Hellcat

Chapter 83

We made the slow journey across rooftops to Karen's apartment building. My body protested but I pushed the pain back as we reached our destination. Karen and foggy were just saying their good-bye to Brett when we reached the edge of the building. "Okay, so, how do we play this?" Karen asked as she and Foggy entered the building from the street.

"Simple. We convince Matt to take his head out of his ass," was Foggy's response as they disappeared into the building. A small chuckle escaped me at his comment. "Yeah, Matty, it's not a hat," I added in teasing. Matt just shook his head at me, but I caught a glimpse of his lips turning up at the corners.

It took them a few minutes to make it to the roof, but once they did, Foggy wasted no time speaking up. "So, it looks like you needed my help after all," he called out as Matt and I turned to face them, Matt removing his mask. Matt hesitated in his response, fingers curling around the mask in his hands with nerves.

"Yeah," he finally muttered lamely. "Yeah, I did, Foggy. You're right." Foggy raised his eyebrows at Matt's confession but kept his expression a cool mask of slightly pissed. "Do you have any idea how much life has sucked for the three of us while you were off doing your own thing?" Matt hesitated for a moment. Maybe he didn't know how it had been for them, but he knew my feelings on everything.

"No, but I'm sorry, Foggy. Maybe I was wrong to... to push you away." That was when I saw the crack in Foggy's mask. The corners of his lips turned up slightly – trying to fight back the smile. "Okay, it's insanely hard to fight with you if you keep agreeing with me," he teased, confusion slipping into place. Matt had never really been one to back down or apologize – at least not to anyone but me.

"Good, cause I don't wanna fight with you." Matt took a deep breath before continuing. I knew there was a much bigger apology on the horizon. "Look, the way I've treated you, the way I've treated you both... you've deserved better." Foggy glanced at Karen, all humor gone from his features. "Yes, we did," he agreed with a small nod. "Yes, you did."

Karen let out a small sigh before speaking. "Okay, so where do we go from here?" she asked, hugging herself against the brisk wind on this rooftop. Honestly, I should be freezing, but the cold felt good for my aching body, numbing it in a way. "Look, I don't want to leave you again, but I can't ask you to be accomplices to what I have to do now."

Karen glanced away in disbelief at his words. Foggy looked from her to Matt again, before landing on me. He knew I was good at keeping secrets, but that I hadn't wanted to for so long. "What does that mean?" Karen worked her jaw in frustration. "Um, it means that, uh..." she trailed off, unable to say it. "Matt and I are gonna kill Fisk."

Foggy's gaze snapped to me once more in disbelief before his gaze turned to Matt. "That building falling on you really did mess up your head." He turned his fury on me next. "And you! You're really gonna help him with something that stupid? Have you been drinking again?" he snapped at me. I winced a little at his words. Yes, I made poor decisions because of Matt's death. I drank too much and made worse decisions after that. But I hadn't drank like that in months. He knew my progress, and it hurt when he used it against me.

"We put him in prison, Foggy. Look what happened," Matt spoke up, voice soft but with a slight edge as if to shield me from his best friend's rage. "It's not gonna be the same this time. They're gonna throw him in some supermax hole where he can't compromise anybody," Foggy argued. "Come on," Matt drawled in annoyance. "I know you're not that naïve."

"It's called having faith in the system. Something you used to have," Foggy countered. "It's called facing the reality that some people are so rich and powerful, the system simply can't handle them, that they actually are above the law." A part of me wanted to disagree with Matt. I wanted to believe we could do things a better way. But I knew the truth of the world. I knew sometimes making real changes meant having real consequences.