PERSONAL SPACE: Hi everyone! Thanks to everyone for reading, following and putting this into favourites so far, and thanks a lot to zoeperja for her rewiev!

Happy reading!

And please, rewiev if you can! This is my first FF in English ever, and your opinion, advices or whatever you have to say to me it's very important to get better!

Thanks InsertImaginativeNameHere for being such a wonderful beta!

Chapter 8: Kept in the dark

Somehow, Foggy and Stick managed to get to Matt's apartment without killing each other. The lawyer knew that wasn't the best idea he had ever had, but he didn't want to discuss such a thing in a public place, and bringing him to his own home was not a valid option.

If Stick knew his address, he could blackmail them in the future, so he would have to find it by himself.

-Are you going to tell me where your friend is?- Stick asked, and now Foggy knew how bad his idea was. In a restaurant, Stick wouldn't dare to hurt him. He could beat him under the table with his cane, but nothing more.

Now they were in Matt's loft and they were alone. The blond cursed himself. He was so focused on not putting other people in danger that he hadn't given a second's thought to his own safety.

-What if I say no?-

While Stick wouldn't ask him directly where Matt was, he could manage not to lie, to answer in a way the other man couldn't detect any falsehoods because then no lie had been told.

It was something he learnt in his college days, a particular skill that had always amused Matt anytime he went with him on oral exams.

When Foggy didn't study enough, he began to avoid questions he didn't know how to respond to giving half of the answer and then changing the subject of interest. When the professors were in a good mood or didn't want to make things difficult, he usually got up from that chair with a fairly good mark.

Of course, he had never thought he would need to use this ability to try to save both his and Matt's lives.

-I'm losing my patience, boy- Stick warned -And trust me, you don't want me to finish it-

Stick made a step toward him. He wasn't openly menacing him, but that made Foggy swallow while cold sweat ran down his spine -Tell me where he is- this time there was no question mark at the end of the sentence.

-Or what?- this was his last occasion to delay the inevitable, and he knew that -are you going to kill me?-

-I'm not such an idiot, boy- the old man laughed - And this is not a movie where the hero convinces the bad guy he is vital to his mission. You are brave, more than I'd thought, but this is not gonna save you -

-Should I take that as a compliment?-

Stick ignored him

-So, I've an idea. Since Matt is not here, so I'll have to find someone else to make you more... collaborative-

Stick didn't have to say anything else.

-Stay away from Karen. She knows nothing, you know that!-

-Then I'll ask you one more time. Where the hell is Matt?-

Here they were.

-I don't know-

He knew his heartbeat had increased, Matt told him that. He was expecting to be beaten, tortured.

Instead, Stick was smiling. An evil smile, but, still a smile, was on his face.

-Let's go back to your office-

And the quiet tone he used, was way up on the list of scariest things he had ever heard.

Karen was sitting at her desk, trying to give an order to Foggy's questionable way of registering documents. She was starting to think his disorder was pathological.

She remembered she had given him those files in chronological order. All he did was read them, but somehow he managed to make a mess.

That was why she preferred to work with Matt.

He was methodical, and he could always find a way to keep everything in the right order.

And he was blind.

She sighed, resigned to the perspective of a boring day. She took her phone, and, not for the first time, her finger hesitated on Matt's number.

She really missed him, and she was worried about the blind man. Matt was handling the death of a person he cared about, and she thought he shouldn't have to face it all alone.

Many times she had thought to call him, but then she gave up because she had learnt how reserved he was about himself and she had feared hurting his feelings.

She was trying to find a place for the sill-open cases that could be easy to reach when she heard a clonk coming from Matt's office. First, she had thought it was just her imagination, but soon other noises were added to that.

She stood, as quiet as possible, and tried to reach the front door to escape. There was nothing in that office that was worth being saved: all the documents had a backup on Foggy's personal computer, the one he had at home, and the machinery was so old that no one would steal it just to make some money.

She wasn't prepared to find three guys waiting for her right behind the door.

She couldn't do anything to stop them. They took her despite hers attempts to fight and with hands on her mouth prevent her from screaming out.

They forced Karen to go back into the small office and made her sit on Matt's office chair, where two other man were standing. The looked like the man in the mask; they were some kind of powerful ninjas, with masks covering their eyes. The only difference was that they had bad intentions.

Karen hadn't been so scared since the day Wesley had kidnapped her, and her first thought was that Fisk had somehow found out she was responsible for his death. The only good news was that nobody else was in the office right now.

-Please- she begged as soon as they took away the hands from her mouth -Don't hurt my friends. I... I'll come with you-

-If your friend here will become more... co-operative, no one is going to hurt you-

She recognized the voice immediately: Mr. Stick. He was stepping into the small office, with Foggy right behind him.

-Foggy!-

-Karen!-

Foggy turned to watch the blind man.

-Don't hurt her!-

-Then tell me what I want to know. Where is Matt Murdock-

Matt? Why the hell these guys were looking for Matt? Karen turned her eyes to Foggy's. He was scared, she could see that, but he was trying to resist.

Foggy's life had never been so difficult before.

The worst decision he had to make was maybe the ones for college, but only because his mom wanted him to be a butcher and he didn't know how to tell her he wanted to be a lawyer without sounding disrespectful.

Even after his fight with Matt, he didn't have so many difficult decisions about going to the gym and talking to him. He had felt betrayed, of course, but then, thinking about it, about how dangerous being the man in the mask was, he had understood why he had acted like that; plus, he had missed his best friend so much he just couldn't keep living without his company.

Now this damn blind guy was forcing him to choose between his brother and Karen, and he didn't have any idea on how handle this whole situation.

He knew what Matt would have done; he would speak without hesitation to save someone in danger, but Foggy was still thinking about Claire's words, and he wasn't so sure his best friend was stronger than Karen right now.

She is innocent, Fog. Stop playing around and talk. I can handle this.

You can't little horn! You are not even real! You are just my stupid brain!

-Foggy!- Karen voice was shaking but loud and strong at the same time -Don't tell them anything!-

One of the ninjas hit her on her face, leaving a big red spot on her cheek. She screamed in pain and surprise, and Foggy's instinct acted before he could be fully aware of what he was doing. He took Matt's spare cane from the nearest corner and used it to attack the ninjas.

Karen couldn't avoid to scream when she saw the most stupid and equally brave gesture someone had ever done to protect her.

A hand immediately shut her mouth so no one could come and help them.

She was compelled to watch Mr. Stick and the ninjas tear Foggy down with a brutality she couldn't really explain to herself.

Obviously the lawyer wasn't a real danger to them, and his act was only due to his protective instinct but they were treating him as if he were Daredevil.

Foggy fell down at the first shot, and since he wasn't trained to fight, he had no chance to fight them back. He couldn't even rise again.

She bit the hand over her mouth, making the man groan in pain, but, more important, he left her.

-Please!- she cried -Please, stop! You are going to kill him! Please!-

Hitting him with one last kick Stick finally left her friend alone. He was on the floor, barely awake, moaning with sorrow.

-K... Karen...- was all he managed to whisper before losing consciousness.

-Foggy! Foggy!-

-Shut up. He will live- Stick cut her off -Now, if you don't want see him dead, please, help us and I promise you everything is gonna be all right-

-No way- Another kick reached Foggy's back. -Ok. Ok. Please. Stop. I can tell you where Matt is -

-No, you can't, kid. They lied to you. Now, you're coming with us, preferably without making us hurt you too much-

Karen took a minute to think about her situation. She didn't care they had lied to her, not right now, even if she would probably make the two of them regret this. She looked at Foggy, lying on the ground, and then to the ninja. No way she could run away, so she had no choice. She nodded and followed his instructions.

Karen woke up in a small room. She tried to sit up, but she found herself tied with her hands behind her back, with a chain connected with one of the legs of the bed she was lying on.

All she could do was lift her torso, a little bit, in a very uncomfortable position, but that helped her with the exploration of the area.

It was a very small chamber, with only the bed and a small window to high too be reached by her even in a standing position, but that was enough to understand it was already dark outside. That told her several hours had passed from the moment she was forced to leave the office.

The office.

Foggy.

God!

Forgetting the chain, she suddenly tried again to raise herself with a start. She remembered they had left her friend lying on the ground, unconscious from the beating they gave to him when he had tried to save her.

A stab of pain coming from her wrists compelled her to lay down again on the mattress. She started shouting out as loud as she could in order to get attention from the ninja or, even better, from Stick himself. She was lucky.

The old blind man entered the room, his cane in his hands, and she immediately understood she had to be very careful about her behavior. The way he was holding it suggested he was going to use it to hit her and not to help him to navigate around the room.

He walked straight toward her, those light blue blind eyes one of the most frightening things she had ever seen in her entire life.

She had always known blind men's eyes were expressionless; since they couldn't see, their eyes didn't need to focus, and from that the need to wear sunglasses all the time arose; that blank look could make people uncomfortable. She had seen Matt's eyes sometimes, he used to take his glasses off when he was alone with Foggy. They were brown and beautiful, with a sweet expression on them. They were warm.

Stick's eyes were the furthest away from Matt's possible. They were cold, harsh. Soulless.

She felt a shiver running down her spine. Stick hadn't moved yet, and she was already terrified at what he could do.

-What do you want, kid?- he groaned.

-Where is Foggy? What did you have done to him?-

-He challenged me. Now he is paying for that- And with no other words, he left her.

Some minutes later, one of the ninjas stepped into her cell and closed her mouth with a bit of tape.

He didn't remember the ceiling of their office was dark brown. Had Karen decided to paint that without asking their permission? God... she didn't do a great job. The color was oppressive and it gave the impression of being so close if he had risen he could reach out and touch i... wait. He could actually touch it. And it sounded like... and where did those columns come from?

Suddenly his head started pounding, and from all his body came nothing but pain. He moaned while he remembered what had happened. He realized in that moment he had been left under the desk, and that the colums were actually its legs.

-Karen!- He tried to call out, his voice loud besides the sorrow -Karen!-

When he heard back nothing but silence, he forced himself to stand. He realized soon he had to take one step at the time. He managed to get on his knees, then waited for the spins and the pain to stop before using the edge of the table to stand.

-Karen!- He cried out one more time, although he was already sure he was alone in the firm.

He felt sorrow in every inch of his body, but, still, the most painful thing was not knowing where they had brought the girl. She was innocent and completely unaware of Matt's activity as a vigilante. Stick would torture her for nothing.

Dammit Murdock!

The he noticed something on the desk, right under his eyes. It was black and vintage, but Foggy couldn't not recognize it. It was one of those old voice recorders Matt used during college.

Since they hadn't used one of those things for years, he figured Stick had left it for him. He pushed the play button, and when he heard the message, he froze.

How could he do something like that to his best friend?

Outside the sky seemed very dark, and she was still lying on that bed, still tied and with that damn thing on her mouth which was giving her also some breathing issues.

She had cried, a lot, after being left alone; not for herself, but for Foggy, and also for Matt.

They both lied to her, and probably Matt had not been telling the truth to them since the beginning, but all she could think about right now were her two friends, the only people who actually cared about her and who now were in danger.

For all she knew, Foggy could already be dead right now. Stick could have been back to their office and have finished him off at any time.

And Matt. God, why in hell's name would someone want Matt so bad to menace the closest people he had to a family?

That question was stuck in her head.

There was something he hadn't told her, something maybe even Foggy didn't know. Then what was his secret? Did Foggy know? This last question was really hard to tell. Those two guys were more than friends, more than brothers. It was something she couldn't really define, something that almost destroyed both of them during that fight.

They completely trusted each other, or at least, Foggy trusted Matt with all his heart, while Matt's feelings worked in a more mysterious way. Foggy was covering for Matt, but did he know what was happening?

The door's opening gave a break to her thoughts. She turned toward the entrance while Stick stepped into the cell. Without hesitation he approached her, ripping off the tape only to put his hand over her mouth as fast as possible.

-Try to scream, and you'll regret this. Understood?- she was still shocked, her skin felt burning and in pain around her lips, so it took her a while for the words to be processed by her brain. -Am I understood?- he yelled.

With a jump she nodded, and finally that big strong hand freed her mouth. She couldn't avoid sobbing, mostly for the tension hoarded in those hours. Stick gave her a couple of minutes to recover, then began to speak.

-How much do you know of Matthew?-

-What... what do you want from him?-

-And that answers my question. You know nothing-

-What should I know about him?- she asked, noticing for the first time that although he was blind he wasn't using his cane; somehow, he was perfectly able to survive without it... as Matt sometimes did in their office.

Images of her employer navigating in the firm without any help suddenly came to her, his way of slightly turning his head, exactly the same way the old man was doing right now; she had asked him once how could it walk through the office without killing himself, mostly because Foggy had the vice of leaving basically everything around the floor. His answer was a wry smile, followed by an explanation made of equal parts luck and practice. After four years of life around his friend, Matt was used to his disorder, so he was able to pay attention on what was resting on the ground.

At that time she had laughed hard at that, but now she couldn't stop thinking that was a very poor explanation.

-All you have to know is that he broke a deal, and now he is gonna pay for that-

-Where is Foggy? Did you kill him?-

-Worse- was the answer -I sent him to his personal hell. He will have to choose between his friend... and the girl he loves-

-Foggy will never choose me over Matt. He doesn't love me-

-His heartbeat says different. And, by the way, he already has-

-Why Matt is so important to you? Foggy can help you as well-

-I don't think so-

-He's a hell of an attorney-

For the first time, Karen could see an emotion crossing Stick's face. It was pure and genuine astonishment, as he couldn't believe she had just said that.

-Do you still believe I need a fucking attorney? That I made all this up to engage Matt Murdock, the lawyer? Are you born that stupid or has hanging around with those two idiots made you so?-

The anger in those words make her shivering with fear. For some reason, what she had said had got him mad. He was shouting out so loud that one of the ninjas dare to came into the room asking if everything was all right. Stick calmed himself down by closing his eyes and taking long and deep breaths before leaving the cell muttering something about how useless and naive she was.

Karen took a sigh of relief when the ninja also left the room without touching her.

The ninja.

There was something in them that made her think about Daredevil. Well, not exactly. They reminded her of the man in the mask, but what it was, she couldn't tell. Her mind began to work on that by herself, taking the "think-about-something-else-to-not-freak-out" offer.

The woman tried to create a mental screening of the vigilante who saved her life, and the put the two figures together, side by side, trying to spot the common elements.

The answer came after a while.

The eyes.

Or better.

The mask that covered the eyes.

She hadn't cared about it until now, but when he was wearing the old costume, Daredevil's black mask covered his face from the top of the head until his nose, and now that she was paying attention, there were no holes for his eyes, or something that suggested he were able to see where he was hitting.

The dark suits of the ninjas were made in the same exactly way, there was nothing in their upper that allowed them to use their eyes.

Stick was in charge, and he was blind, so it was logical to assume that also his men couldn't see.

Matt was blind, and if Karen "looked" at the mental picture of her friend, his built was very similar to the Devil's.

No. No way.

That couldn't be.

Matt was not Daredevil.

But something in her head was telling her that a lot of pieces of the puzzle named Matthew Michael Murdock would fit if she would just assume that he was the vigilante of Hell's Kitchen, starting from his bruises, all the nights she and Foggy couldn't find him, Wilson Fisk, and from that straight to the "car accident".

Did Foggy know since the beginning? Did Ben know as well?

Was she the only one kept in the dark?