Matt had resorted to following her heartbeat, even though it made him highly uncomfortable. He hadn't planned for her to just slip into the crowd like that, he'd have to warn her not to do that once he found her. Hearing her voice, he headed in that direction, only for her to be gone when he got there.

"Next time I'm telling her no to the farmers market." Matt let out an exasperated sigh, before stopping short and freezing. He heard a cry, and he heard scuffling nearby. He dropped the groceries, hurrying towards the area where he heard the cry. His heart pounded against his chest, knowing exactly who that cry belonged to.

The men had taken Kasey through the thin alleyway, through a wooden gate that they shut behind them, into a larger space with the only real exit being the alleyway. They opened one of the building's doors, ones that led to the cellar and brought her inside and restrained her while they scurried to get into their positions to wait.

Matt bolted into the alleyway, finding it empty. He cursed himself lightly, the multitude of thoughts running through his mind. He didn't know who was after her, but he'd find them. He tossed his cane into an open dumpster and took off, trying to open any of the doors in the alleyway.

None of them seemed to be opening so far as he made his way through the alleyway until he got to a cul-de-sac with only two entries to the buildings back there. One a cellar door and the other just into the building.

Matt hesitated at the two doors, deciding between which one would go the easiest. He went for the cellar door, thinking he might be able to play this more covertly, both to not out his identity and possibly get Kasey hurt. Maybe he'd even listen in on their plans, before deciding his next course of action.

As he carefully entered, he heard multiple voices talking quietly.

"She sure put up a fight, huh?" One.

"Yeah, just about knocked one of us unconscious. Who knew a blind kid would have that much fight in them?" Two.

"Do you really think this'll work?" Three.

"It better or we're gonna be in trouble." Four.

"Hey, have you guys realized the girl we snatched fits the description of the one the other guys are lookin' for?" Five.

"Huh?" Six.

"I mean, a female teenager with blond hair and blind?? Seems pretty spot on-" Five again.

"Huh. You're right... Maybe we should give em a call after this?" Two.

"Why wait? Have them come help out." Four.

"That's a fair point. I'll give em a call." Two walked off to make the call.

Matt cursed under his breath. There were a lot of them in there, and when they made that call, more were sure to come. He slipped back out of the building, scaling up the alley walls, using the pipes and chips in the brick to aid him.

If he went by the rooftops, it'd be quicker for him to get back to the apartment, get his suit, and come back. Otherwise he imagined getting hurt without his suit wouldn't help Kasey any.

He took off across the rooftops, having traversed this area many times, towards his apartment. He rolled onto his apartment rooftop, going in through the roof access. It didn't take him long to get suited up and back out into the city.

Kasey was starting to come back to her senses, fading between awake and not repeatedly, only catching snippets of conversation from her spot in the corner. She felt the cold, tight wires wrapped around her wrists behind her back and around her ankles. She kept drifting on and off, unable to stay awake or process her surroundings with the drugs in her system.

The men had made the call and more were on the way to assist and those already there got into their positions, waiting to see if the Devil took the bait.

Matt once again found his way to the cellar door, going inside once he found an opening to. He crept inside the building, keeping a low profile. His sense of smell caught a whiff of a tiny electrical burn, which led him to a breaker box. How convenient. He broke the box open, flipping all of the switches to off.

The men were startled when the lights went out and looked around. "Generator!" One of them called out. After all, this trick wasn't uncommon with him and they prepared for this. The whirl of the generator started up and dim lights filled the room but it was better than the darkness from a moment ago. They were tense and ready, listening closely for any sign of him.

Kasey stirred again when she heard the yelling and the noise of the generator and pried her eyes open. Her senses were still muddled and she was really out of it but she managed to keep her eyes open this time.

Matt frowned, but figured he should've realized they'd have a backup plan. He'd take what he could get, however, and continued towards the steps up into the building.

They were all waiting and watching every possible entrance, ready to fight the moment he showed up.

Matt hesitated near the top of the stairs, counting the heartbeats in the building. There were many of them, but he believed he'd be able to handle it if he took them down one by one. He stuck to his plan, sneaking up the stairs and jumping behind a structure pillar.

He waited for one of the enemies to move and struck out, snagging the man and dragging him behind the pillar after knocking him out.

The man tried to cry out but was muffled and knocked out. The other men looked around, guns at the ready. They did their best to keep quiet to try to locate him. Kasey could only listen and try to piece together what was going on.

Matt placed the man down silently, slipping off again to take down the next person. This time he upped his game, and attacked two men that were together. He came up behind them, smacking their heads together.

They cried out, alerting some of the others who moved to try to catch a glimpse of him and fire at him, the gun fire ringing through the space, startling Kasey who flinched away and curled up on herself.

Matt dived back into the shadows, truly starting to get to work. Since the enemy knew he was here now, he had to work quickly. He dodged and ducked, sprinting out to attack the nearest enemy and render them unconscious. It was only expected that he received wounds of his own while fighting.

Kasey had curled in on herself tightly, whimpering at the constant noise bouncing around the space now. It was so loud and she couldn't figure out what was happening-

The men kept trying to get hits in on him and tried to keep their distance but it was hard with how fast he moved.

Matt heard the whimper and hesitated, allowing the current man he was fighting to land a solid hit. Matt tumbled backwards, his breath knocked out of him. A couple more hits to his chest and he was back up again, powering his way through the crowd of men.

The men struggled with him, doing their best to fight back. Whether they were actually trying or were stalling him wasn't really clear as they were doing a bit of both.

Kasey heard them fighting, the gun fire and yelling and it was all just so much. She tried to cover her ears but her hands restrained behind her back with wire wouldn't let her.

Matt continued fighting, determined to get to Kasey. If what he believed about her was right, he wouldn't let her be here a minute more than was necessary.

They were quickly dwindling in numbers until Matt knocked the last one clean out. The only noise left in the room was their breathing and heart beats alongside Kasey's, and the generator.

Kasey let out a small whimper still unsure of who exactly was there and what was happening. Everything was still so loud. Her heartbeat was still a bit more subdued with the drugs in her system but was slowly working its way to normal. She was pressed up in the corner, as tight as she could be, curled up in an attempt to protect herself.

Matt took a small breather, searching out Kasey's heartbeat among the slow beating of the unconscious men. He found his way to her, beginning to speak slowly so as to not startle her. He didn't know if it would work, but he lowered his tone to make his voice seem deeper. "Kasey, our mutual friend reached out and told me you were in trouble, are you alright?"

Kasey flinched at his voice, letting out another small whimper.

Loud. Too loud. Everything was loud and echoing and-

She didn't process what he said, just staying curled up, trying to pull her wrists free but cried a little when the wire cut into her skin.

"Come on, I need you to move with me, so we can get you out of here." Matt spoke, trying to calm her down enough to get her out of there. He knew more people would be coming, so he was anxious to get out.

She very slowly looked up, trying to focus on his voice before realizing that it must be Daredevil seeing as he was trying to help. She gave a slow hesitant nod and shifted carefully. She couldn't move since she was still bound and finally spoke up, wincing as she did. "C-Can't move... hands and feet are bound..." She explained. "Wire, I think."

Matt reached down, feeling cautiously for the wires around her appendages. Once he found the wires he found the ends, swiftly undoing them and tossing them to the side. He took a step back and held his hand out for her to take.

Kasey carefully stood up and found his hand and stepped towards him. Her wrists hurt and she still felt a bit off with the drugs wearing off in her system but she was moving. "T-Thank you..."

Matt noticed she was a bit off, assuming they had done something like drug her. Otherwise, he would've thought she'd have fought against them more. "C'mon, I came in through a cellar door and we can leave the same way. I'll take you back to his place and I'll go find him. He's out looking for you still."

She gave a slight nod at that. "O-Okay..." She stumbled a bit, her legs protesting moving. "D-Didn't mean to wander off..." She mumbled softly.

"It wasn't your fault." Matt consoled her, looping one of his arms under one of hers to help her stand. He headed for the basement stairs so they could get out of there.

She did her best to walk quickly alongside him, trusting him to guide her. She didn't argue but she didn't agree either. Her entire body was sluggish and struggling to move to her commands.

Matt frowned, knowing he would have to return here after getting Kasey to safety. He couldn't let what happened to her happen to someone else. "We're almost out, just try to keep up."

"I'm trying...." she replied, mumbling. She kept stumbling over her feet and was struggling to stay awake again. She just tried to focus on his footsteps and keep moving.

Matt took the matter into his own hands, stopping only for a moment as he picked her up firefighter style. "Just relax, I'll get you out of here."

Kasey tensed a bit at first before relaxing and letting him carry her. It was much easier by all means. She started to let her head drop down to his shoulder when she hesitated for a moment. Confusion stirred in her tired and fuzzy brain. He... He smelled like Matt??

That made no sense to her and she just ended up deciding it was because they knew each other maybe?? And leaving it at that as she was in no shape to think straight. She let her head drop down and her body to fully relax in his hold. All she knew was that he was safe.

Matt carried her into the basement and over to the cellar door, pausing before heading outside. He tilted his head, listening for any movement outside the door. Once he knew it was safe enough to leave, he opened the cellar door and slipped into the alleyway with Kasey.

Kasey shivered a little when they stepped outside and reopened her eyes. She glanced around a little bit, wanting to try to help at least somewhat.

They were a bit into the long thin alleyway when Kaseys entire body tensed up. Her senses were screaming as she lifted her head but she couldn't pin what it was or where it was or when it was going to happen. "S-somethings wrong-" She mumbled quietly, trying to warn him. She tapped his arm, muttering quickly and quietly. "Put me down please-"

"I can't just put you down, I need to get you out of here." Matt argued, before realizing why she had suddenly become so on edge. He put her down quickly, pulling out his ecrisma sticks, preparing for any fight he may have to fight.

She stayed close, listening for anything as her senses screamed at her. "I- I can't tell what is..." She sounded scared. Her senses never got this loud unless it was potentially life threatening.

Matt stood still, before grabbing Kasey and shoving her behind a dumpster. "Snipers!" He shouted, ducking behind the dumpster with her. Jumping out from behind the hiding spot, he thrusted his arm out, sending his ecrisma stick flying into the head of one of the snipers, before catching it and dipping behind the dumpster once more.

She yipped when he shoved her but curled up behind the dumpster, listening to one of them drop to the rooftop, knocked out. Her heart was racing as she "looked" up at him. "What do we do?" She asked him. She couldn't help without her- Oh no.

She was suddenly pushing to her feet and past him, back towards the cellar doors. My backpack!!

Matt was planning to have her hideout until he took most of the snipers down, but- damn it! "Kasey!" He yelled, jumping out to race after her, or even to cover her back.

She was too focused on finding her backpack. Tony would kill her if she lost it!! She was almost to the cellar when her senses screamed loud, making her stop for a moment.

She became highly aware of her surroundings and whirled around to "see" Daredevil pursuing her but also the fuzzy highlight of a sniper aiming at them, about to pull the trigger.

Her eyes widened and she tried to reach out to him to pull him out of the way, warn him to dodge, something but the click of the trigger beat her to it.

Matt was preoccupied with chasing down Kasey, he hadn't been keeping an ear open for the other snipers. He heard the click and made a motion to dodge, only to move slightly, so the bullet missed its mark. He stumbled, sucking in a sharp breath as he felt a stabbing pain ricochet through his back.

As much as he wanted to get away from the building, the best option was to take cover inside until he could take out the snipers. "Go, go! We need to take cover." He didn't show any obvious signs to the bullet in his back, not until they were safe.

Kasey shuddered as her senses told her something had happened but when he told her to get inside, she hesitated briefly before turning and sprinting inside, hearing another sniper take a shot at them.

Matt once again started running after her, diving into the building upon hearing another trigger activate. The bullet smashed into the door frame, and Matt jumped up, shutting the door and slamming one of his sticks through it to make it difficult to open. He panted lightly, leaning against the wall and sliding down onto the floor.

"Kasey... Are you alright?"

Kasey was shaking but nodded at him. "Y-Yeah..." She confirmed before turning and "looking" around the space. "I-I'm sorry I bolted. I... I really need my backpack. I can't leave without it..." She explained as she moved a bit deeper inside, listening for any signs of other people.

Matt sort of blanked for a moment. "Your backpack..? That's why you ran out, under sniper fire?" As much as he cared for Kasey, he had to admit that was so, terribly stupid of her to do. "You're telling me I got shot in the back over a backpack??"

Kasey stopped from moving down the stairs, her eyes widening, as she turned to him. "Y-You-" He could hear the way her heart skipped a bit. "I-" She felt her chest tighten as she looked away. "I'm so sorry... I d-didn't mean for that to... I'm sorry." She apologized. "But you don't understand why I need it..." She tried to explain but wasn't sure she was ready to out herself that far.

Matt grumbled lightly, feeling the bullet budge in his back with every breath he took. At least any blood would blend in with the suit. "What could possibly be so important in that backpack that you risked your life for it?" He pressed, before pushing himself to stand up.

She hesitated at the bottom of the stairs, glancing back. "My... My eyes, for lack of a better term." She replied softly. "And the only thing that lets me feel like I'm actually free..." She chuckled faintly. "Basically the only things I have left that are important to me." She admitted before continuing a bit further into the room, trying to locate her backpack.

Matt didn't quite understand what she was getting at, but it sounded important to her. He followed after her, focusing his energy into his left side, and his right side was engulfed in searing pain from the wound. Not that he would admit it.

Kasey scoured the downstairs, staying quiet as she listened to people run around above them and shouting from both inside and out. She growled in frustration when she didn't find it and lightly punched the wall in anger. "It's not down here." She told him, her tone frustrated.

Matt leaned against one of the basement walls, the cool concrete feeling somewhat nice. "Do you remember having it near you when you woke up?" He asked. Maybe then he could help her to search around the area he found her at.

She furrowed her eyebrows. "I... I think so?? Was that upstairs??" She asked, turning to him.

"Unfortunately. Should be right above us, if I remember the layout of the building correctly." Matt admitted, pausing to listen for how many opponents there were. "Might be difficult to get to it."

She sighed. "And you're injured... It's just gonna be harder now." She ran a hand through her hair. "I really hope they haven't poked through it..." She moved towards the stairwell to head upstairs or at least listen better.

Matt silently grumbled to himself, pushing off the wall to follow her upstairs. At this point he just needed to get her and her out of there. He wouldn't be able to fight to his full ability in his current condition.

Kasey looked at him, hesitating for a minute. She doubted this would work but... "You should stay here." She told him. "I'll get it, come back and we'll figure out how to get out."

"I can't let you do that-" He stepped forward, another pain shooting through his back. He cursed, wondering just what sort of bullets they had concocted to get through his armor so easily. "You're jumping straight back into the fire if you do."

Kasey gave him a look. "You're injured. If they shot through your armor then they might have smaller guns that can do that too! Trust me, I-" She stopped realizing the two times he had met her, she had very much not been able to handle herself. "I can handle myself..." But it sounded much less convincing.

"That was very convincing." He said sarcastically. Like hell he'd let her go off on her own into a group of people with guns that could hurt both of them. "We can try to sneak in to get your bag, but I do not want you getting into any fights."

"I know how to fight." She argued back. "Especially if I'm expecting one." She huffed. "You shouldn't even be moving if you were just shot..." she pointed out.

"Well I'm not going to sit back and watch a teenager fight for me. Plus, weren't you shot? You're moving pretty well for someone who was." Matt shot back, allowing himself to push these questions as Daredevil.

She flinched at that. "I-..." she huffed again. "We don't have time for this-" She replied, avoiding the question as she moved to listen for an opportunity to enter upstairs.

That was some blatant avoidance. Matt shook his end and crept behind her, listening for any voices or heartbeats. "I'm counting five nearest to us, more are probably coming."

"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised." She acknowledged before pushing the door open and sliding into the room, sticking close to the ground and wall.

Matt stuck close to the wall as well, careful not to accidentally brush his back against the wall. He refused to let her go into a fight alone.

She listened to them move around the room but finally detected her backpack, sitting on a table across the room. She started to move towards it, her footsteps light and quick, almost to the point that Matt couldn't hear them.

Matt stepped behind a support pillar, waiting and listening for Kasey. He wanted to make sure if anything happened he'd be able to jump in and get her out of there. For now, however, he'd wait.

She was able to get close and lunged out, snagged the bag and disappeared back around the corner. They heard their confusion and they started moving around to look for them.

They were getting close to Kasey and she had nowhere to go so she just clutched her bag, pressed into the corner and squeezed her eyes closed, bracing herself but listened as they walked right past her and reported nothing over there. W-What???

She opened her eyes again and very carefully moved back towards Matt, heart racing in confusion. She started to move a bit faster once out of the tight spot but somewhere in that process, they spotted her. "There!" They shot at her but they quickly were told to stop by the others.

She dropped and rolled over to Matt, getting back to her feet as if she'd done it hundreds of times before. "Time to go-"

Matt heard her heart speed up, then slow slightly, and then heard her take off towards him. He didn't know how she managed to get herself into so much trouble. "Back out the cellar door. Our main focus is to get you out of here." He jumped up and headed back for the stairwell.

She nodded and ran after him, wincing when she heard them running after them. She could hear more coming to their aid. As they moved back towards the cellar door, she stopped, hearing a lot of people outside waiting for them. Her heart picked up again as she clutched her backpack.

Matt skidded to a stop before the cellar door, cursing lightly to himself. If they hadn't gone back for that bag, they could've been out of there by now. "They're trying to surround us."

Kasey started to reply when she felt a massive spike in her senses making her shudder and tense up.

"I believe you mean that you have been surrounded." A male voice called back, their footsteps coming up behind them but staying a good ways away.

Matt heard the way Kasey's heart seemed to almost stop for a moment before pounding rapidly as if it'd just break out of her chest on its own. Her breathing grew sharp and shallow as well.

"So, you're the Devil of Hell's Kitchen, hmm?" He chuckled softly, just catching the slightest glimpse of the spot where he had been shot. "You seem more like a mortal like the rest of us to me."

Matt assumed that Kasey knew this man, but wouldn't comment anything to instigate a fight between them. He spun around and kept his back facing away from the man and his group, as to not show any weakness nor his wound. "I never said I was immortal. That wasn't my doing."

He heard the heartbeats and breathing of many, and anticipated a difficult fight. It was always hard trying to fight and protect someone at the same time.

He felt Kasey scoot closer to him, shaking as the man hummed. "Well, there are a lot of rumors about you and not much information." He pointed out. "But, that's not what I'm here for."

Kasey took a sharp inhale, pressing closer to his side, the backpack clutched tight in her hands.

"If you let us have her, my men will stand down. As for the one who took her? I have no say over them but it would considerably lower how many you'll have to fight." He told him, his arms tucked behind his back. "Or we can take her by force. Either way, she will be coming back home."

Kasey felt tears spill down her face as she shook as her body could only stand there, frozen in fear.

"Sorry, but I think you missed a third option." Matt spoke, pulling out his ecrisma sticks once more. "I beat you to a pulp and the cops lock you up for life." He threatened.

He stepped slightly in front of Kasey, shielding her somewhat from the group threatening them. It was in this position that she could see that the back of his suit seemed slick, where he had been losing blood steadily since he was shot.

Kasey's eyes widened when he moved in front of her and sensed the slight change to the suit and her eyes fell to her backpack. He wasn't going to be able to fight them all off and she knew they'd do their damn hardest to kill him. And they had the means to do it.

She quickly started to dig through her backpack, pulling out a bracelet and putting it on and took out a couple of other things. She slung the backpack on her back, pulled a strange pair of goggles over her eyes, and two devices attached to her arms.

The man took a step back. "So be it then."

And they opened fire.