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*
It had been an eventful night, and it was going to get even moreso.
Earlier Matt had told Natasha about his getting knifed and how a young power wielder, an Angel who had been rumored to have been roaming Hell's Kitchen, was actually a pretty cool kid who wasn't really an Asgardian, but close.
Whatever that means.
When he went to bed, Matt seemed upbeat for the first time in a while. Maybe it's as if he's finally getting more people he can trust in this part of town. Maybe it's just because it's a day removed from the trainwreck of the mutant rally he went to.
Nevertheless, as they go to sleep he's in a rather great mood.
When he nearly leaps out of bed in the middle of the night, it's in stark contrast.
"Can you smell that?" he exclaims as he scurries across the bed in his underwear, trying to get to his costume as quick as he can.
*
The leap out of the bed is met with a click of the safety on a pistol. Matt can hear the speedy increase in Nat's heartbeat and then it's slowing as the safety s clicked back on. Evidently she sleeps with a weapon. Whether or not Matt knew that is anyone's guess.
The red head sniffs the air, trying to discern whatever he's on about as she reaches for her own back velvet number. The gun is holstered at her thigh — an unusual choice. Maybe a sign of the times… or something else.
"I smell air," she replies flatly. But then, it's Natasha. She's always like this.
*
Matt is trying to get dressed in a hurry, that's for sure. The normally agile and sure footed hero almost biffs it on the floor as he attempts to get his pant legs on. "I've never smelled it before. And two blocks away, right where the smell is coming from, there's a woman who is screaming her head off." And now for his top. Unfortunately he has to go with the armored variety of his uniform. The other one is shredded from his knife wound earlier.
*
The high-pitched movement of Nat's zipper indicates she's probably ready to go. A hand absently touches her neck and she narrows her eyes. "Which direction?" she asks as she ensures each of her weapons is ready for action.
*
"Follow me," Matt declares as he heads up the stairs that leads to a small landing right out on the roof. Matt is not moving slow; he knows that Nat can follow and he also knows that whatever is happening isn't getting any better. He flings himself off the side of the building and fires his billy club. He's worried. This is not something he feels in control over.
*
Natasha scans the horizon as she follows. The silence of the night is enough to have her unsettled. She never liked the quiet. Noise somehow managed to give her more faith; more confidence. She sprints after, coming down the edge of the building by following Daredevil's movement. She's cold and collected, but for weeks something has been off about her.
*
Daredevil closes the distance between the blocks easily and quickly. Once he finds the building it doesn't take him long to get the fire escape of the house in question. Even from here Nat will be able to hear the woman's terrible screaming. Daredevil sets in on picking the lock.
*
Nat looks over her shoulder pensively, and draws on the pistol hanging at her thigh. She peers over their shoulders, seeking anything out of the ordinary as her eyes flit across the area.
*
Daredevil gets the window, slides it open wide enough for them to get in and slithers in. They're in the bedroom of a stylish, hip even, apartment, and screaming in her bed, as loud as she can, looking at the ceiling with a look of complete terror, is Marci Stahl.
Marci is a buxom blond who used to go to school with Matt, but mostly with Foggy. They were a thing, sometimes they still are. It's complicated, and sometimes Marci is a good person and sometimes she isn't. Matt was never really that close with her, but he does go over to her and try to calm her down. "Hey…hey…"
Of course, a devil in your bedroom just makes it worse.
*
Matt's efforts to calm the woman have Natasha's expression changing. The Widow isn't warm. The Widow isn't empathetic. The Widow learned to kill at a young age. She did, however, learn to do whatever needed to be done — just not usually dressed like this. The gun returns to its holster and Natasha treads to Matt to tug on his shoulder before coming closer to Marci.
Her voice is low, and thick like honey as she speaks through the rasp that naturally finds its way into her tone, "You're safe. You have people here to help." There's an evenness to her tone, a strange matter-of-fact-ness that warms with each syllable. "What's happened?"
*
At least Marci stops screaming. She looks to Daredevil warily but another woman's presence was here. "There was…something here. Some sort of skull-man. He told me that I was part of his plan. He sprayed something in here…and then…and then he said…" She continues to cry. Since she was up partying (this is Marci, drinking is what she does when she's not kicking ass in the courtroom) she never bothered to get that mascara off. Poor choice, Marce.
*
Natasha inhales a long breath in an effort to identify whatever lingers in the air. She reaches out a hand towards the other woman's shoulder to give it a squeeze. "He can't hurt you when we're here," that same even matter-of-fact tone remains, leaving little room for question or doubt.
*
Whatever the odor is, Nat can't pick up on it. Daredevil does his best to sound non threatening, although there is a piece of him who wants a little payback for that time that Foggy and Marci ditched him at the Natchios house party. "Is there someone you can call?" he asks her. "You should not stay here tonight."
*
Marci nods, "I can call my mom, or my boyfriend."
*
"Good," Natasha says helpfully. "Anything else you remember about what he did?" Her eyebrows lift expectantly, leaving more room for Marci to say anything else necessary.
*
Marci shakes her head, "No, it was the weirdest thing. He didn't try to hurt me…he didn't take anything." She gathers up the courage and the finally says, "He just said that this would be how I could help him. I don't know what that means."
*
Nat's gaze darkens. Her green eyes turn towards the door and calculatingly she considers something unspoken. Her jaw tightens considerably. "He sprayed you and said that's how you can help him," her lips purse and her lips curve into a small frown.
*
Marci nods and reaches for her robe. Daredevil, even though he can't see, turns away as she puts it on. "I need to go call Foggy." Presumably that's her boyfriend but that's news to Matt. She leaves the room.
"Some sort of spray. Holds for what has it been? 10 minutes? You ever come across anything like it?"
*
Natasha's lips purse. "I'm not even sure what the effects are," she says evenly. "The bigger question is whether her terror was a side-effect of the threat or the spray itself." Her jaw tightens. "But no, i'm not exactly familiar with something like this. That said, chemical experimentation as common when I was young."
*
Daredevil lets out a sigh as he moves to the edge of the bed. "I know this girl. I used to intern with her. As you might have noted, she and Foggy have been…a thing." He pauses and shakes his head, "I hope this doesn't have to do with him."
*
"It was noted," Nat replies easily as her eyes continue to scan the room. She moves towards the door and scans for the point of entry. "I feel like Foggy is a thing with a lot of people," she muses quietly. "You think Foggy could be involved in something?"
*
"Well, he's a likable guy. People love him. He's like a big teddy bear," Daredevil says with a bit of a smile. "You love him. I love him." He sighs and considers, "I get the feeling he'd tell me about something if he were in this deep, or in trouble."
*
"Then maybe this has nothing to do with him," Natasha says lowly. "Whatever /this/ is. To be honest, we know nothing. Whoever was in here did something and didn't leave much indication as to what."
*
Daredevil nods and tries to think. "Does anyone who you may or may not work for," he has to be careful about what he says in this arena. She pretty much told him her work was off limits. "Do they have any way of running any sort of tests? Maybe we could take in this sheet to see if there's anything there."
*
Nat stares at Daredevil a few beats and then allows her chin to drop. She emits a long breath and then asserts, "Possibly," it's a rather uncommitted response. Probably on purpose. "I can pass the sheet on and see if we have the resources to test it." Her eyes narrow slightly.
*
Daredevil shrugs, "I'm sorry. I don't know what else to do. I'm not a scientist." He tilts his head at her and gives her a grin, trying to break the ice that seems to be between them tonight. "We'd better go."
*
"It's fine," generally loaded words coming from a woman, but always different from Nat. "And complicated." She inhales a long breath, "Generally complicated." Her lips press together into a firm line and she forces a smile of her own just at the edges.
She turns to the window and slips outside to the fire escape.
*
Daredevil follows along and rather than head back to his apartment right away, he heads up towards the roof. There are times when he wishes he had the powers of Spider-Man, but the billy club works well enough to get him where he needs to go. As he's pulling his way up he can hear Marci exclaim that those were "thirty dollar sheets!"
"What's going on?" he says out into the night sky, figuring Nat can hear him.
*
Once securely on the ground, the Widow considers the question. Absently, Nat's hand trails to her neck. Her nostrils flare and she looks up back to the skyline. "Nothing," she replies lowly, although undoubtedly, she's been distracted the last few weeks. Distracted and oddly absent. "Just work," she finally offers.
*
"I'm going to ask you to be one hundred percent honest with me right now," Matt says, sounding more like the man behind the mask than the devil persona that sometimes comes when the horns come on. "Is there a problem between us? I'd rather know now then to wake up next to a note." Typical male. Everything is about him.
*
An intrigued arch of Natasha's eyebrows takes on an increasingly comical edge at the question and her lips actually curl into a smug smile. "No one is one hundred percent honest,' she objects. "Not you, even." She rubs the back of her neck and moves towards him, "But no. Not about us." Her jaw tightens. "It's work." But even that seems to leave questions. And so, in an odd bout of honesty, she offers, "I made a mistake. And I almost paid for it." She shrugs.
"
*
Daredevil grins as he takes a step closer to her, "Now I know you're lying. You don't ever make mistakes." His senses take her in as he sighs, wanting things to be okay for her. He knows she's struggling and he doesn't know how to help. "Is there anything I can do?"
*
The thought earns a smirk. "It doesn't happen often," Natasha stares at his mask. As he nears, Matt can get that hint of jasmine. He can sense the warmth of her skin. The evenness of her pulse. And, when she speaks he catches a hint of a still-healing rasp in her voice, "Don't think so." There's a long pause. "Negotiating demands of the job is complicated." Her tongue rolls over her lips.
There's a long pause before her hand lifts to cup the cheek of his mask. "If you don't hear from me for awhile, I need you to know it's not something about us. It's not that things between us are broken."
*
Daredevil nods, "I understand. It's an occupational hazard." He sighs. "Of course, if you don't hear for me, I'm probably dead in a ditch. I don't really answer to anyone other than Father John but he just likes it when I play Sheeps head with him. And God, who has been strangely quiet lately."
*
Nat scrubs her face. "I was almost dead in a ditch." She shrugs, "Or… in the rafters. Of a building. In a warehouse." Her cheeks puff out with a long breath of air. "You can hear things coming. I didn't see this one. It's resolved. For the moment." Her head turns to the side.
"Matt…" there's unusual brevity in her voice "…what are we doing?" There's another long pause. "I need someone to know something about me…. everything about me."
*
Daredevil looks concerned, but it's clear that he's putting on the 'cool lawyer' response now. "You made a mistake. You could be dead, but you're not. You need to cut yourself some slack." He pauses, "What do you mean by what are we doing?"
*
"I'm the job. This is not new territory for us," Nat offers cryptically. Ever the spy she takes a single step backwards. "And I should know better. We're never cut slack. Not in the Red Room. Not anywhere after it." The last question is summarily ignored or not heard, instead, she switches gears: "Who do you think I work for/"
*
"I don't know," Matt says. "And I don't really care. I know that you have technology. Your wrist bracers make that plain. But I don't know the specifics. That was our deal and I'm sticking to it. Of course I would want to know more, but it's your rule."
*
Nat hums softly. Her chin drops to her chest and she stares at her feet. "I may have more trouble coming my way because of it." There's another long pause, "If something happens to me, promise me you won't pursue it." She crosses her arms over her chest. It's nearly defiant.
*
Daredevil sighs, "Why would you ask me to do that. That's not fair and you know it."
*
"Because whatever happens I had coming," Natasha chews on her thumbnail. Her green eyes attempt to catch his, even if though they can't exactly meet. "I'm compromised," she finally admits. "Again." Her jaw tightens.
*
Daredevil exhales and seems to be looking straight at her from behind his red lenses, "I know what that means when it comes to spy serials on the radio from when I was a kid. I'm not sure I know exactly what that means. Someone's on to you?"
*
There's a moment where it seems like Daredevil isn't going to get a reply. In fact, Natasha starts to move back towards Matt's apartment. The sound of her paces seems to give some semblance of distance, and, in it's own way, protection. "Something like that," she finally speaks just shy of Matt's apartment. "I'm not afraid of dying. It's inevitable. Everyone dies. But what happened rattled me. And the fallout could be," she works at selecting the right word, finally landing on, "troubling."
She stops in her tracks. "But that's not why I'm compromised." She stares at the mask again. "What are we doing? With us? With whatever this is?"
*
"Spending time with someone I love," Daredevil says simply. "That was what we agreed to a few months back."
*
The simple answer is met with a small nod of Nat's head. "Good." As if that summarizes the entirety of whatever thoughts she carries on the subject. "Agreement stands," she reaches for the sheets. "I'll see what I can do about getting these analyzed and keeping you out of it. This has nothing to do with my current assignment, but I can come up with a reason."
*
Daredevil is probably raising his eyebrows under his mask, "Oh. That was the right answer?" All the tension seems to fade away as he reaches for the door. "You finishing sleep or you headed in to work. I'm not even sure what time you leave when you're here."
*
"There's no right answer, but at least several wrong ones. I'm not a good bet. We both know that." Nat looks over her shoulder, "I need to work. if I'm going to get these analyzed at all, I've got to move. I have an early morning meeting at Fisk Industries, and discussions with my other employer shortly thereafter." She sucks on the inside of her cheek and takes a step back, "I can't be caught off guard again."
She peeks back at him once more and then issues him a small half-smile, "You wanted one hundred percent truth. Ask me one question."
*
Daredevil's head lolls back as he closes the distance between them and presses a kiss on her lips, "Alright. One question. What do you want for dinner…You thinking carry out? Maybe go out? Maybe I will assault both of our senses by actually cooking. What do you want for dinner? Complete honesty."
*
The kiss is easily returned and the question merits a warm hum. "Complete honesty?" Natasha repeats with a hint of mischief in her tone. "To be completely honest, I don't want to have to think about this right now." Her teeth toy at her bottom lip, "However, I do pancakes for breakfast." She presses another quick kiss to his lips before turning on her heel to head wherever it is she goes.