Hellcat

Chapter 45

The next morning, I woke up to tension radiating through Matt's body. He was ready to get to work, trying to find Stick before it was too late. He didn't bother with coffee or breakfast, insisting that he needed to start looking. For some reason, he thought there might be things at the office that could help us. I, however, had to think about our own wellbeing since he wouldn't. So he went to the office and I went to a small coffee shop for breakfast and caffeine.

When I arrived at the office, I shoved open the door with my hip, careful of the two coffees plus the bag of breakfast sandwiches. "Find anything ye –" I cut myself off when I looked up to see Foggy standing in the office, his arm in a sling under his jacket. "Foggy, hey," I greeted him with a small smile. He returned it. "How are you feeling?" I asked as I moved to Karen's desk and set a coffee and the bag of food in front of Matt. "Thank god for pain killers, right?" he said, shrugging his good shoulder as I stepped forward and hugged him gently. He hugged me back with the one arm, holding me a little tighter than I held him.

"I'm sorry I didn't see you at the hospital," I started, taking a small step back. "It's okay. Karen called me and told me what happened. What are you gonna do now that your condo is swiss cheese adjacent?" he asked with a hint of his old goofy grin in place. "I don't know. Fix it up, I guess. Then sell it. I never actually planned on staying there this long. It was my mom's, not mine, so..." I trailed off with a shrug. He just nodded like he understood.

Then he sighed and glanced over at Matt, who was running his fingers over a textured map of the city. "Look, I'm... I'm done here, so... so, you stay. We'll go," Matt said, sensing the eyes on him. He had started gathering up the map and a couple other things when Foggy spoke. "What are you looking for?" Matt let out a small chuckle of confusion. "You really wanna know?" he asked as I went to the table and grabbed Matt's untouched coffee and the bag of food. "Sure," Foggy said unenthusiastically.

"Well, there's this... group that we've been following," Matt said, gesturing back to where I was standing. "They move through the city and then they just disappear," Matt said, snapping his fingers. "Like magic. The last place we had a fix on them was 49th and 10th. Then they were gone," Matt said, showing Foggy one of the maps. I stepped forward, glancing at the paper over Matt's shoulder. "I thought maybe they might be using the subway tunnels," he added to me as well as to Foggy. He hadn't really explained things this morning, just insisted he come here.

"Only if they're idiots," Foggy said, looking over the map. "Subway tunnels are heavily patrolled and dangerous as shit. My grandfather used to tell me stories about abandoned railway tunnels," he continued, offering his suggestion. Matt shifted, one hand on his hip as his eyebrows crinkled. "Abandoned? Why?" I asked, shifting to sit half on the edge of the desk. "They kept caving in. Cost a ton. The city just finally threw in the towel... gated them up. Best thing to ever happen to bootleggers like Grandpa. Said he could go for miles without seeing daylight," Foggy explained, smiling at the small family fact he shared.

Matt instantly started running his fingers over the map once more. "Whoever this group is... forget magic. Look for manhole covers," Foggy finished with a tiny smirk of triumph on his face. "Yeah, that's... Thank you, Foggy. That's really good work. Thank you," Matt stammered out before rushing to the door. "That's what I do," Foggy said as he watched Matt walk with ease to where his coat was hanging on the rack.

"Hey, you, uh..." Matt paused, pulling his coat on as I stood from the desk, preparing to leave. Matt pulled his lips tight as if he was thinking of something before he turned away from us, gathering his cane. "What?" Foggy called. Matt hesitated for a moment, leaning on his cane like a security blanket. "Did you want me to convince you?" Matt asked. I watched in confusion, knowing I missed something between them. "Of what?" Foggy asked.