Archive of Our Own

She let out a quiet groan, her brow furrowing more as the sound came out muffled. She realized that the cotton feeling in her mouth wasn't a dry tongue, but some form of rag stuffed into her mouth, and when she tried to push it out of her mouth with her tongue, she met the resistance of duct tape over her mouth. 

Okay, what can you control right now? Open her eyes. She could open her eyes and start with what she could see. 

Karen blinked heavily, using every bit of effort she had to get her eyelids to separate. Her right eye was blurred red, and she figured there must be blood in it. She could feel sticky warmth running down the right side of her face, so she squeezed her right eye shut, using her left one to observe her surroundings. 

It was dark, wherever she was, and freezing cold. She felt herself settling back into her body, felt the frigid wind whipping through the thin tank top and zip-up hoodie she had on. She was shivering, maybe from the wind, maybe from the shock of the pain. She was on a rooftop, zip ties on both wrists looped behind the back of the metal chair she was sitting in. Her ankles were zip-tied to the feet of the chair as well.

There had to be a catch, something she was missing. If someone was trying to hide her, she'd be tucked away, stuck in some room in a basement where no one could find her - more importantly, where Matt couldn't hear her. 

But this, this was an open invite. This was a direct challenge. 

Karen's heart began to pound harder, and she tipped her head back, trying to take in a full breath. Her ribs hurt, but that wasn't what was impairing her breathing. 

She was a trap. A trap for the person that took care of Hell's Kitchen, a person that had impeccable hearing, a person that cared way too much about her. 

She could feel the panic setting in now. It wasn't a panic for herself, but for whatever lay in wait for Matt Murdock.

"Breathe, Karen. Breathe." She muttered to herself, knowing that if she lost her head, she wouldn't be of help to anyone. Take control of her thoughts, see if she can gage a way out of this. 

First thing she needed to know; how badly was she injured.

She wasn't first-aid trained, but she could do her best to determine what was hurt and how bad. 

Start at the top of her head. Her brain was pounding, as though some angry person was pounding at the inside of her skull with a hammer. She knew she was bleeding from the right side of her head, most likely caused by whatever was making her head pound. 

Her neck was stiff but it felt okay. Her arms were tight and cramping, the position of them not doing her circulation any favors. 

Karen was in the middle of determining where the pain in her stomach had originated from when she heard a click and hushed voices behind her. The voices were muffled, far away and carrying on the wind, but she could make out, "they saw him on his way, we've got him."

Karen felt her blood run cold. She didn't recognize the voices, but she knew well enough that Matt had enemies, and Karen didn't want to think about how these people were capable of connecting her to him. If Fisk had somehow found out Matt's identity, a wave of nausea rushed through her stomach. She needed to let Matt know that it was a trap. She knew he was smart enough to figure it out, but she'd heard a click - an all-too-familiar click of a rifle being loaded. She knew they were behind her, and they certainly had eyes on Matt, knowing which direction he'd be coming from. 

Karen's knees shook as she tried to look around, she grunted in annoyance at the bloodied eye before bending down and wiping her face furiously on her shoulder. She blinked a few times, the blood clearing out enough that she could see a bit better. 

That didn't fix the pain that she could now tell was radiating from her left thigh, a strong enough pain that Karen was beginning to wonder if it were broken, she certainly couldn't imagine putting any weight on that leg at the moment. She was in the middle of trying to decide if the handcuffs were loose enough for her to be able to slip her fingers through it when she heard the sound of running footsteps. 

"Mmmmm! St-p!" She tried to yell around the rag, praying Matt was able to piece together what she was saying. "Tr-p, g-n!!" Her voice was so muffled, just an utterance of unrecognizable words, and she felt tears beginning to well up in her eyes, wiping her face against her shirt again to clear her eye. 

But then Matt was popping up the side of the wall, and running at her. She shook her head screaming at him, but he just continued to run. 

He jumped right as the first gunshot rang out, and Karen screamed, jerking her body down, gasping as her shoulders lit up in pain from the sudden movement, her head spinning. 

Matt dodged another shot, and made for one last lunge towards Karen. 

She could see the desperation in Matt to get to her in the set of his jaw and the tenseness of his shoulders, his nose is bleeding and he's got a slice on his right leg that looks pretty nasty. 

Karen doesn't know how, she doesn't have the super senses that Matt does, but she is overcome by the burning knowledge that she needs to move, now. That Matt is distracted, his attention too focused on her and the blood and the shifting of the bones in her leg, and not focused enough on the men trying to shoot him.

Karen - to the great protest of her left leg - plants her feet firmly and shoves herself to the left, effectively slamming herself and the chair into Matt, taking them both to the ground right as another round is fired. 

Karen groans in protest as her body flares in pain at the fall, her left arm now on fire as it caught her weight wrapped around the chair. 

"Hang on, hang on." Matt muttered. "This is going to hurt." Then he wrapped his hands around the chair and pulled, sliding them along the ground for several feet. Karen just ground her teeth until he stopped. 

He'd pulled her behind where a stairwell stuck out of the top of the roof, providing them cover from the gunfire. 

Matt was over her in a second, grabbing at the duct tape and ripping it off in one smooth motion. Karen didn't even cry out, the pain not registering over the rest of her. Matt was breathing heavily as Karen spit out the rag. 

"Hang on..." He muttered, his hands shaking as he reached around her, he grabbed the zip ties and made a quick jerk of his arm, snapping them. Karen hissed in pain, pulling her arms to her front as she shook, her teeth chattering. 

"Are you okay? He asked, snapping at the ties on her legs, she cried out at the jostling of her leg and he reached a hand out to her shoulder. "Sorry, sorry."

"I'm a little beat up, but I'm alright. Just get me off this roof." She managed, her voice thick with tears and shaking as her teeth chattered. 

"Okay, we need to get off this roof. There's a fire escape to the left. We'll have to move quickly off the rooftop, but when we get to the ground level there's a car, it's already running, You'll take it and get out of here. Go to Foggy's and have him call Claire."Matt began to stand, moving to hoist Karen up when she shook her head, teeth still chattering. 

"I'm n-not g-going anywhere w-without you."

"Karen -" he started but she shook her head emphatically.

"I-I-I can't Matt." It was purely selfish. She knew he could handle whoever was behind this, but she couldn't be alone right now. She was scared she'd simply fall apart, shattering so completely that not even Claire Temple could put her back together, and Matt seemed to get it. He gave a slow nod and ran a hand behind her head. 

"Okay, okay." With a shift, he was grabbing her arms and pulling her up, slinging her left arm over his shoulder. "I can't carry you yet, just keep your weight of that leg. This isn't going to be fun, but we have to move."

Karen was already gritting her teeth in pain to keep the black dots from overwhelming her vision. 

"On the count of three." He muttered, preparing them to run. It was about twelve feet to the lip of the building where they could bolt off the edge to the fire escape. "one, two, three!"

With a jolt, they were leaping across the damp concrete and Karen was screaming between clenched teeth.

"Hang on, hang on!" They were at the lip of the building, and Matt was about to all but shove Karen onto the escape when he jerked them both back a step, Karen's weight being forced to her left leg and her vision blanked out, her knees going weak. 

Matt cursed, holding her full weight. "Karen!" He cried out, before cursing once more, unable to do anything but drag her to the brick edge. Karen was conscious enough to brace herself on the edge of the bricks as Matt threw himself over the side before grabbing her and yanking her down with him. Karen was almost deadweight against his chest as he stood, back against the railing, trying to decide the best way to get them down the stairs. 

"Alright, take a breath, then I need you to-" But Karen wasn't able to pull herself together, she began to go more limp, her forehead thumping against Matt's chest as her knees caved in. She felt different... weird. Weak in a way she'd never felt before. 

"Karen - hey!" But even Matt's frantic use of her name did nothing to slow her descent, he quickly sank to his knees, half turning her, so that her back was resting against his thighs, her head in the crook of his arm. "Wh- no, no, no no..." Matt's free hand was touching the left side of her abdomen, right beneath her ribcage. Funny, she could hardly feel it. Hardly feel her legs or the pain. 

"M-m-matt?" She stuttered out, looking up at his worried mouth, she frowned, hating not being able to see his eyes. Karen reached up a shaking hand, her numb fingers fumbling with his mask as she pulled it off his head.

"Hey - hey, you focus up..." Matt's voice cracked as he laid her down flat, pressing a firm hand to her stomach, she heard someone crying out before realizing it was her. "I'm sorry, I have to... we have to figure out how to get you out of here..." Matt swore looking up at the sky. 

"It's okay... I can see you. You came." She didn't really know what she was saying, couldn't recognize the words or her voice, she just knew that despite it all, she felt safe. He was here. He was holding her, and Matt took care of the people he loved, she knew that. 

Karen took in a breath, shocked at how difficult it was, how it rattled on its way to her lungs. 

She blinked heavily, her head falling down to her chest, her eyes staring blankly ahead. 

"Hey, you stay with me, you stay with me!" Matt cried out, but Karen couldn't make her lips move, couldn't force her eyes to open. She just blinked again... no, didn't blink - she just closed her eyes. The cold wind freezing into her bones, but Matt's warm hands were holding her, grounding her.

She drifted off to the sound of a raspy voice muttering a desperate prayer.

"holy and compassionate... by dying you unlocked the gates.. but by your glorious power give her light; joy and peace in Heaven where you live and reign forever. Amen...