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Matt can barely ignore the blood and focus his senses while Jessica and Danny bicker about how many bodies are laid around them. And then there’s Luke, trying - and failing - to get both of them to quiet down, because there’s a possibility that the person who did this is still lurking around.
Matt takes a few steps away from them (as if that’ll help), and focuses his hearing. One, two, three, and his own makes four heartbeats. No one else is here, but the blood is fresh. Copper stains the air, enough that he can barely smell anything else.
Wait. Something else is here.
Matt walks to the nearest wall, tears off his glove and places his palm across it. He can hear Jessica make a snide comment, but he blocks it out.
Something, something is past this wall.
Tick, tick, tick, tick-
“Get down!”
** 1 Hour Before **
Despite the four of them each dealing with different problems in their respective sectors of New York, all of their leads end up in the same place.
Matt heard their heartbeats before any of them saw each other, and he’s half tempted to leave before he inevitably gets wrapped up in their problems.
Jessica must feel the same way, because a few moments later Matt hears, “Oh, fuck no. I did not have enough to drink to deal with this.” Matt hears the clink of a metal flask, and winces when he doesn’t hear a slosh of liquid. “Fuck this.”
Matt then hears Danny’s happy-go-lucky tone, much happier to see Jessica than she is him. Danny reminds Matt of a golden retriever that just heard the word, “walk”.
They bicker for a minute or two about Victoria Ryder, whom Danny believes is killing on behalf of The Hand, and Jessica’s investigating yet another She Could Be Cheating Or She Could Be Plotting Something Evil.
Once Matt hears clunky footsteps, he knows that Luke has found the two.
Jessica’s just as happy about this fact as she was when she saw Danny.
“Oh great, what’s next? Is Matt gonna hop out of the goddam shadows and we’re all gonna hold hands and sing kumbaya, and then reminisce about ‘The good ol’ days’?”
Matt figures this is the best time as any to hop down from the scaffolding. “I mean, I was never too big on church choir.”
“Oh for fucks sake,” Jessa mutters, double checking her flask to see if there’s anything left.
“Oh, hi Matt!” Danny says, much too excited given the circumstances.
Luke grunts out a greeting to him as well, at the same time as Jessica’s, “Shut up”.
“Hear anyone, Devil boy?” Jessica interjects.
Matt shakes his head. “No one here but us.”
“Oh. Joy.” She drawls, and goes to leave the old building.
“Wait wait,” Danny starts, “Does anyone find it suspicious that we all ended up here?”
“No.” Jessica answers at the same time as Luke’s “Well, sure.”
Matt sighs in annoyance. “We’re all after Victory Ryder, right?”
Agreements from the three of them cloud the air, and Danny adds, “She was part of The Hand when she was a child,” Matt unconsciously clenches his fist, “But allegedly left when she was a teenager. Until now.”
“‘Allegedly’?” Jessica sneers, “That’s a pretty big word, kiddo.”
Before the two can start a fight, Luke puts his hand on Jessica’s shoulder to try and calm her down.
She swats it off.
“No one leaves The Hand.” Matt mutters, mostly to herself.
“Are we all going to ignore the fact that The Hand doesn’t even exist anymore?” Jessica notes. “I’m just supposed to be proving to Marcus Ryder that his wife is a cheating bitch.”
Luke holds his hand up this time, “Okay, wait. This is all great and all, but why are we talkin’ about it here? We’re goddam sitting ducks.”
“Nah, we got Matt as an alarm system.” Jessica murmurs.
“I think Luke is right,” Matt starts, “We should probably be discussing it elsewhere.” There’s a rare hum of agreement. “Jessica’s place is closest.”
“Oh hell no-”
“You can come back to the Dojo. Colleen doesn’t have another class until tomorrow.”
“Yeah no shit, it’s fucking 2:00 AM. Why would there be a class going on?”
Matt can nearly hear Danny’s frown. “Exactly, that’s what I’m saying,”
Luke interrupts with, “Let’s all shut the hell up and go to the Dojo. Find out what’s going on with Ryder.”
Jessica steals a car (“There’s no way in hell I’m paying for a taxi at this hour”), and Luke hops in shotgun, leaving Danny to be banished to the back seat. He holds the door open for Matt to join him.
“I think I’d rather get there by myself,” He answers to the unspoken offer.
“Fine by me.” Jessica mutters as she turns on the ignition. “Close the damn door, Danny!”
Matt reaches the Dojo first, blessed by not having to follow traffic laws, but the three of them arrive shortly after, making Matt believe that most of the red lights were probably ignored anyway.
Colleen is woken and informed of the situation, and although she isn’t happy with it, she makes everyone tea. Luke calls Claire to let her know that he won’t be coming home for a while tonight.
Matt and Jessica are left on the far side of the Dojo, without anyone to call about their whereabouts.
Her heart rate increases a fraction of a second before she talks, “Oh for fucks sake,”
“What?”
“Take off that damn mask of yours. ‘Looks like a fucking halloween costume.”
Matt grins, “So I’ve heard,” and takes off the cowl.
Jessica sucks in a breath, and Matt instinctively pulls off his glove to check his face.
“I take it your night didn’t start with sitting on a ceiling?”
“Huh?”
Jessica huffs. “Don’t play all coy. You have a giant ass bruise right next to your ear.”
Matt smiles at her. “That was from a few days ago. Made my hearing a bit fuzzy for a couple of hours.” He adds.
Jessica opens her mouth to continue, but Danny begins talking from across the room before she can begin. "Okay, why were you three going after a past member of The Hand?”
“A client, dumbass.” Jessica replies. “Don’t act like she’s yours just because her childhood was fucked up by a bunch of ninjas.”
Matt interjects, “That doesn’t matter. What matters is where she’s going to be next.”
“And do you know where?” Luke asks. Matt can still hear his cellphone in his palm.
“As a matter of fact, I do,” Matt smirks.
“Oh goody,” Jessica says sarcastically. “Send me a text while I get shitfaced drunk back at my office.”
Matt continues before she can leave, “There’s a chance we can still catch her today.”
“How?”
“There’s some sort of weekly meeting going on, right now, that could be at three different places. One of them was the building we just met in.”
Colleen, the only one with a brain in the room asks, “You’re going to go after this woman tonight? It’s nearly three, and you all look like shit. No offence.” She adds for good measure.
“Who knows what she’ll do before the next meeting. Besides, I’m not asking the three of you to come with me.” Matt answers her, and slips his cowl back on.
“I’m getting paid for this,” Jessica says at the same time as Danny notes, “As the Immortal Iron Fist I have a-”
“Oh fuck off with the magic dragon shit,” Jessica interrupts before he can finish.
Luke just grins and says, “I ain’t gonna let you all have the fun without me.”
Jessica scoffs, “Great, we’ll just use the power of friendship once we get there, right?”
“We worked great as a team last time.” Danny replies to her.
“Matt fucking died last time! How great was that?” Jessic says, walking up to Danny’s face.
Luke murmurs, “He’s alive now,”
Putting an end to all of this Matt announces, “We won’t have time tonight if you all keep arguing. I’m leaving, you can come with me if you’re quiet. For once in your lives.”
“Whatever,” Jessica says, but concedes.
Luke answers with, “I’m driving this time. There’s no way in hell I’m letting you drive anywhere ever again.”
A minute later finds the four of them back in the stolen car, Luke and Danny in front, and Jessica and Matt in the back.
Jessica picks at her fingers. “I feel like I’m being driven to soccer practice,” She murmurs, quiet enough so that only Matt can hear.
He can’t help but smile.
They arrive at the outside of an abandoned elementary school on the far east side of Manhattan. The old cinder block walls don’t do much to help Matt’s ears. It’s two stories, and there’s windows across the upper half. But it doesn’t take a super sense to know that no one is in there.
Matt smells something though, and it causes his lips to press together in a thin line.
Jessica notices, “What is it Lassie?”
Matt rolls his eyes. “There’s something in there. But there’s no heartbeat.”
“Ninjas?”
“No.” Matt concludes, without giving further explanation.
“Great.” Jessica mutters before walking up to the doors. She easily opens them, and Matt hears the snap of a rusty lock. Luke and Danny stand behind her, ready to head inside, but Matt gasps as soon as the door is opened.
“No,” He whispers, eyes wide.
Luke turns to face him. “What?”
“No, no, no,”
“What’s in there?” Danny asks.
Matt swallows. “Blood. A lot of it. There must be- there has to be- more than one body. A lot more than one body.”
“Oh you’re shitting me,” Jessica drawls, and walks inside.
Luke goes to grab her arm, “Hey, wait,”
“Let go of me, asshole,” She snaps, and continues walking inside. Matt’s the first to follow, but Danny and Luke trail closely behind.
Matt snaps his fingers and listens to the echo until he knows what he’s working with. The front of the school has some sort of foyer, and there are skinny, but tall hallways going from the right and left about fifteen feet in front of them. “The blood is coming from the left,” Matt announces, and heads that direction before anyone responds.
When they stand outside of a classroom, Danny scrunches his nose. “I can smell it too,”
Matt should hope so. They’re only a few feet away from multiple dead bodies.
Jessica opens the door, which was also locked.
Why are there dead bodies in a locked room?
Matt gags when they step into the classroom. The blood stings his nose, mouth, eyes, everything. It obliterates all of his senses.
“Sweet Christmas,” Luke breathes, heart thumping in his chest.
“How many?” Matt asks, pushing the bile in his throat back down.
“Fourte-, no, fifteen.” Danny announces, carefully stepping around them.
“I’m leaving,” Jessica starts, “Fuck this. Also, there’s sixteen bodies, learn to count.”
Danny folds his arms over his chest. “No, fifteen,”
Matt can barely ignore the blood and focus his senses while Jessica and Danny bicker about how many bodies are laid around them. And then there’s Luke, trying - and failing - to get both of them to quiet down, because there’s a possibility that the person who did this is still lurking around.
Matt takes a few steps away from them (as if that’ll help), and focuses his hearing. One, two, three, and his own makes four heartbeats. No one else is here, but the blood is fresh. Copper stains the air, enough that he can barely smell anything else.
Wait. Something else is here.
Matt walks to the nearest wall, tears off his glove and places his palm across it. He can hear Jessica make a snide comment, but he blocks it out.
Something, something is past this wall.
Tick, tick, tick, tick-
“Get down!”
There’s no rumble, no cracking to give them time to move out of the way. Within a split of a second, the four of them are mercessilessly thrown across the room onto the far wall.
There’s a sickening crunch , but Matt doesn’t know which body it came from.
The walls curl in on them, like an oyster closing its jaws on a pearl.
Ceiling debris falls over their bodies, and-
**
Matt wakes.
He’s back in Midland Circle, except this time there’s someone calling his name.
He only hears it out of his right ear.
Matt takes a breath in, but it’s stopped short before his lungs can appreciate it.
Coughing, painful coughing, he can barely hear himself.
So much copper, now it’s on his own tongue along with the rest of the bodies.
The putrid stench of vomit.
More names are being called.
Matt sleeps.
**
Matt wakes.
There’s vomit and blood in his mouth.
He lifts his head, and it swims.
His chest is pinned down.
He tries to move the chunk of wall off of his midsection.
Screams pierce his ear on his right side, and pierce his head on his left side.
Matt sleeps.
**
Matt wakes.
Someone else is yelling this time.
Through fog Matt hears a distant, “Danny’s out too,”
He registers a response, but doesn’t hear it.
There’s a grunt and the rubble shifts.
Matt sleeps.
**
Matt wakes.
Someone takes off his cowl.
“...stupid fucking mask…”
His head is resting on someone’s legs.
“...gotta keep…”
“...Matt?”
“...breathing…”
“...awake now…”
Matt opens his mouth to respond, and more blood coats his teeth.
Matt sleeps.
**
Matt wakes.
Weight is taken off his chest.
Someone rolls him sideways and he heaves blood.
Matt sleeps.
**
Matt wakes.
There’s a fast but steady heartbeat.
It’s not his.
His right ear is pushed against the heartbeat, legs dangling from a different arm.
“...got him…?”
Matt opens his eyes out of habit.
“...you gotta stay awake…”
“...awake…”
“...awake…”
Matt sleeps.
**
Matt wakes.
He can’t breathe.
Matt sleeps.
**
Matt wakes.
He’s getting stabbed in the chest.
“...won’t make it if…”
Through nothing but instinct, he moves to swat the knife away.
A hand catches his own, calloused but small.
“...no other choice…”
Matt fights back, but an infinite amount of arms push him back down.
His hand is held against fabric.
A steady heartbeat pulses into his palm.
Jessica.
Matt sleeps.
**
Matt wakes.
He’s getting killed.
Matt swats the sword.
Surely it’s slicing him into pieces.
From the inside out.
He hears screams.
He hears yelling.
Hands would suffocate him.
If he wasn’t already suffocating.
Matt sleeps.
**
Matt wakes, and he’s on a mattress.
It’s thin, but it’s a million times nicer than whatever he was on before.
He tries to suck a breath in, but it gets lost by the time it reaches the top of his chest.
God it hurts, it hurts bad.
“Just breathe, Matt, you’re doing great,”
He curls up on his side, a weak attempt to protect his ribs.
Someone’s gentle hands push him back to be flat.
Matt sleeps.
**
Matt wakes when a hand palpates his thigh.
Fire ignites, and it spreads through his veins to each of his limbs.
His left leg burns with an agony that tries to counter his chest.
Matt lets out a pathetic wine, and the hand leaves his side.
“Are you with us?”
“Nghhhh,”
“You’re okay, you’re okay,”
“Ffffffsss,”
“You’re okay, Matt.”
Matt listens to the honey-sweet voice.
Matt sleeps.
**
Matt wakes.
“Jesus, can you even fix that?”
“I’m going to have to try,”
Pause.
“Hold him down.”
“He’s not awake.”
“He’s about to be.”
Hands on his thigh.
There’s a crack, and it matches the same one in the old school.
Matt’s never been more awake than he is right now.
Matt sleeps.
**
Matt wakes to a drugged haze. He can’t feel bad right now, it’s physically impossible.
A hand finds his own and squeezes. “Are you with us this time, Matt?”
“Who?” He asks, voice barely above a whisper.
“It’s Claire,” The honey voice answers.
“Claire.” Matt confirms. He opens his eyes, even though it doesn’t make much difference. “What happened?”
There’s a soft sigh before he gets an answer. “Luke told me there was a bomb-”
Matt sits up and his breathing quickens instantly. “The others?”
“They’re all fine,” Claire soothes, gently pushing him back down. His chest screams at him, and tears escape from his eyes before he can stop them. “You need to rest. I’ve already stitched your insides once, I’m not going to do it again.” Her heart tells a lie.
“They’re okay?” Matt asks again, ignoring the lava that’s replaced his lungs.
Claire gives him a wet laugh. “Matt, they’re all fine. A few scrapes and bruises, and Danny was exhausted, after using his magic dragon powers, or whatever they are. You’re the only one who doesn’t have some healing power.”
Matt swallows, gags when he tastes blood. “I can’t see, Claire.”
“What?”
“My ear,” He drunkenly lifts his left hand up. “It’s not- it’s not- I can’t hear.”
Claire doesn’t respond for a long minute. “It came back after Midland Circle right? It’ll come back again.”
“But-”
Claire puts her hand on his shoulder. “Rest, Matt. Just rest.”
His brain disagrees.
Mind controls the body.
His body falls asleep, and his mind has no choice but to follow.
**
When Matt wakes, there’s no one beside him.
He brings his hand up to his left ear and nearly cries of happiness when he hears the muddled wisp of his fingers.
He then takes stock of the rest of his body.
His breathing is rattled, there’s still blood left in his lungs. Nothing is actively bleeding.
Something doesn’t sound right, something doesn’t feel right in his chest, but he can’t decipher what it is. Matt chalks it up to the drugs.
His left thigh has a constant throbbing, and when his fingers glide down, there’s swelling and bandages. There’s dried blood staining them. A few moments later, and Matt knows there’s probably something broken there. The drugs stop him from knowing exactly where.
Against better judgement, Matt sits up and makes his legs slide off the mattress. His toes reach the ground. An IV in the crook of his arm does it’s best to pull him back down, but Matt peels off the medical tape and slides the needle out.
It bleeds. How long has it been in there?”
Matt takes a deep breath, and stands up.
Everything burns, but it’s nothing he hasn’t felt before. He takes a step, and his body shakes.
He takes another step, and he falls to the ground.
There’s no yell, but instead a shocked gasp is elicited from his mouth.
Everything burns.
“Matt? Oh for fucks sake, of course you woke up the second Claire decides to get some sleep,”
Matt cocks his head toward the noise. “Jessica?”
She gets to her knees by his side. Matt can feel her eyes inspecting him. There’s fresh whiskey on her breath. “Why’d you think it was a good idea to walk? Hmm, dumbass?” Despite her best efforts, her words are still dripping with fondness.
“Jessica.” Matt notes again.
“Dammit, your leg’s bleeding again. Are we gonna have to stitch it up again?”
Matt pauses. “Nah. The- ughh- they're not ripped. Some blood just slipped through.”
“Oh lovely.” There’s a pregnant pause, and Matt listens to her breathing. “Okay, back on the bed.”
“Wha-?” Before he can refute, Jessica picks him up like he weighs nothing more than a feather and lays him back down on the flimsy mattress.
“And of course you pulled your IV out. I don’t know how this medical shit works. Do I have to get a new needle?” She asks, mostly to herself.
“Jessica?”
“Need something, Murdock?”
“I’m gonna sleep.”
Jessica huffs. “That’s literally the best idea you’ve ever thought of. In all the time I’ve known you, you’ve never had a better idea, you know that?”
Matt smiles and he once again falls unconscious.
**
Twenty four hours later finds a group of friends eating pizza, mocking the Avengers. It would all be completely normal had the group not consist of superpowered people.
“Matt, in order to eat a slice of pizza, you actually have to eat it, you know that, right?”
Matt’s pulled from his thoughts at Claire’s nagging. He grumbles and takes a bit of pizza, much to her delight.
Nearly an hour later, Matt finishes his slice and announces, “So, Victoria Ryder-”
Jessica groans. “Oh God Matt, you can barely walk. Give it a rest.”
“I’m just saying, she’s still out there, still an enigma-”
“What’s an enigma?” Danny asks, causing Luke to sigh and Claire to laugh.
“That’s not important,” Jessica starts, “What is important is that there will be no going after anyone if you cannot walk, and if you punctured your goddam lung. Oh what’s that? Those happen to be the exact symptoms of Matthew Murdock? Boo hoo, looks like you have to fucking rest for once in your life.” Despite her best efforts, there’s no malice in her voice.
“‘S Better now,” Matt argues.
Claire sends daggers toward Matt. “It’s definitely not. You are not going after any criminals any time soon. Especially not one that has bombs at the ready.” She pauses and shakes her head. “I cannot believe I have to tell you this.” Claire finishes, mumbling the last bit.
“I’m just saying,” Matt counters, “I know where the third meeting place is.”