Matt groaned as he came to, the first thing he felt being a chilly sensation. He came to realize that he was chilled to the bone, as well as soaking wet. Did he manage to glitch outside or something? He hadn't remembered it raining though...

Pushing himself up into a sitting position, he grunted with effort, finding his body ached all over.

"S-Sir? Are you alright?" A gruff voice asked him from his right, seeming to hesitate about coming too close. "You were fine a moment ago and then you just... collapsed-"

He could hear five heartbeats he didn't recognize standing nearby. Three in front of him and two on either side.

Sir? Matt coughed lightly, feeling very, very off. He didn't recognize any of the heartbeats around him, nor the voice that spoke to him. Wherever he was, he wasn't at the tower anymore. "Where am I?" Maybe these guys could clue him in as to what happened.

"W-What? You're-" The two glanced at each other. "Above Josie's, sir." He answered. He seemed to be tiptoeing around Matt as if he was scared he'd snap at him.

"H-Here, sir- You dropped this-" He felt the end of his cane be cautiously pressed into his hand.

It certainly felt like his cane but... off somehow... And he didn't have it with him at all.

Okay, that solidified that. He definitely wasn't in the right place. Not only did these guys seem freaked out by him, but he wasn't even in the suit. "Oh. Thanks." He took the cane and pushed himself up. Whoever these guys were, something was up. His body was still wracked with aches from the glitching, but he needed to figure this out. "Say, I think I must've hit my head on the way down. Mind running me through what we were doing?" Fake it till you make it.

They glanced at each other again. "You were trying to get information outta this reporter scum." One answered.

Matt could hear the said reporter's heart beating hard and fast as she panted for breath. She was being held by the other two men, on her knees. She was watching him closely and fearfully. He could smell the iron coming from her and now that he smelt the iron he realized there was some on the bottom part of his cane as well.

A lot, actually.

And to make things worse, he recognized that heartbeat even with the slight difference.

Matt felt sick, the sudden realization hitting him like a slap to the face. No. Nope. This must've been some sort of nightmare. He wouldn't- He'd never hurt her. He could feel himself pale, and he struggled to come up with some way to remedy this.

If he acted like he belonged here, maybe they'd believe him and do what he said, right? "I seemed to have a realization after that fall. We don't need her anymore. Go ahead and let her go." God, he prayed that would work.

They all looked at each other and he could sense the shock from her as well.

"A-Are you sure, sir? Y-you really want to let her go? After all the trouble she's brought you?" They asked, hesitantly.

He had to pick up little cues to make his next moves very, very carefully. "It wouldn't hurt to have a reporter working under us. So let her go."

They let her go despite still being unsure and she dropped to her hands, panting heavily and quickly looking up at him, confusion and fear in her eyes.

"W-Why? Why are you doing this?" Her voice finally asked. It was shaking and quiet and it hurt him to hear her so scared.

Scared of him.

Once again he had the urge to be sick. He had never, ever wanted to hear her be so scared. So scared and bleeding, because of him. "Give us a minute boys. I want to have a little chat with her."

He bent down next to her, trying to hide the pain in his leg as best as he could.

They hesitated again but disappeared into the stairwell to head downstairs.

She watched them go, with confusion before turning back to him, her eyes searching his face but only being met with the cold reflection of his glasses and soaking wet red hair. He could hear her heart still racing. "W-What do you want with me?"

Matt waited until the men were out of earshot before putting a hand on her shoulder. "Do me a favor. Get out of here. Keep doing whatever you're doing. Publish all of this, I don't care, but do it fast and get out of town."

She stared at him in shock. "W-What?" She asked in disbelief. "I-I- what???"

Matt frowned. Whoever this version of him was, he was awful. "Go. Before I change my mind."

She pushed to her feet, shaking a bit as she stepped away from him and spotting the fire escape and quickly moved to go after it, her footsteps splashing in the puddles.

Matt listened to her god and went to stand up. He tried to get a grasp on what had happened, only for a strong glitch to send him straight back to his knees. He let out a small shout, wrapping his arms around himself as he waited for the glitches to subside.

Karen heard him cry out in pain, and despite everything telling her to GO- She stopped and turned to him, her eyes widening when she saw the glitches. She hesitated, glancing at the fire escape and back at him then at the stairwell door before grabbing a thick plank of wood that was laying in a small pile on the roof and barring the door closed. She knew he probably alerted them and she needed to stall them. She started to head back to the fire escape, casting him another look.

The glitches continued for a couple minutes, before slowly letting up. Enough that he could breath at least. He heard her still hesitate, and groaned out another "Go!" His voice was hoarse, and he rolled onto his back to try and steady himself.

She started to but stopped when she noticed the glitches started making him look different.

Very different.

Her eyes widened as she watched his red hair become a dark chocolate brown and his red suit disappear for a much more casual outfit.

"What the hell?" She muttered in confusion before hearing banging on the door. She glanced at him then the door and she sprinted over to him and helped him up, grabbing the cane too. "Come on-" She was trying to get him to come with her to the fire escape.

Matt slung an arm around her, getting really tired of those damned glitches. He panted lightly, just glad the bodyguards, or whoever those guys were, left before all of this happened. He did not predict it ending happily for him if they saw that. "You should go- They're trying to get up here-"

"And leave you to get torn in half by those brutes?" She shook her head. "Not a chance." She got them to the fire escape and started to help him down when they heard the wood start to crack. "Shit!" She swore loudly and pulled him along behind her, heading down quickly but trying to make sure he could keep up.

Leave it to Karen to be just as kind in another universe. The fact that she was a constant good, and his variant was a bad guy... It made him uneasy. Matt tried to move faster, knowing she wouldn't leave him behind if she was anything like his Karen.

She dragged him down the stairwell but one of them caught up and grabbed at Matt, only to have his arm sliced by the cane when Karen swung it at him. She pulled Matt down the rest of the fire escape and down the street, knowing they were still being pursued.

Matt was unfamiliar with this city. It was still Hell's Kitchen, but it wasn't his Hell's Kitchen. He wondered why Karen was helping him, when it very well could've been a trap. "You'd go a lot faster without me-"

"Yeah, well- consider us even." She replied, still dragging him along. "You aren't him. I know you aren't. He never would have done that."

Matt couldn't help but break a small smile at that. That was very characteristic of Karen, to be so intuitive like that. "Well, thank you."

"Thank me when we don't have four gorillas chasing us down." She let a small smile tug at her lips too before pulling him into a small alleyway and pressing against the wall, watching them run by and disappear around the corner looking for them.

She sighed in relief and turned to him. "Alright... now that we can breathe for a bit... Who the hell are you and how the hell did you get here??"

Matt held his breath, hearing the four men pass them by. He waited a little after that too, for good measure. Once he deemed it safe to speak, he relaxed and turned his head towards her. "Believe it or not, I'm still Matthew Murdock."

He figured since this wasn't his universe, it wouldn't hurt to tell the truth. "As for how I got here? No idea. Last I remember, I was almost.. glitching? Pretty badly too."

"Is that what was happening when I was leaving? It looked pretty bad..." She replied, crossing her arms. But... he's still Matthew Murdock?

How the hell did that work?? They look and act nothing alike!

"It feels pretty bad." Matt told her, and just like clockwork, another glitch happened. It was less painful than the previous one, but it definitely wasn't fun. He leaned back against the wall, squeezing his eyes shut as he waited.

Karen took a small step back, watching fearfully as he did. She wasn't sure how to help- "I-Is there anyway I can help?" She asked him, shifting a bit on her feet.

Matt gritted his teeth and shook his head, waiting until the glitches subsided to answer. "No, no. It's something you just have to grit and bear-"

"Are you sure??" She was clearly nervous watching it happen. "Nothing?"

Matt let out a shaky breath, waiting a few seconds to make sure the wave had lessened. "Yeah, I'm sure. I was dealing with this back where I came from, before getting sent here."

"What... What causes it?" She asked. "Is it able to be stopped?"

"Destabilization. I'm not supposed to be here so it's going off, and there's a whole story as to why it was happening back home." Matt replied tiredly.

"Geez... It sounds like it could kill you if you stay here..." she noted with a frown.

"Which is why I'm counting on one of my colleagues to get me back." Matt hadn't the first idea on how to get back. "How bad is your world's Matthew Murdock? Because if I'm here..."

She let out a nervous chuckle. "Well... without his cane it might be a bit easier to handle him but..." She sighed. "He is nothing like you." She replied, brushing her bangs out of her face. "He... Not many realize this but... Wilson Fisk may be the face of Kingpin, but Murdock is the one pulling the strings..." She rubbed her hand lightly over her shoulder where there was a slash that was still bleeding. "And he's very willing to get his hands dirty."

Matt frowned. If that Matt was in his world... His heart spiked. The last thing he remembered was being with Claire. If that version of him tried to hurt her, and he couldn't stop him- He began to panic. Dammit Tony you'd better figure this out!

Karen put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, hey- Take a deep breath." She told him, noticing him start to panic.

"I was just with her- If he's there with her-" He spoke in short-breathed spouts. He tried to force himself to breathe.

"Hey, breathe." She tried to calm him down. "With who?"

"Claire. I was just with her." She was so good. How would she be able to tell right off the bat that the man in front of her wasn't him?

"Who's-" She shook her head. "Never mind. Let's just get you out of here. You look like you're about to pass out." Karen helped him out of the alleyway and flagged down a cab, helping him inside.

Matt slid into the cab, finding that he was slowly winding down. He still was stressed out of his mind, concerned for everyone back home, but less so now.

Karen gave him an address and leaned back in the seat. She looked out the window as they rode, her mind racing with everything that had happened in the past few hours...

"Where are we headed now?" Matt asked quietly, listening to the sounds of the city. It was almost darker there, and the sounds of sirens could be heard in the distance.

"Well... you need a place to stay until you can go home, right? I don't really have a place to offer but I can get you a hotel room." She explained.

"You really don't have to do all of this. If we switch back, and you're here, I can't promise he'll react too kindly." Matt told her, worried for this world's Karen as if she was from his world.

She gave a small shrug. "I don't have to stay." She replied. "But I figured you'd rather have a safe place to crash than out in the rain."

"Thank you. That's very kind." Matt told her. He was quiet, exhausted from everything. The glitching, the talking, the traveling to another universe.. everything.

"I mean, whether you meant to or not, saved my life. It's the least I can do." She replied as they pulled up to the hotel and she helped him out and got him a room, leading him to it and guiding him inside. "Here," She let him take a seat in one of the chairs and set the key on the table. She disappeared for a minute and returned with two towels and offered him one.

Matt was grateful for the somewhat normal interactions in those short minutes. It reminded him of times before all of this had happened. Before Kasey, before the whole Daredevil thing even. He took his seat and accepted the towel. If anything, he was desperate to rid himself of the blood that had been on him.

Karen took a deep breath as she dried off. "So... if you're not part of Kingpin's crew, then what do you do?" She asked after a minute.

"Interestingly enough, I've fought against Kingpin on a few occasions." Matt started, running the towel across his clothes and exposed skin. He hated the feeling of the blood drying on him. "I take down corruption happening in my city."

She blinked in surprise. "You... fight against him?" She repeated in disbelief. "And you're still alive?"

"Years of training certainly helps. But his influence is everywhere. It's hard to take down one but without another rearing its ugly head shortly after." He sighed out.

"Yeah... That's kinda how it felt when Fisk was put away and he took over..." She sighed and looked at the cane in her hand before very carefully pulling the katana out of it. "He carries this with him everywhere... his cane is designed to carry it and have quick access if he can't just pull it out..."

"That's.. terrifying." That must've been what she had been cut from earlier. "Do me a favor. Do everything I told you to earlier, and take that thing with you." He asked her.

She looked up at him in surprise then back down at the cane. "I-..." She seemed hesitant. If you saw Murdock walking around, you always saw this cane with him. "What if he comes after it?" She asked.

"He can't have it. Get rid of it if you must." Matt told her, but reined himself back in. "But if you aren't comfortable with that, I can't force you to."

She hesitated but nodded. "I'll... I'll try." She replied, putting it back in its sheath. She brushed her hair back again. "I should probably... probably get on that then, huh?" She asked with a wiry smile.

Matt smiled and nodded. "You should. I don't want you to get stuck here w-when-" He glitched, his words becoming jumbled. This one was different, almost like a reversal as opposed to the usual glitching. It didn't stop his breath being sucked out of him.

Karen's eyes widened. "Matt?!" She started to step forward when she realized that she needed to go. Now. "T-Thank you." She told him, feeling bad that she had to leave him like this but fled the room and out of the hotel with the cane held in her arms.

Matt heard her leave, thankfully, and stood up, forcing himself over to the door. He stumbled and struggled, locking every bolt on that hotel door. It wouldn't do much to stop the other Matt, but hopefully enough to stall him. Once he was done he flinched again and cried out, sliding down the door to the floor. He was utterly and entirely alone.