The stars were twinkling in the night sky when Matt and Foggy made it up to the roof of the warehouse. Foggy drew in deep breath after deep breath, relishing the cool crispness of the fresh air after having spent all afternoon in the warehouse. "Beautiful night," he said.
"I can't really tell," Matt admitted.
Foggy tried to picture what the night would look like through the lens of Matt's 'world on fire'. It didn't take him long to realize exactly how much would get lost in the translation. "Wanna see for yourself?" he offered.
"Rain check," Matt suggested. "I would love to, but I can't afford the distraction if we're going to search the city for that...thing. After this is over, though...?"
Foggy nodded. "Sure," he agreed readily. Not for the first time that day, the oddness of his best friend's appearance struck Foggy as representative of how that day had changed his perspective on their friendship. "You know," he admitted, "I'm still having trouble getting used to seeing you without your cane..."
"It's a pretense," Matt said with a shrug. "You know I don't need it. Same with the glasses."
"Yeah, I know," Foggy agreed. "It's just..." An odd thought crossed Foggy's mind. "Could you drive?"
Matt couldn't resist. "Why?" he teased. "I have you."
Foggy glared at his friend. "Seriously! If you just opened up your senses could you, like, drive a car if you wanted?"
"Probably," Matt admitted.
Foggy shook his head in amazement. "I can't even picture that," he insisted. "And I've seen what you see. It's just so..."
"Weird?" asked Matt. Foggy nodded. "Kinda like the idea of being in my head and seeing through my eyes?"
It was clear that Matt had a point. "Am I ever going to get used to this?" Foggy exclaimed with a groan.
"Focus on what's happening moment to moment," Matt replied, trying to be as reassuring as he could be. "Adapting to anything gets easier over time. Take it from an expert on the subject."
Foggy smiled when he realized how true Matt's statement probably was...until one of the goals of the current 'moment' jumped to the front of his mind. "What Katya said down there. Was she right? Are you ready?"
"No," Matt replied, clearly nervous. "But the longer we leave a weapon like the Black Sky in Madame Gao's hands, the more dangerous she becomes. Whatever is going to happen needs to happen tonight."
Foggy drew in one last deep breath, more to steady his nerves than to appreciate his surroundings. "Okay. Let's do this." With the tug of the bond now a near-constant presence in each man's mind, it was easy for Foggy to close his eyes, follow the sensation, and jump down the rabbit hole.
Matt and Foggy opened Matt's Sight up to the city, scanning block by block in a circle from the warehouse outward. It didn't take long for Matt's frustration to pulse through the mind-link, distracting them both. This is ridiculous, thought Matt. I'll never find them this way.
What was it like when you first saw the kid? asked Foggy. Maybe showing that to me will help.
Matt replayed his memories of the Black Sky and Madame Gao. You feel it? he asked Foggy.
Yeah...Foggy agreed. He felt a chill run down his spine...then his entire soul quickly became consumed by inspiration and urgency. But do you feel *that*?
Matt forced himself to concentrate, racking his brain to try and figure out what detail he had missed that his Guide was now picking up on. Feel what, Foggy?
It's a...pulling, Foggy described. Like the connection between us.
Matt recognized the sensation the minute Foggy put the feeling into words. I feel it...
The kid's pure evil, right? thought Foggy. Maybe...maybe he's like an evil black hole that pulls in all the good spirit around him...
It would explain what his aura looks like, Matt agreed. He switched their focus from the memory back to the present, focusing on the slightest hint of the sensations they had felt in his memories.
When they got back to Hell's Kitchen, they started to feel it. As they moved closer and closer, the attraction was unmistakeable. Foggy was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. His will urged them closer, block by block, building by building...
Matt cut the connection abruptly, causing Foggy to stagger back from the discomfort of the forced ejection. "Matt, what the hell...?" Foggy demanded.
"We found him," Matt explained. "But he was sucking you in. I don't know how, but if I hadn't cut the connection I think he might have sucked you out of my head. Or sucked us both into oblivion. You don't remember?"
Foggy shook off the disorientation as the memory came back to him. "Yeah. I remember," he said. "What now?"
"We show the Guardians what we saw," Matt declared. "From here, it's their show."
Foggy watched Matt climb down the fire escape before his friend's choice of words hit him. "Hold it, how are you going to show them what we saw?"
#
Madame Gao had never moved out of the Kitchen. A mere ten blocks south of the first place she had set up shop in the United States, and just three blocks west of the second, the warehouse was bustling with life even as the rest of the neighborhood had gone dark for the night. A people's army of the blind worked at two dozen tables, getting the pure heroin known as "Steel Serpent" ready for distribution. And for every worker, it seemed that there was now at least one guard watching over them, submachine gun ready to go after whatever...or whoever...was looking to get in their way.
One "whoever", in particular, was especially troubling to the old woman. Not the 'Daredevil': even with all of his skills, Gao knew that the 'Daredevil' was only one man and one man, no matter how talented, was not going to dismantle her army a second time. No...the one who was troubling Gao was Daredevil's new ally. The one who caused the warrior to disappear into thin air. Even before the 'vanishing act', the mysterious woman reeked of magick. Powerful magicks that, to that point, Gao had been certain that this world did not have.
Not for the first time, Gao found herself grateful for Nobu's legends about the 'Black Sky'. The Black Sky was a powerful being, and a valuable weapon in her arsenal. She knew how fortunate she was to have it. With money in the bank, an army at her disposal and the Black Sky at her side, that gave Gao all of the money, power and influence that she needed to take over this pathetic little world and milk it for everything it was worth.
And nothing, and no one, was powerful enough to stop her.
#
"It's like some damn heroin mall..." Beckett exclaimed. The Hunter was piggybacking her sight onto her hearing and providing reconnaissance for the group from the roof of the apartment building that they were using as a scouting perch.
"How many tables?" asked Matt.
Beckett took a quick census of what she was seeing. "Two dozen, give or take. Double what I saw when we met."
"And quadruple her first operation," Matt agreed. "She's ramping up for something."
"Which means we gotta move on her as soon as possible," declared Esposito.
On that point, everyone was in full agreement. "Matt, you take point on finding the kid," said Beckett. "With your Sight, you're our best shot at it."
Matt nodded. "Whad'ya say, Foggy? Ready to be my second pair of eyes?"
Foggy nodded, although his nerves were clearly obvious to everyone in the group. "I'm staying up here, right?"
"How are you at running with your eyes closed?" asked Matt.
"Terrible," Foggy replied.
"Then you're staying up here," Matt declared.
Foggy looked relieved. "Thank you."
Castle then cast a shielding spell...which caused Matt to stagger back, disoriented. "What the hell is that?" the Sentinel demanded.
"Energy shield," Castle replied. "Full-on bulletproofing..."
"Take it off," Matt insisted. "I can't see through it."
The request worried everyone in the group...but Foggy most of all. "Are you sure?" he asked his friend. "There's almost a hundred guards in there..."
"I'm sure," Matt replied. "You want my Sight so I can look for the kid. I can't do it with that shield on me."
"All right," Beckett relented. "But stay behind us, then. Let us take most of the firefight." Matt nodded.
Foggy, for his part, had no interest in letting Matt go that easy. "Can I just file a formal protest against you going in there without..."
"Noted," Matt cut him off. "And overruled." Foggy sighed in frustration.
Castle tilted his head, his attention focused elsewhere. "There's somthing else down there. Not just the kid, something else. Powerful. And magical."
Ryan's eyes widened. "There's magic down there?"
"The nose never lies," Castle replied, tapping the side of his nostril.
Beckett rolled her eyes at the comment. "All right, then. Castle, whatever magic's down there is your show. Just make sure you call for me when you need me, right?"
"Got it," Castle agreed.
"Why would Castle need you in a magic fight?" asked Foggy.
"Wizards can't use their powers to kill," Ryan explained. "Ever. If something needs to be killed one of us has to do it."
Foggy swallowed nervously, suddenly uncomfortable around the company he was keeping. "How many times have you...?"
"Fewer than you'd think," Esposito replied. "And most of them weren't human. Not even anywhere close to human." Foggy sighed with relief for a second time.
"Remember," Castle warned, "the shields are designed for bullets. They don't do a thing against the fog. If you find the kid, you call me immediately. Understood?" Everyone in the group nodded.
"Then let's go," declared Esposito. "Good luck, everyone."
#