Hellcat

Chapter Twenty-Three

It's so hot. The sweltering heat didn't fade even into the night. It was around midnight and it was still probably in the 70s. Too hot for a full body leather outfit/jacket. I was on patrol, going from rooftop to rooftop. But I was alone. Matt was on the other side of the city, I'm sure. He tended to have a routine while patrolling as Daredevil. The routine changed every now and again, though. Like tonight. We split up to cover more ground. Not for any real reason, but just because we could. Sometimes it was nice to just spend time alone. It wasn't as if we constantly needed each other.

It's been nine months since we took down Fisk. He was rotting in jail. Nelson & Murdock was staying afloat, with actual clients now. It was nice to have real work to do. Over that time, I was getting over my fear of letting Matt get close. I didn't want to get hurt, but a stronger part of me wanted to be with him. I wanted to be able to hold him close. To kiss him just because I could. To fall asleep with him on the couch, a movie playing in the background. Even though he didn't watch TV, I did. When we were younger, I would watch and he would listen. Sometimes he would ask me to describe how people looked or what they did. I wanted more than just the comfortable friendship we had settled in to. But how to get it? I already told Matt that I couldn't be with him once before, did I even have a right to ask him to forget that?

As I leisurely moved from one building to another, thoughts straying to my relationship with Matt, I heard a scream. Glancing down at the street below, I saw a man wearing a ski mask grab a young woman around the neck. "Back off!" the man shouted, pointing a gun at the group of four the woman had been with. She screamed and pleaded for the assailant to let her go, but he dragged her back down the street. He made it a few doors down before backing in to an empty church. I quickly climbed down the fire escape of the building, sneaking in through the second story window.

"Help! Anybody, please help!" the woman screamed as the assailant aimed his gun at her. "Shut up!" he shouted at her repeatedly as I stood in the shadows. The woman stopped screaming, just sobbing instead. I noticed the man had a brief case in his hand, his eyes darting around. My guess, robbery gone wrong. Pulling out my knives, I tossed them at the two small lights in the room. One after the other, they both shattered with a metallic clink!

The man spun around, looking at the broken lights while dragging the woman with him. He started shooting at nothing in particular, missing me completely. Finally, I stepped out of the shadows, moving to the end of the aisle of pews. The man turned to me, gun aimed. But he shook, terror clear in his gaze. With a smirk, I started stalking towards him. He shook so hard that when I saw him begin to pull the trigger, it was easy to dodge the bullets.

I ducked, rolling across the ground, getting in close to him. Shoving myself to my feet, I grabbed his arm and pushed the gun upward. He tried to shoot, but he was out of bullets and the gun clicked softly. A wicked smile twisted my lips as I yanked the gun from his hand. Wrenching his arm back behind him, the man cried out, releasing the woman. She dropped to her knees and crawled away. Releasing the man's arm, I spun with my foot up. My heel connected with his head and he was knocked into the pews. He crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

"Having fun?" a voice from behind me called. I smirked, glancing back at where Matt stood near the doors. Letting out a deep chuckle, I shook my head before turning to the woman. "You're safe now," I told her. She had tears staining her cheeks, her body shaking like a leaf. She gave a small nod before the sound of police sirens caught my attention. "Time to go," Matt called out to me as I swiftly moved away from the woman and retrieved my knives. Matt and I were silent as we moved up to the second floor before disappearing into the night once more.

We found ourselves on Matt's rooftop just a couple hours before dawn. "Ugh, what's a girl got to do to get some action in this town?" I groaned. My mask and leather jacket were laid out beside me, Matt's helmet along with them. Matt let out a laugh at my question. "Depends on what kind of action you're talking about," he teased me. The two of us were sitting near the edge of the building, just enjoying the faint relief from the sweltering heat.