All Roads Lead to Hell *Matt Murdock* (book three of Damned-3a)

6) Losing balance

An old blind man walked into a Chinese restaurant. It still wasn't a joke. He was bloody, he was missing a hand and instead of a cane, he had a katana in his other hand. And he was the enemy of the Hand.

"This... is a one shitty excuse for a hideout," the man gestured among the four people.

"Stick..." the other blind man in the room sighed, slowly rising from his chair as well, just waiting to wake up from this fucked up nightmare.

"Matty."

"Holy dragon..." Danny breathed, shocked. He had honestly thought that guy was dead.

"Who the hell- wait. I know you. You're the-" Jessica looked at Murdock incredulously. This was the guy who-- what the fuck? "You actually know this asshole?!"

"Unfortunately."

"I'm wounded, Matty," Stick exclaimed, seemingly not wounded by his words at all.

"Wait, do you know this guy?" Luke asked Jessica with disbelief. It looked like he was once again the only one who was completely lost and he hated it.

"Yeah. He tried to strangle his fiancée. I happened to be passing by."

Danny snapped his head in Matt's direction. "Wait, he tried to strangle her too?! You didn't tell me that!"

"You know his fiancée?" Luke turned to Jessica, confused.

"Fiancée?" Stick wolf-whistled sarcastically. Not only his student was not learning from his own mistakes, he was actually making it worse. He had to give it to the girl though, she was a tough cookie. "Mazel tov, kid. Another nail to your coffin. She's tougher than I thought though. She's a stubborn piece of shit, isn't she? She just doesn't know when to die..."

Matt leaned forward, his voice sharp like glass. "I swear if you touch her again-"

"Well, that's the problem, isn't it? I wasn't the one leading the blade and Jacques didn't aim for her heart. I should have done it myself. Then again, it was quite spectacular to listen to her choking on her own blood..." Stick remembered fondly, causing Matt to lunge at him.

Danny wrapped his arms around Matt's body, stopping him before Matt could hurt the man. He had to use some remains of his chi; without it, Matt would yanked from his grip with no trouble.

"Whoa, whoa, Matt-"

"Cool it down, kid. She's alive, isn't she?"

Stick was not impressed; in contrary, he was disappointed that the kid was under the control of his emotions.

Luke's gaze flickered between Stick and the other two. "Wait. Slow down. You all know this guy and he tried to kill your fiancée? Twice?"

"Yeah, I think you got it about right," Danny hummed, loosening his grip a little as Matt gradually stopped trying to free himself, his raged breathing slowing down. He just kept watching Stick's figure like a hawk. Or perhaps a vulture. Danny let go of him completely, taking a hesitant step back.

"Well, who the fuck is he? The Hand?!" Jessica demanded, earning a confused look from Luke. He had thought she knew who this guy was...?

"No. There's another organization. The one we fought for-"

"We call ourselves the Chaste."

"God, these names are killing me-" Jessica complained, now 120% done with this.

She had thought this could not get crazier. She had been wrong, apparently. Then again, the puzzle pieces were slowly falling into place; except the picture was really big and they barely finished one corner.