"Please, Natasha... start talking." Foggy Nelson
could feel his stomach turning as another rat scurried
across his bound legs.
He was held captive in what he
could only assume was a dungeon of sorts, and he was
not alone. At
least he hoped not. "Natasha? I saw
them carry you to the cell beside me... I can't see
you, but we are alone.
So you can probably go ahead
and save me now... if it makes you feel any better, I
think you can do it." He heard a slight
unintelligible grumble.
"Be quiet stomach. I am
trying to listen for Natasha."
This time Nelson heard a laugh come from across the
room, "Foggy,
you can be torturous when you are
funny."
Natasha felt a pain creep across her entire
body, and would have liked to scream instead of laugh.
"Well, you
know what they say Natasha, 'Feed a Foggy,
humor a hostage.'
Do you think he knows we're here,
wherever here is?"
Natasha grimaced, as she fought
with her restraints,
"Who ever took me meant to draw
Daredevil out, I am sure.
Perhaps the same is true
for you as well, considering you work for his alter
ego, who was recently outed. We can only presume that
whoever is holding us here, will wait for him."
Somewhere above the dungeon, a robot is pacing. A
robot that is nervous, it is programmed to know only
its master's objective.
But somewhere in the powerful processing capabilities, it has found the
ability to fear the failure of one of those objectives. And fail it did, something that is
unforgiving by the master.
Things were going so well, it had captured the Black
Widow, and that was simplistic. So it was only
obvious to assume that kidnapping a blind lawyer...
you would think would be just as easy. That is unless
you didn't know how to think. Yes, even as a robot,
one can know fear.
A deep thud progressed loudly in the next room.
Louder... and louder, and if the machine man were
alive, it might mistake the noise for its own
heartbeat. The
doors flew open as if by magic. A man
stormed in who
could only be described as hell
personified, his hands were clutched white into fists.
"You
miserable fool, do you realize what you have
done?" The
robot stared lifelessly at the man and
replied, "Negative,
I had completed the objectives to
the best of my abilities." This only seemed to
consume the master, and he paced now but his eyes
would not stray from the machine. "You have failed!
I do not accept failure... or excuses." With that the
figure left the room, and the robot collapsed. Its
shell of a body shaking in what would appear to be
convulsions. For
the first time since his creation,
the android was glad he could not feel pain.
Beyond that room another man sat waiting. If you
were to look into his soul, you would see that he has
been waiting most of his life. The years were not
good to Klaus Kruger, living underground below his own
country. Waiting
for revenge on the man who had lost
him his attempted rulership over the entire world. A
man named Matthew Murdock. It happened so long ago,
early in both their years. He had made Matt Murdock
come to his country, after all one needs the best
lawyer possible to properly execute world domination.
And he had all the best, it was a flawless plan. But
oh how naive he had been, thinking it merely a
coincidence when Daredevil showed up. Now knowing,
the two men are one and the same, a fact he has been
kicking himself for that after he saw the American
newspaper. It had
stared him in the face since
Daredevil had "killed" him, letting him plummet
off of
his own castle.
And everyone the world over still
thinks there is truth to his demise, something that
will prove to be greatly... and gravely exaggerated.
An eccentric man angrily burst in. "How did you do
it? How did you
tolerate mistakes, father?" The
other man smiled and gestured for his son to come
closer.
"Patience comes with age...when you have
lived and not existed at the same time, as I have.
You make your own opportunities," The son smiled and
nodded to his father, then yelped as the older man
grabbed his hair.
"Oh, and son, I do not tolerate
mistakes... do well to remember that" The man walked
away with his head down ashamed. "Yes, father..."
The older man closed his eyes, resting himself for the
event that was surely only hours away.
"What used to take hours, now takes only half that
time."
Daredevil nodded sitting in a specially
modified jet built for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s more covert
missions. The
pilot went on and on, as if he were
presenting a product door to door. All that the
scarlet swashbuckler wanted to do was get to
Lichtenbad and face his past. But for the moment it
would seem he had to distract his thoughts. So, he
reached for files he had brought from Foggy's desk,
pouring over every detail, but it was only the files
on that child he had stopped from commiting suicide.
It looked bad... very bad. This case could not be won
through the court system, they would lock up the boy
and throw away the key.
There had to be loophole...
any other way.
"Get up, hornhead." Daredevil stirred awake slowly,
not even realizing he had nodded off. "Sorry
Captain," he told the pilot. "I have been running on
empty." The
pilot only nodded slightly perturbed that
the hero had fallen asleep during his conversation
about the plane.
"It's a good thing your not fighting
one of them super-powered baddies." Daredevil felt a
shudder run through his body, not a super-powered
baddie, he thought, just a man with a Dr. Doom complex
and a grudge that is so tough you would have to nurse
it with titanium nipples.
"This is it, Lichtenbad
will be right below our feet." Daredevil stood up now
silently stepping towards the door. Just before a
rush of wind powered through the jet, DD heard the
pilot say,
"Fury is down there already..." After
that Daredevil could assume that what the pilot said
was even inaudible to himself. The elements were
swirling around the crimson crusader. And he had few
precious moments to gather all the details of a new
environment. This was not Hell's
Kitchen, and this hero was below his usual outstanding level of abilities. He positioned his body streamline and then
slowing taking time to find something to latch his billy club to. There was nothing... nothing for a few
hundred feet where the castle stood.
A powerful roar was coming in quickly behind him and
he flipped in midair so that he was just below the
object his arms outstretched. Then the object grabbed
back... it was Fury on a jet pack. A distorted image
of an angel on the radar sense that Daredevil sensed,
"Took you long enough, that eyepatch must be cutting
off the circulation to your brain. I didn't want you
here, Fury. Now
you owe me." Fury shrugged,
"No
time to argue... let's just kiss the good ol' terra
firma."
Daredevil smiled and nodded slowly.
"Then we
can kick some good ol'
bad guy assa." Once on the
ground, the plan quickly came to form. Fury would
find an unguarded route in, and find Natasha and
Foggy. Daredevil
would be far more direct, one man
keeps one heartbeat even after years, unless he is
dead. And as the
glass shattered around Kruger, he
didn't jump like a dead man. He didn't reek of fear
like a dead man.
"Mr. Murdock, you are presumably
earlier than I would have expected." Daredevil
grimaced keeping his strong pace, and now Kruger began
to back step. The
skips of his heart were uneasy, yet
his voice commanded a calm attitude. "Watch your
step, Kruger, you have already pretended to be six
feet under, I hate to think you might cause it all
over agian."
This infuriated the villian.
"Caused
it!!! I did not
cause my own death! Why didn't you
save me?"
Daredevil stood a bit stunned. "Yes, I set all this
up for that answer.
Answer me, hero! You watched me
fall, you gave a damn soapbox speech while you let me
die!"
Kruger's eyes were cold, silent with rage.
Daredevil slowly kept his way forward, "Kruger,
surrender and I will answer any questions you have, if
that is truly all you want, then I will grant you
that." Just
then a knife came dangerously close to
slashing Daredevil's outstretched hand. Instead,
he
knew it was heading towards him flexed his wrist
slightly, and caught the weapon in midair. "Who is
the lackey Kruger.
Because I have to admit, you were definitely more of a
challenge." Kruger looked around
bewildered. "I have no idea what
you mean."
Daredevil raised
an eybrow now and kept his face
towards Kruger.
"Then you won't mind if I do this..."
At that moment the
knife was a blur, ripping through
the air with uncanny accuracy, and the only sign that
it hit something was a loud yelp. "Son!!!" Daredevil
sighed slowly, as the man ran toward his heir. "He is
alright Kruger, I snagged his clothes, it only scared
him."
"F-Father, don't you want him dead?" His father
nodded slowly.
"More than anything, but I have grown
tired, this is a worthless fight. I will surrender."
A voice echoed in response. "Good choice, Kruger.
The United States government may not be able to charge
you with anything, but S.H.I.E.L.D. well for the rest
of your life I will let you know ... is different."
Nick Fury arrived and took Kruger into custody.
"Where are Nelson and Widow?" Nick Fury laughed
lightly, "In the jet, past exhaustion like you look
yourself. Let's
get the geezer out of here."
Daredevil was in shock.
"What about his son?"
Fury
looked around.
"There is no son Daredevil, I mean
honestly, you would sense him or something, right?"
Daredevil nodded.
"And I don't ... not at all.'
In the jet the world shut down for moments,
Daredevil's own mind finally trying to force rest on
him. "Hey
partner," Foggy glanced over at
him.
"There is still one way you can help save the
day."
Daredevil looked at him and managed a tired smile.
"How's that, Fogster?" Foggy pointed to the picture
of a boy in his file. "This is one kid who doesn't
need to become his father." Daredevil smiled again as
he nodded off.
"Fury will take care of that."
Fury
turned around with surprise. "What?" Daredevil
patted his shoulder lightly. "You owe me Fury.
Simple as that.
Find a good place for him, because
until I can nail his father to the legal wall, he is
not safe." At
this the Widow piped in, "Take it
from experience, Nick, he is always handing kids off."
Daredevil laughed and fell asleep uneasily knowing
full well the past could come back again.
The End