Jessica Jones

Aw come on, seriously? Groaned Jessica inwardly as the second story windows to the dojo shattered at the same time the lights to the dojo went out.

Then there stood, the "Spider-Man", posing in a most dramatic stance under the moonlight.

Geez, is this guy in his own world?

Jessica had really hoped to get more of the story from Castle before seeking out the crazy doppelganger of Spider-Man. From what Claire had told her, the guy had the exact same powers as Spider-Man, but with a few twists – he could shoot solidifying webs and apparently laid eggs. Jessica honestly didn't think she heard correctly about the latter special power, but Claire had nodded in affirmation that she hadn't misheard.

Whatever this guy's MO was, Jessica honestly didn't care. She and the other "Defenders" – a stupid ass "team" name that Danny Rand had come up with - could take him on and Claire would just have to get the kid out of there. Even in the short time she had come to know Peter as Spider-Man, Jessica knew the kid's personality – he would fight to end to protect anyone from getting hurt. And it wasn't just an insight, Jessica had witnessed it; and it was something she didn't want to see again.

Jessica hadn't been oblivious to the looks she received when she concern for Peter. In fact, it actually surprised herself since she'd never was known for being a coddler type. It was such a distant truth to her usual personality even she felt weird about it.

The first time she had spotted Peter in his Spider-Man suit swinging around in Queens, she had been investigating a missing person case. The kid, clad in his blue and red tights was saving a stupid cat from a tree. Jessica had rolled her eyes inwardly. Cute…but Jesus, if this was the direction superheroes were heading towards, Jessica was damned glad she wasn't one of them. She belonged more in the anti-hero category.

When Danny Rand, aka Iron Fist had coined their team as "The Defenders" shortly after the Hand incident, she had all but rolled her eyes and left the lot of them for a drink at a bar. Having seen the Spider-Man guy play boy scout in Queens, made Jessica have no regrets on walking out on the 'dream team' and returning to her usual drinking binge.

Nothing would have, or should have changed Jessica's mind on the 'friendly neighborhood' Spider-Man, but then the incident with Trish entered the picture and Jessica saw she couldn't judge everything from its cover. She owed a personal debt to the kid, and while she usually was more begrudging to pay up, somehow Peter's earnest work in keeping his district of Queens safe, struck a cord with Jessica.

He reminds me of Matt Murdoch , concluded Jessica in her mind. But lacking the anger management issues, and having actual super powers.

She at the time only had Spider-Man's first name, Peter, but with her investigative skills, it should have been easy to figure out the rest. But to her surprise, getting information on the kid was actually quite difficult. His information and details were well hidden – a bit too well in fact. Jessica knew that someone was protecting him, and she had an idea on who it was. The fancy suit gave much of it away. This was promptly confirmed when said person paid her a personal visit.

The rich assh*le had just strolled into her office and told her straight up: shut down her investigation of Peter, or he would make sure Alias Detective Agency never saw the light of day again. Peter was under his protection, so she, Jessica Jones, should stay out of Spider-Man's business.

Jessica had wanted to throw Tony Stark out the moment he entered – in the most literal sense, but after his frank statements about protecting the kid, she got a look underneath a crack in the armor of the billionaire. The man cared about Peter, despite hiding it under a ton of arrogance and assh*leness. Seeing that the kid was under the guidance of the Tony Stark, though, hadn't exactly made Jessica feel any better.

But knowing that Peter at least had someone to watch his back when he needed it, that was something.

Which of course made Jessica wonder in the present, where the f*ck was Tony Stark now? The kid looked so badly hurt and his so-called backup was nowhere in sight.

If Stark wasn't going to put the crazy man in place, Jessica was going to do it first, and then later have a pissed off chat with him.

The "Spider-Man" stood in front of them, planting his grimy muddy feet on the pristine floor of the Chikara Dojo.

"Aw aren't you guys cozy?" The man drawled out, sounding ever so pleased.

"F*ck you, Russo," growled out Castle as he stood up – rather unsteadily – poising himself to attack the man.

So that's the guys name, Russo. So much easier than calling him Spider-Man but not.

If Jessica could have seen the face beneath the mask, she would have guess the man to be grinning ear to ear given the pleased tone that he cooed his next words to them.

"Surprised the little fireworks I left for you didn't kill you. But should have known, having little Spider-ling here… Kinda shocked the kid's still breathing."

"Mind stopping to talk like I'm not in the room?" said a very hoarse sounding Peter.

"Actually, I do mind," said Russo coolly. "I had a grand plan, you know, torturing the shit out of Frankie here. But who'd have thought, you, a little twit was actually a worthy adversary."

"Um. I'll try and take that as a compliment," said Peter, trying to hold a glare at Russo despite looking completely drained.

"You really shouldn't. It just means I have to make sure you die for messing up my plans."

"Did your plans include us in it? Or have you lost your f*cking eyesight while blowing up the last building?"

Russo snapped his attention to Jessica's rather pissed off commentary.

"Oh. You don't think I'm actually here to literally fight one on one with you, right?" The man scoffed off the words as if it were the most ridiculous idea in the world.

"F*ck Frankie, you have the most dense friends."

In unison they all responded with, "We're not friends."

"Well. Either way," said Russo breaking the awkward silence that had followed, "while Frankie here was sleeping, I've been quite busy. You'll like my surprise… maybe not so much, but I will enjoy seeing your face when you see it –"

"Would someone please just shut the assh*le up?" said Jessica. She was all for people gloating, but if this guy was as dangerous as everyone made him out to be, kicking him in the nuts while he was monologuing seemed like the right thing to do.

Luke acted first, being the closest to Russo, made a strike towards the guy's face.

Guess you are going to have to fight with us, one on one, bastard.

Russo, however, had lightning reflexes and caught Luke's fist in one motion. He attempted to crush Luke's hand as well, but given that Luke also had super strength, that was not happening.

Jessica couldn't help but grin inwardly at Russo's surprise.

That's right shithead, you're not the only one here with powers.

Russo attempted to throw Luke off with the webs that Claire had mentioned, all of which didn't even faze the man least. The problem was Russo's advantage with his super agility. Even though there were more of them, and only one of him, they were unfortunately not getting much actual contact.

At the corner of Jessica's eyes, she could see Danny was preparing to attack, though it was worth noting that his infamous Iron fist was not lit up per usual.

Probably still recharging that ying yang stuff he's always talking about .

In honesty, Jessica hoped Danny didn't use his powers at all, because it could seriously help the kid. She had heard from Colleen that Danny's Iron Fist could heal injuries.

Colleen and Castle flanked behind Danny, ready to take on Russo as well.

"We should go," said Claire as she proceeded to lift the Spider-Man up. Jessica nodded in agreement.

"Wait, I should stay and fight -," started Peter but Jessica cut him off.

"Look, kid, I know you want to, and I would let you, usually. But you are in no condition, got it?

Peter blinked at her for a second and opened his mouth again, "But I can help –"

"What would Tony Stark say at this point?"

The kid swallowed his words at the mention of the billionaire. God, Peter really looked up to that self-absorbed man, thought Jessica incredulously.

A man who isn't even here to back you up, kid.

"He'd say I'm out."

"And he'd be right."

The kid remained silent, deep in thought as his eyes carefully watched the fight going on in front of him.

"You okay getting the kid outta here? I'm going to stick around and bat this guy around a bit," said Jessica as she too turned to look at Russo fighting with the others.

"Be my guest. What's our rendezvous point?"

"My office? Not as spacious, but better than nothing."

"You fixed the door yet?"

Jessica made a face at that, "Yeah. Alias Detective Agency is open for business."

"Sounds serious."

"It is."

"New clients?"

"Some, but not much recently."

"Guess not a good time to ask why?"

"No. You should get moving," said Jessica noting that team Defenders and Castle weren't faring so well. "I'll let the others know the meeting location."

Russo's agility was taking up another notch, and if Jessica didn't know better, the man was having fun. Danny and Castle took turns in fighting with the man, interweaving with Luke. Colleen used her Katana on the masked man, keeping at an arms length, but still, the woman kept slicing through air. While the webbing didn't harm Luke in the least, it wasn't the same with the other three. Jessica needed to help out.

Claire took the lead in helping Peter up as Jessica blocked them from Russo's view. She saw Russo look her way and there was a pause, but then he just went on fighting with the other Defenders.

Well, that's interesting , thought Jessica as she rushed forward to take a swing at Russo. Just as he had dodged the other Defender's attacks, Jessica also hit air. The man was fast and it didn't help that he had military training. Even as she fought with Russo, something about the man's dismissal of Spider-Man and Claire leaving bugged her. Russo had said he wanted the Spider-Man dead so why would he so easily just let him walk out of there? After a few more missed strikes against Russo, Jessica was clipped in the shoulder by the man. The force of it sent her flying back, striking against the back wall of the dojo.

Jesus, this guy is strong.

Jessica guessed that Peter if he didn't hold back, probably could do the same. Made her thankful that such powers was granted to someone who wasn't psychotic… or an overly angst teenage bully.

As she took the moment to recover from the blow, Jessica's eyes were drawn to the muddy footprints Russo had left on the dojo floor. Under the moonlight's cast, she had a moment of revelation as she saw clearly what "grime" the man left on the floor. It wasn't just mud, it was mud caked with blood.

The assh*le must have killed again… and why he didn't stop Peter and Claire from leaving… shit, this couldn't be good. He must have thought ahead, brought the cops here.

The realization came too late because she heard a shout, and then shots fired downstairs.

F*ck .

Without missing a beat, Jessica raced past the fight with Russo, through the hallway and down the stairs.

Once Jessica reached the bottom of the steps, she saw spiders, a lot of them. They were f*cking everywhere and wait… were they exploding? Holy shit, this was creepy - Claire hadn't said anything about this being one of Russo's super powers.

"Guys!" She called out, but was met with silence.

Shit, this wasn't good. Must proceed with caution, Jess. Let's not make them a target.

"Claire! Peter!" She called out in hushed whisper.

Damn, slip of the tongue, Jessica. Great at keeping everything secret, except a guy's secret identity.

But right now wasn't the time to worry about things like this – lives were at stake.

The lack of response from Claire and Peter made Jessica nervous. It never bode well when people didn't respond.

Her fear only grew when she heard a painful groan when she rounded the corner of the hallway.

The kid was down. Claire had removed his mask, to make it easier for him to breathe.

"It's okay, it's okay, I've got you," said Claire.

Jessica could see that the woman's hands were slightly shaking as she added pressure to the kid's wound. Claire, who she had come to admire in the most dire of circumstances in keeping a cool head, she was scared. That meant to Jessica it must have been a bad hit.

Tell me it's a damn graze , prayed Jessica inwardly.

When Jessica got close enough, she saw how bad it actually was.

Ah shit, kid .

Peter was hit – it was a side wound. Normally, it wouldn't have been too bad, but from the amount of blood the kid had already lost, this could very well be the tipping point.

The bad thing was, they really couldn't stay where they were. Jessica didn't need special senses to know that the cops were just regrouping enough so that they could storm through the doors. They needed to move now .

"Can we move him?" asked Jessica, though she already knew the answer.

"We shouldn't," said Claire, though she too eyed the back door, anticipating the cops entrance any moment.

"We can't stay here. They'll be through that in less than a minute. They're probably hesitant only because they think Spider-Man's got a hostage."

Claire nodded in agreement.

"Think they'll take my statement that Peter's innocent?"

Jessica froze for a moment, realizing that Claire had heard her call out his name.

"I feel like even if you told them the truth, they're not going to believe it until they have Spider-Man in custody. And you know what that means."

"They'll want to know his identity."

"Which is more dangerous than anything else."

"The Sokovia Accords."

Jessica nodded. "As it is, I'm not that high on the radar, and while I have superpowers, I'm not to the scale this kid has it. The governments' going to take him, make him sign."

"And if he doesn't…"

"Maybe he'll get locked up."

"What about Stark? Can't he do something?"

"Never much liked the guy, so can't say," said Jessica shaking her head. "Claire, we're going to have to move him, now ."

Jessica was sensing movement from outside - they were moving into position.

Claire nodded and said a quiet apology as she shifted out of position for Jessica to grab hold of Peter.

The kid didn't even make a sound, making Jessica even more concerned.

"Let's move," said Jessica, scooping up the kid's mask and making a beeline back upstairs.

Just as they made it to the top of the stairs, Jessica heard the crash through the backdoor. The cops had officially stormed through the building, which meant they had little time to get out.

Racing towards the dojo's doors, Jessica opened her mouth to warn them of the new company they had but the words lodged in her throat when she saw the scene in front of her.

When Jessica had last left the dojo, it did not look this destroyed. Russo was long gone it seemed, along with Castle. Luke, was still there, but he held a worried expression on his face as he knelt by a fallen Colleen. On her other side was Danny, who was gripping her hand tightly, willing her to hang on.

Gently, Claire leaned Peter against Jessica and rushed to Colleen's side.

"Colleen, can you hear me?" said Claire as she assessed the woman's injuries.

"Claire?" Colleen's voice was so weak it was worriesome. Danny lit up his fist, but Colleen shook her head and said softly, "Danny, you're not recovered yet."

"I can do this. I can," Danny insisted, his face glistened with blood and sweat, and lit up his fist to begin healing her.

Luke passed some medical supplies to Claire who nodded in thanks. "Thanks, Luke."

The sound of rapid footsteps brought Jessica back to the issue at hand.

They couldn't move Colleen, not in her state. And Peter… Jessica realized the kid was awake. If his face had been pale before, it had literally no colour now. There was horror in his eyes as he looked at the gravely injured Colleen.

And then their eyes met.

"I'm sorry," said Peter, his voice seemed so broken, filled with guilt.

"Kid, it's not your fault -," started Jessica.

"I'm so sorry," he repeated, as a tear fell from his face.

And then suddenly Jessica found herself webbed up by Peter. He then reached over and took back his mask from her hand, slipping it on quickly. Luke made a move towards Peter, to stop him from whatever noble self-guilt driven idea he had in his head, but the kid was too fast.

One second Peter was there in the dojo with them, and the next, he had leapt out the same window Russo had made his entrance. Jessica heard shots fired, and all she could do was hope that the kid was able to dodge the mad hail of bullets that came at him.

Moments later, a swat team, and several of New York City's finest officers entered the dojo, their guns trained on them.

"Freeze, and put your hands up!"

Slowly, Jessica raised hers, along with Luke and Claire. Colleen was semi conscious, Danny... he was completely out of commission.

This night, which was suppose to be a intel gathering one to find Matt Murdock, was turning into a f*cking nightmare. Russo was out there terrorizing Hell's Kitchen, Castle was kidnapped, and Peter... was alone and hurt somewhere out there. And Jessica was going to be stuck with the cops and likely undergo hours of questioning.

Yeah, this was turning out to be a real shitty night.