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

14) ...is a friend indeed

Claire might have silenced the phone, but she hadn't decline the call. In contrary - she accepted. Vera stared at her incredulously. Who the fuck was so important that she couldn't leave them hanging when fighting for their lives?

"Real bad timing," the nurse hissed to the phone and Vera mouthed 'understatement' to relieve some of her inner tension.

Claire listened to the person on the other end of the line, while Arsenal aimed his arrow. Vera could see a shadow of discontentment under the hood - he couldn't get a clear shot. Vera registered the man Colleen apparently had a history with was talking to her while their katanas kept clanking.

"Just make sure to clear the block, okay?" Claire pleaded, pausing again. Clear the block? Cops? Knight? "There's a lot of this stuff in here."

The swords fell silent for a moment and Vera heard Colleen's voice clearly now. "I don't need you anymore."

It was the exact moment Arsenal released the string of the bow - Vera glanced at the fighting pair and saw Colleen supporting herself onto the ground, providing the archer what he needed.

Vera failed to supress a gasp as the man deflected the arrow in one swift movement of his blade. What the actual-

Arsenal shot three more arrows in speed Vera had no idea a man could possess; the man deflected two more, but one of the three hit his shoulder. He fucking cut the arrow sticking from him off, not bothered by the sharp arrowhead in his flesh at all.

"You brought friends. Too bad you have such a poor taste in choosing your loyalties," he mocked her. When another arrow cut through his chest right under his left collarbone, he actually smiled a little patronizingly.

Vera's heart was beating its way out of her chest, her throat tight and dry. That man had two arrows in him and looked like he barely noticed. She was suddenly convinced that Colleen hadn't been exaggerating in the slightest when saying these people weren't truly alive. But what were they then? And more importantly, how they could be defeated?

Before she had time to give it more thought, a door to her left flied open, several men bursting in, some more appearing behind the guy who was now fighting Colleen.

"Doprdele," Vera hissed, shooting a panicked look in Arsenal's and Claire's- where the fuck was Claire? Vera noticed her steps from where she had expected her... holding a pipe wrench. Vera just gaped, her eyes going impossibly wide.

Arsenal enclosed the distance between him and Vera again, shoving his billy clubs to her hands. Vera automatically curled her fingers around them, not quite following, not quite wanting to.

"You know how to use these, right?" he grumbled

Vera looked at him incredulously, terrified as the men got closer to them. He didn't wait for her response, shooting two of them; one went down, the other one kept going.

"Not really," she squeaked. Matt had borrowed her his own twice for training; it hadn't gone very well.

"I'm sure you saw them in action a lot." He took down a guy who had gotten too close to Claire before the nurse could take a swing at him with her improvised weapon.

Vera gulped, gripping her sticks tighter. Okay, you can do this. You've seen him use it. Yeah, she also happened to know that one could not simply learn how to fight only by watching. But Arsenal disappeared from her side and she didn't have much choice.

She dodged the first blow a bald man threw at her, successfully taking a swing at his gut with the billy club. He hissed in pain, but moved out of the way of her next attack, throwing a sloppy punch aimed at her side himself. She jumped away in the last moment, putting some distance between them.