5347/Black Sky: Two's Company, Three's a Plan

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Black Sky: Two's Company, Three's a Plan
Date of Scene: 11 September 2018
Location: New York City
Synopsis: Elektra stumbles on Stick and Matt at Fogwells. They discuss the future, and the fact that she's in deep trouble. Matt learns Elektra is going to die, and promises to let her.
Cast of Characters: Daredevil, Stick, Elektra
Tinyplot: Black Sky


Daredevil has posed:
Elektra was hard to reach these days, knowing what he knew about her deal with the Hand, he knew they'd be watching and any move he made to contact her could only make things worse. It was tricky, and despite saying the three of them should talk and plan things out, after weeks of trying to find a safe in to Elektra he eventually decided to reach out to Stick instead. Hoping his former mentor had some ideas Matt hadn't thought of yet.

Figuring the old man had the Chaste watching him, Matt went back to the warehouse he and Stick had met at before and using a bit of chalk wrote 'Fogwell's, midnight' on the wall. He was fairly sure the Chaste would bring it back to Stick.

At the appointed hour, Matt slips into the gym through the windows in the locker room, his booted feet landing softly. A moment later he steps out into the gym proper, not bothering to turn on the lights, his red suit painted yellow from the lights across the street that illuminate the place well enough that the sighted could move through it without running into punching bags or tripping over benches.

Matt moves to the ring, and leans against it waiting for the old man to arrive.

Stick has posed:
     "You're too sentimental." Down drops Stick, from another window. The grizzled old man of course didn't need lights, but he was in Vietnam-era olive drab clothes, and his glazed over eyes look towards the ring, getting in and sniffing the air.

  His heartbeat doesn't betray him, Stick is calm and steady. He lets his comment stand, letting Matt lead the conversation.

Daredevil has posed:
Matt exhales a snort. "It's familiar ground, lots of exits, I remember someone teaching me that was a good thing," he says without needing to turn his head.

Matt's own heartbeat is steady, more so than normal, it spoke to his recent uptick in training, and less time spent lawyering. Though there's still the faint smell of alcohol, bad food and cigarette smoke, which means he might have put aside the day job but he's still visiting that damn bar with his friends.

Still facing straight ahead, he carries on, "Tried to get a message to Elektra, the Hand has her wrapped up tight. Couldn't risk a message at the Hugo Building or at her apartment. Any luck on your end?"

Stick has posed:
     Stick, for all intents and purposes, was much the same old man Matt knew when he was a boy. Perhaps that was the miracle in of itself. "Damn right." He comments, before he inhales sharply, sighing a bit. "No, nothing on my end. From what we can tell, The Hand isn't giving her any leeway."

Elektra has posed:
In the end it was a chance mishap that allowed Elektra to slip away.

Madame Gao might have said it wasn't a threat, or even implied that she trusted Elektra to do the 'right' thing, but Elektra knew she was being followed at all times now. If not by Gao's people, then by another faction of the Hand. Worse, Elektra had discovered a few things that unsettled her - that despite implied or stated loyalties, it seemed that perhaps Stick had been right all along, that Elektra had left herself right where the Hand wanted her: available for some secret plan they had that she'd only been able to find vague references to, and gotten even fewer answers to her questions about.

Had they only known, they might have given Elektra the answers she asked for, or some answers, because the vagueness and failure to supply were what had put the woman on high alert (as if Madame Gao's warnings hadn't set that in motion). And from there, she'd begun making plans.

So, tonight, the chance stumbling upon an alleyway fight over a particularly lucrative corner, Elektra had managed to slip away from her tail, and had sought her former mentor out. That seeking had led to the message on the warehouse wall, and to Fogwell's.

Ten past midnight, Elektra stands in the hallway outside the door to the gym, filled with old memories, trying to decide the wisdom of the course of action she's considering. Should she go in? Should she leave? All she needs to do is push the door open..

Daredevil has posed:
There is another snort from Matt, at that damn right, this one coupled with a slight lift of the corner of his mouth. Yeah, Stick was still Stick, even the passing of twenty years hadn't changed him. As many questions as that left Matt with, it was also strangely comforting in a world turned upside down. If nothing else, he could always count on Stick being Stick.

Stick's news gives him no comfort though. His noses wrinkles under his mask and he curses, "Damn it," fist slapped into the side of the ring. He turns, "I don't see how we can make a plan without her Stick. We need to know what the Hand is up to, find the right moment to strike..."

Then he hears it, the faint brush of something against the door knob, the thing barely moves, but it's enough, Matt turns towards the door, hand reaching for his baton in it's holster.

"Stick, the door," he says in a barely breathed whisper, trusting his mentor will hear it.

Matt lets more of what he hears in past the blocks that keep him sane, focusing, past the door to the steady thump-thump of the hearbeat beyond. They were definitely not alone.

Stick has posed:
     The old man smirks ever-so-quickly at Matt's reaction. "Honestly, I wouldn't take info they give her. They're playing bluff upon bluff..."

  Stick looks to the door as Matt calls to mention it. He reaches out as well, listening to the heartbeat amongst the noise of the city.

  He trusted The Chaste, but they also knew not to follow him unless he asks. "You gotta be shittin' me." He comments quietly towards the door. "You may as well come in. We know you're there." He calls out after, not one to beat around the bush.

Elektra has posed:
Elektra hears it even as Matt does: the faintest click of sound of the doorknob.

She should have known the thing wouldn't be silent, relic as it was of days gone past. Not that she'd admit it, but perhaps a small part of her wanted that giveaway. Wanted the choice to be taken from herself; her act made a fait accompli by chance and circumstance, and out of her hands.

There's a sudden singular jump of heartbeat, and then she's schooled it back to its normal too steady for the average person - Elektra was anything but average, and Stick had taught her well how to hide in plain sight. But it's Stick's voice that calls out to her, and bids her enter - well, bids whoever it is to enter, and she can't help the smallest of smirks as she considers what he'd do if she refused.

Elektra lets that thought play upon her mind for a breath. Two breaths. Then pushes the door to Fogwell's open, letting it close behind her of its own accord - if she and Matt and Stick can't handle whatever might have followed her and bid her more caution with that entrance, then there truly was no hope for any of them, making the facade of caution a niceity she no longer cares to oblige.

When the thing had clicked closed behind her, she drawls in her softly accented voice, "Sees no evil, Hears no evil, Speaks no evil. I haven't much time, boys. We best make the most of this."

Daredevil has posed:
Elektra.

Matt's heart jumps as the opening of the door let's his senses bring all the things that tell him it's her. It's quickly calmed, but for a moment there is a slight upturn of his lips, and a half-step forward towards her, but he doesn't indulge further, except to smirk and greet her with a nod, "Elektra."

There is a faint, "Heh," at her joke. "Well, Stick and I have the sees no evil part down. And how much did you hear before you came in?" her time was short as she said, no sense going over ground already trodden.

Stick has posed:
     "Cheeky." Elektra steps in, and Stick nods as she enters. "By all means, make it as quick as needed." He comments, letting the protege talk first.

Elektra has posed:
Elektra makes no move at first to draw nearer, though Matt's almost step towards her isnt' missed. She understand the compulsion, fighting the same herself. It's a talk, though, that needs intimacy, and ultimately, she must make her way closer to the two men.

"I'm in trouble. I've lost my tail, but it won't be long before they notice, and the longer I'm gone, the more suspicious they'll become. I'm not sure if they report to Gao or one of the others, but it hardly matters."

She nods to Stick.

"You were right. All I've done is made it easier for them. There's something going on that they won't tell me about. Something they call Black Sky. When I ask, I get evasions, not even poorly contrived lies. And I've been warned what happens if I step out of line."

She gives a quick look Matt's way, then back to Stick. "I thought they'd strike those I know first. I'm no longer certain. There's a tension I can't decipher. I sent what I could to a source that can use it, but I'm not safe."

She looks to be making a decision, then says quietly, "I've made contingency plans."

She doesn't say what they are.

Daredevil has posed:
It's more than just the compulsion to go to her Matt's fighting. As she spins her tale he finds the familiar urge to rescue her rise in him as well. He tamps it down. This wasn't the time for that.
"Black Sky?" Matt repeats. "Stick, that mean anything to you?" Matt's knowledge of the Hand was fleeting.

His attention returns to Elektra, her words spoke of her desperation, it was subtle, but there, "What sort of contingencies? And can you tell us who the source is?" he asks desperate in his own way, seeking for something he could grasp on to, some way he could change the situation they find themselves in. His heartbeat spikes with fear. He cant let himself lose her.

Stick has posed:
     The words Black Sky only make Stick seem visibly uncomfortable. His heartbeat changes, while his voice remains steadfast. "Yes, and if they have Black Sky, it just threw another wrench in this plan." The Sensei takes a second to compose himself.

Elektra has posed:
Matt gets an almmost irritated look from Elektra, and her tones barely contain themselves from that, "We haven't time for that sort of sentimentality, Matthew. You know better than that."

Stick's discomfort, though, confirms a suspicion. The suspicion she's had. The reason for the ultimate contingency.

"So it's true. They plan to use me as that weapon you always spoke of." There's a short laugh from the woman. "I always believed you meant I was the weapon against them. Not that I was the one they'd use."

The other she'll give Matt. "I have a contact in SHIELD. I did the best I could to send her what I was able. I've been watched too closely to do much more. Everything I have was done before Madame Gao's threats."

Daredevil has posed:
"What sentimentality?" Matt asks, defensive, his arms crossing over his chest.

They don't stay their long. The talk of the Black Sky has them falling to his sides.

"Wait, hold on, /you're/ this Black Sky thing?'" he asks Elektra. "What does that even mean?" that question is offered to both Stick and Elektra.

Matt's head doesn't turn much but he shifts so both Elektra and Stick are in front of him.

"Good, we should have done that from the start go to SHIELD, let them sweep up the Hand. Elektra, if you want, I can talk to them for you, get a deal, protection." This was familiar ground and comforting. Deals, protection, the law. It was a pretty dream that the Hand could be handled so cleanly, but one Matt hadn't woken from.

Elektra has posed:
"I don't know," Elektra says of being Black Sky. "I suspect it. Or at the very least, that they believe I am somehow."

Her attention turns back to Stick. "You always said I was the weapon that was going to end this war. Why didn't you tell me this part? Why didn't you tell me that they believed I was the same for them?"

There's an almost petulance to her voice; a quiver within it that betrays emotion where she is most often so very, very careful not to betray anything.

Without looking at him, Matt is informed, "Do you forget who and what I am? What sort of help do you think I'd garner? I kill people, Matthew. I've done it before, I'll do it again. Even before the Hand. What about me makes you think I can go to something like SHIELD and expect help?"

Not to mention, she thought she'd had it well in hand. Perhaps a bit too much pride, but hubris always was the Greek tragedy.

Stick has posed:
     Stick keeps his mouth closed as the others talk, only responding after a moment. "You are the key to winning the war. Sad part is, it is also true for the Hand. You needed to believe you are their downfall, not that you can also be ours."

  Stick sniffs sharply when SHIELD is brought up. "This is out of their wheelhouse, Matt. Bunch of 'swords and sorcery nonsense' to them." Seems the old Sensei was also not faithful in SHIELD. "If we do this, we do this our way."

Daredevil has posed:
"A key how? What does she have to do to win the war?" Matt asks the pair of them.

"Elektra, I know who and what you are," he always has. "But to take down an international criminal conspiracy? I am sure they've made deals with people who've done far worse."

When Stick weighs in against the plan, Matt is far from shocked. "Your way, not mine," Matt snaps in his desperation. "And what's the plan then? Just go in and kill them all and hope they don't turn Elektra into this Black Sky before we do?"

Elektra has posed:
"You're assuming I.." Elektra stops herself and whatever it was she was about to say to Matt, giving a small shake of her head. It wasn't a fight that they needed to have. Not now, at least. Things had moved way past that. "It doesn't matter, Matthew. I've done what I can. There's a data stick in the locket I sent my friend. Your friend's little hacker made it for me. Once he unlocks it for them, they'll have what they need to do pretty much what you're saying."

It's a measure of how much she believes this is unwinnable that she's done so.

It's Stick, though, who gets the longest consideration. "Believe? You never trusted me enough for me to believe anything. All I know is I'm a pawn in a war I didn't start. You wanted someone to follow you blindly. You're not that much different than they are. I don't want to win this war for anyone. I want a life of my own."

Stick has posed:
     Stick's grey hair shines under the yellow lights of the gym. He seems to be growing impatient. "You are hardly a pawn. If anything, at least a Bishop. More likely a Queen."

  The Sensei raises an eyebrow at her exclamations, he taught her different. "What exactly did you send to this hacker?" He asks, already trying to think of a plan.

Daredevil has posed:
"Assuming what?" Matt asks, tone suspicious and a little cold, though it's a transparent front for both Stick and Elektra, it was clear Matt couldn't be more obviously afraid for her.

"And great, SHIELD rounds up the Hand, but what about you Elektra? You say you want to live your own life, you can't do that while you're being hunted."

As for the plan? What plan? Right now Matt is all about saving Elektra.

Elektra has posed:
"As you say, Matthew, they've cut deals with worse for less." She lets him believe that. What Elektra doesn't say, what Stick might intuit, but Matt is blythefully oblivious to, is that Elektra has no plans on being hunted. That there will be no deal. She won't be a pawn. Or a Knight. Or a Queen. What she will be, will be out of any reach of being used as a weapon in some ancient war she doubts actually exists.

"I sent them a dossier on Hand activities. Everything I've put into place since stepping into power."

That left a lot out - it would hurt The Hand, but not utterly decimate it. They'd loose footholds and toeholds and handholds, but not the cliff face. They'd still be in the game once they regrouped. All she'd ensure with what she sent Darcy was that they'd be too busy falling back and regrouping to do more harm.

Stick has posed:
     Stick gives more than his fair share of a sigh. The defiance, and anger, he keys into something there. "What are you planning, Elektra? You're holding back."

  Everyone knows that the Hand would do anything to keep the upper hand. "If they know you to the Black Sky, what do you plan on disappearing off their radar?" His tone had a bit of a graveness.

Daredevil has posed:
"Then you'll make a deal?" Matt presses. "With SHIELD? I'll represent you." He knew Foggy would likely throw up his hands at the idea of representing an assassin, even one they both happened to like, and Karen? Well she'd likely be right next to Claire in the pissed off column, but Matt didn't care, he'd burn his life to ashes if it meant Elektra was safe.

Despite his desperation, Matt could see the damage the dossier would do. It wasn't a knockout blow, but it'd put them on their heels. He regards Stick, then, letting out a breath. "Is that going to give the Chaste enough of an advantage to finish them?"

As much as the idea made him sick, he knew he couldn't stop Stick and the Chaste if they chose to bring the war to a bloody end.

And at this point a part of him wanted them to.

Elektra has posed:
"Of course I'll make a deal, Matthew. What a silly question." She lies, but notably, she doesn't say /with SHIELD/, and she already has made a deal with someone in this matter. Made when the first inklings that there might be trouble bigger than she could handle. Made when she first realized her existence put Matthew in danger.

In that, they were troublingly alike: they'd burn their lives to the ground to save the other.

Only she'd made literal plans to do so.

"I've made plans to disappear, Old Man. Never you mind what. You wanted an end to this war, I'll deliver that to you. And the dossier should harm them enough that your Chaste can chase them down. I won't guarantee burying them, but if you bit back your pride and worked with SHIELD, you might manage it."

Stick has posed:
     Blind eyes squint towards Elektra, he is suspicious to say the least. "Yes, work with SHIELD. While you attempt to hide from them for the rest of your life."

  "We should be able to deal the killing blow to them once and for all. That is if it works." He comments, making for a familiar grizzled tone.

Daredevil has posed:
"Do you need me to represent you?" Matt repeats with that calm lawyer's cadence he uses when drawing out details from a reluctant witness.

Part of it is a desire to make sure Elektra gets the best deal possible, the rest of it is a bit of professional jealousy, the idea that Elektra would pick someone other than him to negotiate what might be the most important deal of her life.

"This isn't something to trust to Hogarth, Chao and Benowitz or Wolfram and Hart."

As to SHIELD and striking a death blow to the Hand, Matt balks a little. He knew both Nat and Skye knew his secret, but working with SHIELD would put him on the agency's radar in a way he wasn't comfortable with.

"I'll work with them if I have to," he says, which means he'll do everything to avoid it if he can. "They've got both the drive and Genus, right? They can handle this on their own?"

Presumably while he, Stick and the Chaste hunted the parts of the Hand not on the drive.

Elektra has posed:
Matt gets something of a smile, "If I need a lawyer, Matthew, trust me, you'll be the first person I speak to." And he would be.... if she needed a lawyer.

Elektra nods to Stick, and givese a small shrug. "I can't hand you everything. Matthew's little friend in SHIELD may be able to bridge that gap you're unwilling to step over. Give you enough to take the Hand down for good."

To answer Matt, Elektra makes a vague, spreading gesture with her hands. "I am unaware of where your friend's friend is. I would presume he's safe with them. As far as my people are concerned, he's dead and his ashes are buried in a pauper's grave. The drive was sent in a gift to Darcy Lewis. You know her."

Stick has posed:
     "Great, he can try and keep you off the RAFT." Stick comments towards the thought of Elektra needing legal counsel. "I'll keep my resources open to find when SHIELD crack the code. We can strike while the iron is hot." The old man crosses his arms in front of himself. "If that is all, I'll be going." He seems a bit disappointed, well, moreso than usual.

Daredevil has posed:
Matt nods, but he's not mollified, he was a lawyer after all and selective truth telling was part of the job. 'Good, you're going to need one, so call me when you do, okay?"

He'd play along for now.

"I can coordinate with the people I trust within SHIELD, get a heads up when they crack the thing, let you both know when things are going down."

Though the disapointed tone in Stick's tone doesn't go unnoticed. "What?" Matt asks. "May as well spit it out."

Elektra has posed:
Elektra, too, notes Stick's tones, but she's happy enough to let Matthew be the one to poke and prod at the man to get to the bottom of it all. So she remains silent, letting the lawyer do what he does best... and not just because it takes the spotlight off of her.

Stick has posed:
     Blood was not something Stick shied away from. In fact he was used to the more macabre side of life. But he couldn't tell Matt, wether it was because he knew how Matt would react, or that he was already starting to mourn the loss of someone who he cared greatly for. "You both...way too fucking sentimental." He raises his walking cane to point at Elektra. "And you, need to prepare him for the outcome."

Elektra has posed:
Elektra tenses at Stick's assertation that she needs to prepare Matt, but she doesnt' flinch away from his sightless regard, nodding. "Understood." Though she doesn't elaborate on what it is she's to prepare Matt for. And she won't if she can help it.

Notably, she's not surprised that Stick has sussed it out.

Daredevil has posed:
Matt snorts, "What else is new?" he says of him an Elektra's sentiment. He sounded, no, he was proud of that. That was theirs, the bits of them that life and Stick hadn't taken away from them.

The rest though, that chills his blood. "What outcome, Elektra?" he knew, deep down in the parts of him that tied his stomach in knots, he knew, but he couldn't admit it, couldn't give it words and make it real, he couldn't even think it.

Stick has posed:
     A hand reaches for the door and opens it gently. "Contact me when this goes down." He comments, before exiting the gym, back to his base of operations.

Elektra has posed:
Elektra nods to Stick's leaving. She knows word will reach him when it needs to. There's not a lot more she can do. They know about the data SHIELD has. They know how it will decimate The Hand. All that remains is a time and place.

Elektra had already picked the perfect time and place. Or so she thought. It came complete with a coverup, and had things gone differently, she might have enjoyed the outcome of the weekend she'd chosen.

As it was, she now had Matthew to deal with, and not a lot of time to do so in.

"There are only so many ways this plays out, Matthew. I shouldn't have to spell it out for you. We end. We end it any way we can."

In the game of chess, you removed the Queen. It left all else vulnerable - esepcially the King. And while this was an imperfect metaphor, it sufficed. With Elektra off the playing field, nobody had the ordained edge. All else became equal.

In some ways, she told herself, /that/ was how she became the ultimate weapon.

Daredevil has posed:
Stick's exit is noted with a nod, he knew the man could sense but no words. His words were locked away with the emotions he was struggling to contain.

Finally both burst free, "No! I don't accept that, there has to be some other way to deny the Hand what they want, we just haven't looked hard enough," he insists, the words coming forth with fury as much to overcome his own unwillingness ot think or say these things as it was by anger.

"You said you wanted a life that's your own, that's not a life, Elektra. That's death, your death."

Elektra has posed:
Matt is given a long, solemn look. "It's my life, Matthew. I choose. You're as bad as he is, telling me what I can and can't do with it. What I have to do with it. I know what I'm doing."

She moves in, closer to him now that Stick is gone. Now that time is at a premium and she can't be certain they'll be able to do any of this again.

"There are too many of them. It will always be this war. I'll always be the pawn between two warring factions. As long as I'm an option on the table, one side has an advantage. As long as I'm an option on the table, you'll forever be being pulled this way and that. Stick was right. You're too damned sentimental. And they'll use you, too."

"You know I'm right."

Daredevil has posed:
Matt is knows she's right. Hell, if it was him in her place, he'd make the same decision. Take it all on him, sacrifice himself for the good of the people he loved. But it wasn't him, it was her and Matt had always been a hypocrite.

"Elektra, you can't..." he begins and for once fails to find the words.

Despite that, he's not willing to waste the time they have together. He closes the distance between them, resting his hands on her hips, feeling her warmth through his costume's sturdy gloves.

"Please, let me try to find some other way..."

His mind, traitorously runs through the possibilities and in each one, the Hand doesn't go away, they keep trying and trying until they win.

Under the red lenses of his mask, tears burn hot against his cheeks. "I can't let you die Elektra, I can't be alone..." there it was the selfish core of it, Elektra was the one person who truly understood him, and without her, he was well and truly alone. He hoped he filled some similar space in her world, but now, he wasn't sure, he was only sure he needed her.

Elektra has posed:
Elektra lets him approach her. Lets his hands rest upon her hips and draw her near. And she lets him run through all the the scenarios in his head - the very scenarios she'd run hundreds of times, always coming up with the same answer.

Her fatal mistake hadn't been in taking the leadership of The Hand, it had been in believing, ever, that there was a way out of this that didn't end up this way.

When he's found himself at the truth of the matter, she cups his face between her hands, "We were young and foolish, Matthew. We believed we could escape what we knew. It was only ever stealing away moments. It was always going to be this."

She leans and brushes her lips against his, not in a kiss, but in a benediction of sorts.

"You've made friends. Some even know who and what you are. I have to believe it's enough. That eventually you'll find someone else."

Her thumbs brush along his cheekbones.

"I wanted it to be different as well. I wanted this, Matthew. Only, I see now how selfish that was. But if I'm selfish, I lose you. This is the best, greatest gift I can give you. I need your promise that you'll let me do what needs doing. That you'll not give up after."

Daredevil has posed:
Matt drinks in Elektra's closeness, savouring each sensation that makes up the whole of her within the eye of his senses.

When she reaches up to cup his face, he reaches his own hand up to pull back his cowl and leave his face bare to her touch, his sightless eyes uncovered and glistening with unshed tears.

"I don't believe that, if we'd..." done what exactly? They who they were other choices, other options, those were illusions, they were always going to be what they were. Their lives before their meeting saw to that.

He let's that thought die on his lips as she presses her own to them. The brief contact, and the blessing that came with it sear themselves into his brain. "They know, but they don't understand, none of them see all of me, not like you do."

He is still as she brushes his face with her thumbs, standing like a statue in this frozen moment.

When she asks for the promise, his eyes close forcing the unshed tears to roll hot and wet down his cheeks. He keeps them closed for their entire journey to his chin, then opens them. "I promise to let you do what you need to," he says. "The other, I don't know."

Elektra has posed:
It's.. the best she can hope for under the circumstances.

Again, she brushes her thumbs along his cheeks, trailing through the tears, wiping them away.

"Thank-you Matthew. For making this easier for me."