, they can go down to get together with Foggy and Karen at Josey's. They can just visit any parks and walk hand in hand like a normal couple. They will be indeed able to go to Foggy and Karen's wedding in public. They can have a future, he can actually plan for the future. He just couldn't believe it, this was really happening. Eventually he smiled and hugged his friends back, letting himself to be happy. Until his phone's usual robotic voice loudly broke their short lived celebration.

---

The van ride was bumpy and the driver wasn't careful with the turns, so the people in the back were holding onto whatever they could to stay on their seat. Tom looked at Anna's face while sitting in the back of the van on a long bench, with four soldiers on the opposite side guns still pointing at their direction.

"What do you want from her?" Tom addressed one of the men sitting across them in the van.

"Not your business. Shut up."

"Seriously, maybe I can help, and we can all go home."

The guy laughed. "I highly doubt that you're going anywhere other than with us."

Anna hissed at Tom, signaling he should really just stay quiet, then carefully motioned towards her back pocket with her eyes, trying not to bring their guards' attention to it. He peaked there and saw her phone sticking out just a little, so he nodded, knowing he had to create some distraction so she can try calling for help.

After two seconds when the van took another sharp left turn and everyone tried hard staying on the bench Tom dropped down to the floor, shaking. All the soldiers looked at him.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" One of them asked.

"Looks like he has a seizure or something?"

Anna pulled her phone out slightly from her back pocket while they were watching Tom shivering violently on the ground, just to unlock it with her fingerprint and desperately trying to imagine where the Call icon would be on her screen, mirrored it in her head, since the phone was at her back facing away from her, and hit it with her finger. Hoping she just brought up the Favorites screen on the phone what she usually used, so closed her eyes to remember the layout of the actual screen, then tapped the top section where the name would be for speed dial. She only had Matt's daytime phone added to her Favorites, so she was hoping she didn't miss his name. Made a mental note to learn how to make an emergency call on her phone using just the buttons for next time to avoid this easy-to-miss process. She couldn't hear anything, but hoping the line was ringing, and hoping the person she called answered. Carefully slid the phone back into her pocket where it was before.

"Help him!" She yelled at the soldiers. "He's gonna die if you don't do anything! It's not enough you kidnapped us, now you even want to add murder to that list?" She was trying to give as many hints as possible, so the person she called can help them. "The driver of this van is crazy, causing me nausea too."

The soldiers shook Tom, and he stopped shaking after exchanged eye contact with Anna, and slowly got up on his four. "He will live..." one of the guards said laughing.

"Where are you taking us anyway? Back to the lab?" She asked desperately now.

"Haha, no way! Daredevil came to your rescue once, we will make sure this time he won't find you." Anna panicked, this wasn't good.

Tom slowly climbed back onto the bench next to her, watching her with hope. Anna gave him a small reassuring nod.

The van took another sharp turn, then the ride got very bumpy.

"Is this a dirt road?" She asked loudly, just so Matt can hear it on the phone, if he's listening... if she was able to dial his number. Too many ifs.

---

"Anna... Anna... Anna..."

Matt slowly released his two friends from the celebration hug and his smile grew wider as he fished out his phone from his inner pocket. He was about to call her to tell her the good news and it's like she was reading his mind and calling him. He walked out to the lobby with excitement to answer. But what he heard wasn't what he hoped for. Anna's voice was agitated and serious, she wasn't calling him from the apartment. For a normal person it might had been hard to make out the different noises in the background, but for his super hearing it sounded like he was right there in the van. His smile disappeared immediately and turned into worry and anger. He listened carefully to every bit of sound what would give away their location. He knew the van drove through the Brooklyn Bridge, because he heard a very unique whoosh sound as the noise of the engine reflected back from the crisscrossed side of the bridge, causing Doppler effect. They were taking them somewhere outside of Manhattan. When they turned to the dirt road his mind was already scanning through the possibilities, since there weren't many dirt roads nearby. Sounded like a long and bumpy one.

Suddenly the van stopped and the back door opened, exposing them to the vivid winter sunlight.

"Get out!" A man with gun pointing at them yelled. Both Anna and Tom got up and stepped outside, squeezing their eyes slightly from the brightness.

"Warehouses? Shipping containers? We are close to the ocean, I can smell it." Anna said, hoping Matt was still there listening.

"Move!" The man pushed the gun to her back and made her walk toward the old building, until his eyes dropped down to her pockets. "Wait a minute!" He yelled and stopped her, and Anna felt the man's hand reaching in her jeans' back pocket. Shit, the phone must have been sticking out just enough to be noticed. - she thought, and was right, because the man's angry voice echoed loud.

"Who's that?" He questioned the person on the other side of the line.

"If you dare to touch her..." Matt's voice came out deep and threatening.

"If you don't do anything stupid, she will live. No police, if you call them I won't hesitate killing the guy then the girl, trust me." The man said and hung up, turning to Anna while reading the name of the caller id. "Matthew Murdock, huh?"

She panicked and relived at the same time. Her call went through and Matt knew they had been kidnapped, but these guys also knew about him now. She put him in danger, and possibly Foggy and Karen again as well. And this time it's his real identity, not Daredevil's.

Basically everybody she cared about, how messed up this was? They knew about how close she was to Daredevil, they knew about her friends Tom and Lucy, they learned that her lawyers indeed still helping her, and now they knew that Matt was important enough to her to call him when she was in trouble. Sheila was in danger and they had no idea where she was, possibly kidnapped or even killed. She failed in every aspect, she should have just left New York at the very beginning, right after that TV news appearance.

She made an apologetic look at Tom, and the men forced them in a room inside the warehouse. She stumbled on the threshold and almost fell on her knees. There were three other guys around them with guns pointing at them while the fourth man opened the handcuffs on Tom.

"Now, if you do anything stupid they will shoot your boyfriend." The man said to Anna while slowly undid her hands as well. She painfully rotated her wrists after got freed. "Enjoy yourselves, Dr. Moon will be back in New York early morning." The man said and they left the room. Anna looked at the reinforced metal door shot behind the guy's back, then the lock clicked loudly. There were no other exits in the room. No windows, no ductwork, nothing, just the empty concrete walls around them with one sad lightbulb giving some dim light.

"What do these people want from you?" Tom asked right away. "They came with full force, like you were some dangerous person to capture... what's going on?"

Anna sighed. "The less you know is the better, trust me."

Tom shook his head. "It's a little too late for that, don't you think? I'm in this mess as well, and maybe could help if I knew what's going on. I don't understand. Please, tell me, so we can figure something out." He walked up to her, and took her hands.

"I can't." She said and pulled her hands out from his, taking a few steps to sit down on the wooden bench by the wall. There was a mattress on the other side and a bucket in the corner, and that's all.

"Who is Matthew Murdock?"

"He is my boyfriend." She answered guiltily, hated the fact she exposed his true identity to these guys.

"You called your boyfriend instead of the police? Why? Anna! The police could have helped us! You're only with this guy for a few weeks..."

Anna covered her face with her hands, she really didn't need a lecture right now. "Look..." she tried staying calm as much as possible. "You don't know him... he's a lawyer, he can help us. And we know each other for a long time."

"A lawyer, huh?" Tom still wasn't convinced. "I'm not sure if a lawyer is what we need right now. Just look around! These men have machine guns!" He started making circles in the small room. "Do you owe them money maybe? Or you got into some sort of drug business again?"

"No, it's not like that."

"How Daredevil involved in this? Do you know him? He's really your other boyfriend? What's going on?"

"He helped me escape from these guys once, that's all. They're just making things up."

"So he's not gonna come to our rescue?"

"I don't know, Tom. I don't know anything about Daredevil, have no idea if he knows about us being kept here. He's not my personal guardian." She lied, he was her personal guardian and only hope.

Tom made a disappointed look. "Who is that doctor they mentioned? Seemed like you know him..."

Anna let out a breath, getting tired of the questions. He's gonna find out about the experiments soon enough anyways if Daredevil won't show up in time.

"He was doing experiments on me, but I escaped. Now he's taking me back." She tried keeping it short and plain.

"Experiments? What type of experiments?"

"I don't know, Tom." She replied, feeling frustrated now. "The painful kind."

He rubbed his forehead. "Why you never told me about this?"

"How could I? This is not something what's easy to tell." Anna laughed. "Oh, good to see you Tom after 10 years, by the way people were doing experiments on me and trying to kidnap me, so probably you should run from me as far as you can."

"Does your boyfriend know about it?"

She nodded. "Yes, he's trying to help me, the legal way. Putting these people behind bars."

Tom calmed down a bit and went all quiet. "What do you think he's gonna do?" He asked after several minutes.

Anna thought about Matt running home to change into all black, jumping through roofs and listening to the air to find them, probably searching for her voice in all the thousands of different sounds. The hope started warming up her cold body and she smiled.

"Probably he's talking to the police, or the judge, or both." She said instead, and Tom nodded approvingly.

"I'm sorry you got dragged into this. They have been watching you, I should have known that this was a setup."

"Watching me?"

"Yeah, they've been trying to capture me for a long time, not exactly sure how they knew that you know me." She didn't want to go into details about how exactly Dr. Moon found out about Tom. The fact that he's been searching for her for years made her uncomfortable.

Tom went into deep thoughts. "I only told about you to my new friend yesterday."

"Probably he is Dr. Moon's man. But it doesn't matter anymore."

Eventually he sat down next to her on the bench, and Anna pulled up her knees and hugged them.

"Are you cold?" Tom asked eyeing her closed up position.

"A little." The warehouse and its room didn't really have much of a heater, only what's necessary to keep the temperature above freezing.

Tom was surprised she wasn't panicking any, others would probably go hysterical in this situation. He pulled closer and hugged her.

"I'm sure everything will be fine." Tom whispered, and she nodded. She trusted Matt, knew he's gonna come and save her, as always. Because that's what he does.

His hand wandered up to her hair, and gently caressed it. "You mean a lot to me, Anna, you know that right?"

She furrowed her brows, wasn't sure where he's going with this.

"We're not dying, Tom, everything will be fine."

"I don't think these guys will ever let us go... they don't seem the type, and we saw their faces."

"Yeah, you're totally right. They won't." She spoke from experience, he was correct on that part.

"I just... I just want you to know, in case we won't make it... that I love you. I've loved you since I was 14... and never forgot about you."

Anna's heart sped up, she wasn't sure what to say. They dated for a few months when they were young, he was her first love, at least what she thought love was back then. Now she knew that the feelings she had for Tom were nothing compared to real love, what she had now for Matt. She felt uncomfortable with the fact that Tom's feelings never changed, and slowly distanced herself from him.

"I will do everything I can to save you." He said finally, very serious expression on his face, and she knew he meant it.

"Tom, we're gonna make it, Matt will save us, I'm sure of that." She said with a weak smile, trying to look confident. But honestly, she wasn't sure when that's gonna happen.

---

Matt's grip on his phone was so strong, the glass made a sad crack. He pushed it in his pocket and rushed back to his office.

"What happened?" Foggy asked looking at Matt's white face.

"They took Anna and Tom."

"What?" Karen gasped.

"Foggy, I want you to call sergeant Mahoney. They took them to some sort of warehouse, on a dirt road, close to the ocean. Maybe they can find them. Just be careful, they said they will kill them if the police show up."

Foggy nodded and immediately pulled his phone out. Karen watched Matt grabbing his cane and rushing out. "Wait!"

He didn't stop, so she hurried after him. "Matt! Where are you going?"

"I... I have the updated satellite map on my laptop home, gonna check if there's any data on abandoned warehouses near the water." He couldn't come up with a better lie, and was sure Karen could see through it.

"Do you need help?"

"No, I got it, will call you if I find anything. Please check the records for any properties owned by SciTech or the Elite Corps near the ocean or Bay area."

"Ok..." she watched worriedly as he basically ran down the stairs.

Matt stopped at his apartment to change, then put Matt Murdock's suit over the black outfit, pushing the mask into his inner pocket, then waved down a cab to head towards Brooklyn, where the biggest industrial area was. He recognized a very unique sounding train crossing during Anna's call towards that area. The concrete around the tracks had bad erosion damage, bringing out loud noises from every car's suspension system that drove through it. He also remembered hearing loud to him high voltage electricity noises, which meant they drove by a transmission substation with bunch of towers and power transformer. He knew exactly where that was, not too far from the bumpy train crossing, so told the cab driver to drop him off close to it. The drive was long, and when he got there and changed - hiding his daytime clothes - he was trying to focus on the next clue from the call, which was some sort of market area. He recalled hearing people pushing carts and yelling in different language, probably Chinese. He climbed up to the closest building and listened to the cold air. It was quiet, so extended his area of focus, until he heard the sounds. As he was getting farther and farther away from Hell's Kitchen, the area started to became less familiar to him, so he had to rely on his hearing more to identify the locations from the call. He quickly jumped to the neighboring building to head toward the sound of the farmers market. From there he was a bit lost, so rubbed his temples, trying to remember what he heard next. But there was nothing specific, just the point when the van turned to the dirt road. He growled in frustration, but after a few minutes he scanned the area with his senses again and tried hard to recall what else he heard on the phone. He knew that they took them somewhere close to the water, because he heard seagulls on the phone, and Anna also hinted that they're close to the ocean and she saw shipping containers. So he headed towards the Bay area to get a little closer to the water before listening to the sounds again, calculating the time what passed during the call between the market area and the dirt road and tried converting that to distance. The wind was blowing from the West as usual this time of year, giving him some advantage. Every voice was amplified by it, bringing them closer to his ears.

---

Anna moved back next to Tom and stayed close to him, feeling colder with every minute as the temperature dropped. Even with pulling her jacket closed on herself she was shivering. She knew it's getting later in the day, or possibly even evening or nighttime now. What meant they only have a few hours before the mad scientist arrives. They searched through the room several times, looking for hidden ways outs, but there was literally none, except that heavy duty metal door.

"I'm sorry I left you when we were teenagers." Tom said after a long silence.

"You had to. You got adopted just before turning 18. How lucky was that? It's almost impossible to find a good home at that age. And you got accepted to a good College. It was a huge opportunity to get out of the bad situation we were in, you were lucky. And I'm happy for you. Look how things turned out? You had a successful life and now starting your own business!"

"Yeah, I got lucky on the financial side. But not with relationships."

"It's still not late for that, you know? You will find someone, don't give up hope."

Tom laughed. "If we get out of here."

"We will."

"So, how long you know this Matt?"

Anna smiled. "8 months now."

"Oh, that's really a long time. Why you just started dating recently? Was he married?"

"No... he was my lawyer, he helped me escape from the Russians. And you don't date with your clients." She came up with a believable excuse.

"Oh! I saw him and you in the news! That blind lawyer is your boyfriend?"

Anna nodded. "Yes. He's very nice to me."

Tom saddened a little, remembering that the lawyer he saw in the news indeed looked like a normal and nice guy. He was hoping her boyfriend was someone bad, and maybe there was a slight chance she'd leave him. But now his hopes were gone. Either way they needed to get out of here, and he was certain that whatever her boyfriend was planning, it won't happen soon enough.

"Ok. Here's the plan, I stay behind the door, and when someone comes in, I attack him from the back, then we'll run." Tom said.

"We can try, though they come in with three men at least, because I already played that trick on them in the past."

"But maybe if I could disarm one, I can use his gun against the others."

"I just hope it's not gonna turn into a gunfight." She said and thought about it a bit. "Ok, I will be on the other side of the door. You take out the first one, and I will disarm the second guy. How's that?"

"Sounds like a plan." He smiled and they took their positions to wait for them. "So, you really have done this before?"

Anna blushed. "Unfortunately, yes." She didn't want to get into details and tell him that she actually had played this trick more than a dozen times.

"So... you are happy with your boyfriend?" Tom changed the subject while they were waiting for someone to enter.

Anna smiled at him genuinely. "Yes, the happiest in my life." This might not what he wanted to hear, but she didn't want to get his hopes up. She was truly happy with Matt, first time in her life, and deeply in love. She missed him and was hoping he will show up soon as Daredevil. Her heart started beating faster with hope.

Tom thinned his lips, but nodded. Anna and Matt only started dating two days before Tom finally found her after all those years. He felt like a knife running through his heart of the thought that he only missed her by less than 48 hours. But he loved her, and wanted her to be happy, so stopped pushing the topic.

After several hours of wait there was still nobody coming to check on them, so Anna decided to speed things up. She was sure Matt has been searching for her voice to find them, so this would be also an opportunity to let him hear her. Maybe he's far away to hear their conversation, but maybe he will hear her if she raised her voice. She started banging on the door, yelling for the guards.

"Hey! I'm hungry!"

Tom joined in as well. "We need water! And it's freezing in here!"

In a few seconds they heard footsteps approaching outside. "Shut up!" A guard yelled at them through the door.

They waited a few minutes and Anna screamed out as loud as she could. She wasn't sure about Matt's exact hearing range, but figured being too loud never hurt.

"Help! She cut herself accidentally! Help!" Tom yelled while they kept their positions by the door. Anna unzipped her jacket, ready for the heat of the fight. "She's gonna bleed out, hurry! Help!"

"What the hell?" Came a frustrated voice from the other side, and they heard the lock turning finally. Soon enough the first soldier entered the room and sticking to their plan Tom grabbed his neck from the back, choking him. The second one behind him obviously noticed it right away and drew his gun, but Anna kicked his lower arm just above the wrist to make the gun fly and kicked him on his kidney with her other leg. After he stumbled in pain she delivered three fast punches behind his ear to make him pass out. The third one aimed his gun at Anna's back, but Tom was faster and disarmed him quickly, breaking his elbow. Anna spun around just to face a fourth man, so she ducked from his punch and let Tom take care of him as well. They smiled at each other victoriously, then hurried out from the room straight along the empty hallway. They were running toward a door at the end, remembering the way out of the warehouse, when suddenly it swung open to reveal at least a dozen military men with machine guns already out. The two turned around the corner right away and rushed to another door. When she reached for the handle, it opened automatically from the other side, and she ran straight into Dr. Moon's chest.

"Where is the big rush?" He asked laughing, the soldiers surrounding them from both sides. They were holding real guns, no sedative darts this time.

Anna knew she needed time, time for Matt to get here. But the doctor arrived, and he's gonna do something bad to Tom, plus start torturing her too because of their attempted escape. Or using Tom the way they used the old guy, forcing her to kill him with her power. Or taking them to another location where Matt definitely won't find them. Who knew, but one thing was sure, the scientist planned nothing good.

"Tom, stay here, I'm gonna make him pass out." She whispered to him, then grabbed the doctor's hand and started forcing pain in him, but this time making sure it's not too much. She didn't want to kill him, just wanted him to pass out, so wouldn't be able to do anything with them for a while, giving hopefully enough time for Daredevil to find them and save them. The scientist immediately froze as she forcefully connected with his mind, but after a few seconds a loud gunshot broke the silence very close to her, resonated in her ears and she only heard that now so familiar high pitched beep.

Tom tried jumping in front of her to protect her, but four soldiers next to him grabbed his arms, keeping him in place. He watched her in shock slowly dropping her hands from the scientist and turning toward him with apologetic look. Then he noticed the red blood on her white shirt just below her ribcage, getting bigger and bigger in every second, until she collapsed on the floor.

---

Matt first heard nothing from the rooftop, then yelling and a loud scream hit his ears from not too far away, maybe two miles. He recognized Anna's voice right away and headed toward the direction. He was running as fast as he could, jumping through rooftops, then continuing on the road when there were no buildings. The road slowly turned into dirt, so he knew he's at the right place. He was running toward a gated facility when heard the gunshot. He froze on his track and from this distance he was able to hear Anna's heartbeat, slowing down with every second. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe, just listened to the sound until everything went quiet, and that all so pleasant throbbing stopped completely. His own blood froze in his veins.

"No!" He yelled loud from his throat, didn't care if anyone was gonna notice him. He forced his iced body to move and sped up as much as possible, feeling his own heart rate maxing out, but ignoring the sharp pain. The tall fence around the warehouse wasn't any challenge for him, he jumped through it like nothing. He was pretty sure that was Anna's heartbeat he heard, he could easily recognize it from millions. She got shot. But why? Why did they shoot her? If they wanted to experiment on her, they wouldn't kill her, the soldiers had an order not to kill her, this didn't make any sense. Something went really really wrong. He was desperately searching for her heartbeat while running, without any success, making the panic grew in his chest.

There were several buildings in this facility, but he knew exactly where he heard the gunshot from. He got to the front door, what was unlocked to his surprise. As he stepped in to the long corridor, he faced at least a dozen armed men. He was in a hurry, so didn't waste much time on them, moving fast, taking them out one by one, and sometimes two at the same time as quickly as possible. He had to get to her immediately. The vigilante felt the exhaustion of his muscles, but the adrenaline helped him ignoring it and powered through it. He ran up to a metal door where he heard the heartbeat of one person inside, scared and possibly hurt. He grabbed the keys from one of the guards laying on the floor and opened it.

Tom on the other side looked at him in shock.

"You are the Devil of Hell's Kitchen!"

The masked man made a grimace, he still wasn't fond of that name. "Where is Anna?" He asked, trying to calm down the panic in his voice and not show how much he cared about her to the other man. Failing obviously, because Tom sensed it right away. Matt completely lost track of her after that gunshot, and still couldn't hear her heartbeat anywhere, what put him on the edge.

"You're late..." Tom said, tears falling down his face, despite the fact that it was never easy to make him cry. "She..."

"No... it can't be..."

"One of their men shot her in the chest..."

"What happened?" Matt asked, feeling like drowning all of a sudden.

"We were trying to escape, but that doctor they've been waiting for showed up. Anna told me she's gonna make the doctor pass out, but she just grabbed him and this one military guy thought the doctor was in danger or something, and fired his gun. She didn't do anything to the doctor, was just holding his arm. She wasn't a threat, have no idea why he fired. The doctor was furious at his man, sounded like he didn't want Anna to get killed."

Of course not, he wanted to torture her with his experiments, Matt knew that well. Also knew that in the eyes of the soldiers Anna was indeed a threat while grabbing the arm of the scientist.

"What did they do to her after?"

"I don't know, the doctor was asking for a defibrillator. The guards pushed me back to this cell, so I couldn't help. I was trying to get to her, but they came at me with full force. But... she... she had so much blood on her... so so much blood... and she didn't move after she collapsed." Tom started crying again and Daredevil had to force his eyes and teeth together to prevent his own tears. "She was just laying there..."

Matt knew there was still a chance for her to be alive, not everything was lost yet and he can't give up hope this easily. Maybe the doctor really got a defibrillator there in time and brought her back. He knew how much Dr. Moon wanted her to be alive. So slowly lowered himself on his knees, closing his eyes under his mask and trying to focus on the doctor's heartbeat this time. Maybe he took her with him. After five seconds his eyes snapped open, jumped up on his feet and started running toward the back of the building without any words. Tom looked at him in confusion, but then ran after him as much as he was able to keep up.

He watched amazed as Daredevil was taking out every men he came across, brutally but with ease. He wanted to warn him about another guy attacking him from the back, but had no time, because Daredevil blocked his attack, then knocked him out. He was fast. Eventually they got to the back door, where the doctor was just getting into a car to drive away. The vigilante's heart got squeezed when he realized Anna wasn't with him in the car. They heard sirens from the distance and Matt knew the police will be here in ten minutes. The doctor will escape by then and he can't let that happen. Tom eyed the vigilante in awe as he was jumping up on one of the hundreds of shipping containers and running on top of them to the direction of the leaving car. He followed them on the ground, the dust the car made on the dirt made it easy for him to keep track. It was like a labyrinth of containers, but Daredevil looked like he knew exactly where the doctor was heading, because Tom heard a thud soon in the distance that sounded like him jumping on top of the car and there was a loud crash of the car sliding into one of the containers. He picked up the pace to run to the direction of the noise.

Matt jumped off of the car before the impact, rolling in the dirt. Slowly got up on his knees and faced toward the vehicle, the doctor was still alive and conscious. The seatbelt and airbag kept him mostly unharmed by the accident. The scientist slowly opened the door and when he stepped out, Matt was right next to him, grabbing his arm and twisting it to his back. The same arm he hurt on the hotel's rooftop not too long ago.

"Where is Anna?" He hissed between his teeth, barely holding his anger at bay.

"You're late Daredevil, your girlfriend is dead. That idiot killed her, ruining everything. I tried to bring her back, even gave her an adrenaline shot, but nothing worked. She is dead."

"Where is she?" He asked again twisting his arm more, yelling now from his lungs, unable to process his words.

"Are you deaf? She is dead! My men took her body to dump it somewhere where nobody finds it. I'm not going to prison for murder!"

"Where?!" His voice was deadly.

"I don't know, I didn't care, just told them to dispose it so nobody will find her."

Tom just arrived, catching his breath and heard a loud pop of the doctor's arm as Daredevil broke it. He yelled out in excruciating pain, which made the Devil angrier and punched him in the face multiple times, his blood splashing everywhere, until the man stopped screaming. Then he dropped his unconscious body to the ground, towering above him with heavy breathing, hands tightening into fists.

When he turned toward Tom, he was pretty sure he's seeing the true and real Devil himself.

"The police will be here in two minutes." Daredevil said with deep voice, without looking at Tom's direction. "Tell them everything what just happened here, and ask for Nelson, Murdock and Page to represent you." He turned around and left in the dark.

The vigilante ran toward the back side gate and cleared it with ease, ran across the empty field behind it, then up to the top of the closest building. He listened to Tom talking to sergeant Mahoney, and the others were handcuffing the men on the ground, including the doctor. They got him, he won't be able to escape from this. And with the testimonies of Sheila and Miranda he will stay in prison for a very long time. But he lost her, he still wasn't able to hear her heartbeat. Desperately dropped down on his knees on the roof, bending forward and pushing his forehead with his fists while tying to extend his senses farther away, but failing. He was exhausted, emotionally hurt, his head wanted to split into two halves and his heart felt like it was shattered. The agony he felt was too much even for him, and he knew it's just gonna get worse. He tried searching for her with his senses again, but the city was waking up, getting louder and louder every second, making it harder for him to filter the sounds out. He growled loud in frustration, and tried it again. And again. And again.

---

I'm really sorry about the ending of this chapter, we are at the hurtful part of the storyline unfortunately, when bad things happen. I hate causing this much pain to Matt, but his life has never been easy :( The story isn't over yet. There are three more chapters left, so ending up with total of 16 chapters. Hope you stick around for the end. I will try finishing up the next chapter in a week as usual.