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

9) Not a team

They were standing nearby a corpse. A headless corpse. Four of five people were still taking the fact in, pretty reluctant to do so. A dead man. Decapitated.

Christ.

"You okay?" Luke asked Jessica softly, his gaze flickering to the body once again. His stomach rolled over at the sight and he quickly looked away.

"Yeah, I mean... my head's still attached," Jessica replied wryly, sighing.

"You didn't have to kill him," Matt stated, somewhere between disappointed, angry and resigned.

"Eh, it was him or the kid."

"They could've stopped him," Danny protested, turning to Stick as well. It hadn't felt good to have a blade on his throat, but Sowande had been one of the fingers of the Hand, he had had information they needed and... killing.

"Couldn't take the chance, especially now."

Luke looked at Stick, bewildered. "What do you mean, 'especially now'?"

"We got our answer. He's what they've been after all along."

"Yeah, well, we knew that."

Stick scoffed at the big kid's stupidity. "We didn't know the Iron Fist was the key to what the Hand seeks. The word isn't accidental."

"You think he's a key? To what, their survival?" Matt wondered, not following either. Stick just mentally sighed. They're all idiots.

"A key implies a lock."

"I assumed it was a metaphor," Jessica noted in her done-with-this-shit tone.

"It's not."

"So you literally think Danny opens something?" Luke asked, surprised.

Stick gestured to the corpse on the floor to anyone's delight. "And that 'something' is worth dying for."

"I'm a weapon. I'm not a key," Danny protested, squirming uncomfortably.

"That you know of."

"What could I possibly open?"

"You tell me. Must be why they haven't killed you," Stick scoffed.

"They haven't killed me because they want me on their side."

"The Iron Fist's chi is a weapon. That's true," Stick confirmed, nodding, looking almost wise. "But I've heard stories about it being used for more. To seal things shut. Or opening them again."

"So the Hand is in New York because he gives them access or opens something up?" Luke asked in disbelief. They had officially stepped into Crazy Town.

Danny raised his hands in a defensive gesture, chuckling. "Come on, guys. That's insane."

Matt's sad gaze was aimed at his general direction, corners on his mouth down. "Well, it doesn't matter if you think it's true or not. It's something they believe is true."

"He was a member of the Hand. An organization formed by lying psychopaths. You can't trust a word he said."

"I understand that, Danny, but the way I see it, we only have one move."

Danny took a step back, not quite realizing he was shortening the distance between himself and the person who would be most willing to kill him if necessary. Which now seemed like an option, apparently, but that was crazy, they wouldn't right? Matt wouldn't let them and neither Luke nor Jessica seemed to be fans of killing.