Blair turned to Ryan. "Master Mùshī," he asked, "I have an idea. I could really use your help with it."

Jim found that, for once, he had a fairly clear idea of what his guide was thinking. "Blair, you think he's...?"

"I'm what?" Matt asked as Blair nodded.

"Jennifer Wong," Jim asked Matt, "is she blind?"

The question threw Matt for a loop. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

That was all the confirmation Blair needed. "Mister Murdock," Blair explained, "I'd like to get a look inside your head. See the world through your eyes."

"How?" asked Matt.

"Mr. Murdock, my name's Kevin Ryan," Ryan introduced himself, taking his lead from his partner. "I'm a telepath. I can read minds and project thoughts into people's heads...both my thoughts and the thoughts of somebody else. With your permission, I'd like to make a connection between your head and Doctor Sandburg's..."

Blair blushed at the mention of his name, realizing for the first time that, in his excitement, he had forgotten to introduce himself. "I am so sorry," he apologized. "Mr. Murdock, I'm Doctor Blair Sandburg. I'm something of a specialist in helping people with hypersenses. Like you."

"A specialist?" Matt exclaimed. "There's that many of us out there?"

"Well, at least three of us," Beckett replied, half-smirking. "In this room."

Stunned by the declaration, Matt scanned the room. He weakly pointed to Ellison and Beckett when they each nodded in his direction. "You two...are like me?" Matt shook his head when the pair both nodded a second time. "This night just keeps getting crazier and crazier..."

"Mr. Murdock," Ryan spoke up, trying to get back to the request that had been made of him. "May I?"

Matt turned back to Ryan, trying to process what he had told him alongside the news he had just heard. Finally, he pulled his hood back, exposing his full face for the first time as he smiled and collapsed in the nearest chair. "Well, if you're going to be spending time in my head, you should probably call me Matt."

Ryan smiled in return. "It's nice to meet you, Matt."

Blair closed his eyes when the Guardian opened the requested connection and gasped at what he saw. "Thank you," he told Ryan, effectively asking him to close the connection. Blair then turned to his partner. "It's him. He's the guy we saw."

"I am?" asked Matt, thoroughly confused.

"Long story," Blair replied. "And I promise I'll tell you all about it at some point. But for now, why don't we start with why you can see auras and spirit animals?" Matt nodded. "You're a Sentinel. Someone who was born with five senses enhanced to levels far beyond those of any 'normal' man."

"I was born with this ability?" Matt argued. "But...I don't remember anything like that...before..."

Blair made the connection immediately. "Before you lost your sight?" Matt nodded. "Did you grow up in the city?"

"Born and raised in Hell's Kitchen," Matt replied.

"Then there's you explanation," Blair insisted. "A Sentinel develops their gifts from long periods of time alone. Mostly in nature. In New York City, your body would have suppressed your abilities purely out of self-preservation. How'd you lose your sight?"

Matt hesitated, as he always did when he talked about that particular memory. "Car accident. I was doused with chemicals when I pushed an old man out of the way of a truck. It hit me instead."

Blair grinned, not surprised that the boy who became the Daredevil would have lost his sight saving the life of another. "And how were your senses after the accident?"

"Off the charts. I almost lost my mind."

"Your body was trying to compensate for the loss of such a dominant sense. I *think* your sixth sense is what's doing the compensating."

Matt frowned, his willingness to believe Blair's explanation stunted by his last sentence. "I'm not psychic, Doctor..."

"I never said you were," Blair countered. "There's a spirit plane that exists side-by-side with this one. Normal people can't see it, or feel it. A regular Sentinel can develop a sense of this plane with time and training. But because of your blindness, Matt, I think you see it like the rest of us see the 'regular' world. That sensitivity to the spirit plane has replaced your sight as your fifth sense."

While Matt was having trouble processing Blair's explanation, Jim picked up on it immediately. "That's why he sees so much differently then I do?"

"I think so, yeah," Blair told Jim. Matt turned to Jim, curious about the question he had just asked. Jim hesistated, uncomfortable to be the one to deliver that particular explanation. So Blair spoke for his Sentinel. "Dreams are one way that Sentinels and Guides can access the spirit plane. Last night, Jim and I dreamt about you. That's how I recognized you."

"You...dreamt about me?" Matt asked warily, clearly growing skeptical of Blair's expertise.

In his excitement, Blair ignored Matt's skepticism and nodded. "When Jim closes his eyes, he can only fill in the gaps with outlines. Like a negatiye copy of the what he would see with his eyes open. That fire that you see? That's the spirit plane."

Matt's head was starting to spin. He staggered, suddenly dizzy as the mental strain of processing Blair's explanation combined with his exhaustion and the handful of injuries he sustained in the fight. "Sorry," he apologized. "Long night, I guess."

Lanie stepped forward. "Matt, my name's Lanie Esposito. I'm a healer. I could help you with your injuries, if you'd like. Looks like it was one hell of a fight."

"I've been through worse," Matt insisted with a chuckle. When that chuckle twinged in his gut, though, curiosity won out over masculine pride. "What do you need me to do?"

Lanie shook her head, smiling reassuringly. "Just give me your hand."

The wash of warmth that flooded Matt's body was like nothing he had ever felt before. He closed his eyes, drinking in the sensations that were flooding every fiber of his being. It took what felt like an eternity of being lost and suspended in that wonderful haze...but when Matt opened his eyes, he felt better than he had ever felt in his life. "How did you do that?" he gasped, gazing at Lanie in amazement.

Lanie, for her part, was far less awestruck by what she had seen. In fact, her emotional state could be better described as...annoyed. "Goddamn Sentinels and their pain tolerances," she grumbled.

Jim chuckled at the healer's complaint. "Finally, I won't be the only one she gets pissed at."

"You never were," Esposito deadpanned.

Lanie ignored the two men, focusing exclusively on her patient. "I'm not going to list the number of injuries I've just healed, or the locations of every pound of scar tissue I've just cleared out of your body. But just know that if it's another five years before I see you again I'm not going to be a happy camper. Is that clear?"

"Yes...yes, ma'am," Matt stammered in reply, reacting almost instinctively to the tone in Lanie's voice. It was only then that Matt realized the one thing that Lanie didn't heal. "I'm still blind."

"That was a deliberate choice on my part, I'm afraid," Lanie admitted. "I could heal your eyes..."

Matt suddenly found himself on unsteady legs, despite his recent healing. "You can?"

Lanie nodded. "But I have no idea what that will do to your senses. Your brain re-wired itself around your blindness, and I have no idea how your gifts would adjust if I brought your sight back. I don't even know if you'd stay a Sentinel."

"And I think we're at a point where we need your gifts more than ever," Beckett declared.

"My gifts?" asked Matt. "Why?"

Beckett turned to the group to reply to Matt's question. "When I found Matt I saw why you and Blair dreamed about him, Jim. The woman Matt was following tonight had a kid. Maybe a grandson. The thing is...I'm pretty sure the kid was fog-possessed."

The group seemed to let out an almost collective curse of frustration, which confused Matt. "What's this fog possession?"

"There's this entity we've encountered a couple of times," Ryan explained, his eyes never losing their haunted look. "We've just taken to calling it the black fog. It's...pure evil is pretty much the only way I can describe it."

Castle turned to his wife. "That's why you begged me to get you out of there."

"You?" asked Matt.

"Richard Castle," Castle introduced himself. "I''m a wizard."

Matt frowned for only a few seconds, taking in the announcement in the context of everything he had sensed and experienced over the course of the night. "Okay..."

"It seemed like the old woman was the one in charge, though," Beckett continued, ignoring the exchange between the two men. "If she knew what the kid was she didn't acknowledge it. At least to us."

"Or you guys might have just disappeared before she had the chance to sic the kid on you," Castle suggested. Beckett nodded in agreement.

Matt frowned, clearly lost in thought...until Beckett turned to him, looking for answers. "This wasn't your first run in with Madame Gao, was it?" asked Beckett.

Matt shook his head. "She's the mastermind of the triad's local heroin operation." His memories went back to his first encounter with Madame Gao. "I think she knows about the kid."

Ryan caught a fleeting thought as it ran through Matt's mind. "You know what the kid is, too, don't you?"

Matt shook his head again. "All I know is that the kid is a weapon called a Black Sky. A friend of mine came into town a few months ago chasing down a different one. I refused to kill a kid, so he took out the last Black Sky with an arrow through the heart." He shuddered as his mind replayed his more recent encounter with the 'Black Sky'. "Now I understand why."

"How sure are you that Madame Gao would know about the kid?" asked Esposito.

"Ninety percent," Matt replied. "An associate of Madame Gao's was the one who tried to bring the first Black Sky into the country. If she was able to get her hands on a different one, she knows what it is. And what it can do."

Beckett looked over at the nearest computer, finally checking the time. "Okay, people. It's 7am. There's no way in the world that Madame Gao hasn't done anything but burn the location that we found her at tonight. Which means we have roughly 13 hours to go find where she's moved to." She then turned to Matt. "You've had one hell of a night, Mr. Murdock."

"Yeah, tell me about it," he agreed.

"I'm going to have Castle take you home," she told Matt. "Unless you'd rather stay and work with Doctor Sandburg?"

Matt shook his head. "Not that I don't want to work with you, Doctor Sandburg. I do, very much. But in order to get time away I'm going to need to take care of some things at the office."

Sandburg nodded understandingly. "I used to work as an associate professor and moonlight as a police consultant. Believe me, I know the whole double life thing far too well."

Beckett handed Matt a blank business card with a phone number on it. "Call this number when you're ready for Castle to come get you."

With no pockets in his costume, Matt slipped the card inside one of his sleeves as he stood up and made his way over to Castle. "Don't you need my address or something?"

"May I?" Esposito volunteered. Castle took a step back as Esposito explained to Matt, "My gift is that I read and retain memories. If you'll let me, I can copy yours and be able to use your memories like I had lived them myself. Including any experiences you've had with Madame Gao."

Matt shrugged and offered Esposito his hand. When the two men shook hands, Esposito let out a low whistle. "I don't envy you one bit, bro," he told Matt.

"It has its moments," Matt added with a chuckle.

Castle turned to Ryan. "So where'm I headed?"

Ryan made the connection between Castle and Esposito, letting the simple flash of memory pass between the three men. Castle gawked at the powerful intensity of the different way that Matt Murdock saw the world. "Wow," he exclaimed. "That's...that's *incredible*.

"Says the wizard," Matt countered. Castle relaxed with a chuckle. "You know where you're going?" asked Matt.

Castle nodded before turning to give his wife a gentle kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back soon, honey."

Beckett nodded, returning her soul-mate's smile before turning back to Matt. "It's been a pleasure to meet you, Matt Murdock."

"Same," Matt returned. "I'll see you tonight."

#

The two men appeared in the space between the living room and kitchen in Matt's living room...only to find that they weren't alone. Foggy jumped up like the couch was on fire. "Matt!" he exclaimed. "What's going on? Where were you? Where did you guys come from?!"

Castle took the smile on Matt's face as a sign that the panicking man in front of them was friend and not foe. "He knows?"

"He knows," Matt confirmed. "Richard Castle, meet my best friend Foggy Nelson. Foggy, meet Richard Castle."

Foggy frowned, confused. "The author?"

Matt turned to Castle. "Author?"

"I've written a few books," Castle replied.

Matt nodded, blowing off the information with a shrug. "He's also a wizard and member of the Guardians."

Foggy's eyes flew wide. "The Guardians?! How long have you been working with them?!"

"About three hours," Matt replied. "I ran into one of them when I went after Madame Gao..."

Foggy let out a low whistle. "Wow," he exclaimed, "what are the odds..."

"Better than you'd think, actually," Castle admitted. "Beckett was following you."

"She was?" asked Matt, clearly surprised by the idea.

Castle nodded. "Before we became Guardians, most of us were cops. 12th Precinct homicide."

"Captain Gates," Matt blushed, shaking his head.

"She is in something of a...unique position," Castle explained, "but you might want to watch how quickly you share evidence in the future. Especially things you find through certain...unique forms of investigation." Matt nodded, but guilt was written across his face. "We had to lie for months before we finally told Captain Gates," Castle added. "It's a necessary evil if you want to keep your secret."

Matt smiled as he slowly started to appreciate the resource that was now available to him. "Thanks, Castle."

"Anytime," Castle returned with a shrug. "Is your guide coming with you tonight?"

"Guide?" Matt and Foggy both asked in unison.

Castle studied Foggy, then Matt, and finally shrugged. "You might want to call after lunch," he told them. "Give Sandburg the afternoon to work with you two."

Foggy jumped when Castle disappeared, before turning to Matt in the hopes of alleviating his confusion. "Do you have any idea what he was talking about?"

"Some," Matt replied. "It's kind of a long story."

#