54. Matt's way

Matt and I made it to Ray's house. We knew that they were going to kill him so we had to be there first. As we made it to the home, we were too late, we heard gunshots. We went to back, surprised the men attacking Ray and his family. I kicked one off the stairs and punched him as Matt grabbed one and tossed him down on the ground, knocking him out.

Another man came behind me, having me in a headlock, so I managed to kick myself up, twisting my legs around his head and twisting his neck. We heard more, getting their guns ready, Matt and I hid behind a pillar, waiting.

"Go." Matt whispers to me, so I tripped the guy, taking his gun in one swoop motion, then Matt smashed his head on the wall. We stood there, until one of the men got up, so I elbowed him in the face as Ray wack him with his gun. Ray pointed his gun at us, I smiled.

"Now now Ray." I tisked. "Dont point your gun at me, knowing youll lose that fight." Ray was scared, I understand, he has a family that he needs to protect and after these guys shooting at him and his family. "Thats no way to say thank you."

"I knew it, you're her." He manages to say. "The Red Widow."

"At your service." Matt puts his hands up, showing Ray that he wont hurt him.

"We are here to help you." Matt said to him.

"I sold you out to Fisk."

"I know you didn't want to."

"But I did. So maybe you're here because you wanna be the one that kills me before Fisk gets around to it." I laughed. He switched his gun off of Matt and pointed at me.

"Im not that bad Ray. I have reasons I kill."

"If we're get your family somewhere safe, you're gonna have to trust us."

"I cant trust anybody."

"Well, we trust you."

"Why do you think im standing right here, showing you who i am?" I got closer to him, his gun touching my chest.

"You saved her life tonight." Matt takes off his mask, revealing himself to Ray. "So I owe you one."

🕸️

We managed to take Ray and his family away from the home, Brett offered to take them in. Matt and I went to the block, did a lookout, just to be sure that it was safe for them. I held on Matts arm as we walked, him listening and me looking around. Everything was clear as we were in front of Mahoney's mothers house. we nodded at Foggy, calling it in. The car then pulls up, Ray, his wife and son all got out with Brett and got in the house.

"Ill wait here." I told Matt. "Just in case." Matt and Foggy nodded as they head inside. I sat in the steps, picking at my fingernails, looking around, being really conscious of everything. A few minutes passed and Foggy and Matt came out, talking to Ray about being a witness and testifying against Fisk. I got up, walking up the steps. Ray looks at me. "If you say one word about me in this trial-" Matt takes me back.

"He's not. You'll be fine." I crossed my arms and walked away, leaning against the black fence. I can hear Ray talk about how stubborn I was, making Matt laugh. "Shes not really stubborn. She doesn't want to come out as the Red Widow just yet."

"Shes helps a lot, tries to be better." Foggy adds on.

"She really wants to take down Fisk more than anyone for what he did to her father and her." I can feel the staring at me behind my back. "She doesn't want him to get away with it."

🕸️

As Foggy, Matt and Karen went to talk to Ray, i went to go meet up with Yelena, who was still hiding in New York. We met in a bar, sat in the back of it.

"Hows River?" I asked as we got our drinks.

"Wants to come back. Don't blame him, Alexei is with him, talking his head off." She scuffs. "Hes fine." I nodded my head, good. He's safe. "Natasha is with him too."

"Good, he needs all of them." I clapped my hands together.

"You're going to get Fisk, he is nothing compared to Dreykov." She held my hand. "You and your lawyer boyfriend got this."

"Vanessa is here." I showed her a photo of her getting off the car with Fisk.

"Plan to attack?"

"Not yet, soon. I promised Matt I wouldn't kill." Yelena gasps as she sits back. "Stop that."

"Matt's really changed you. Hes that good huh?" I rolled my eyes. "You never changed for a man. Eros-"

"Eros was different. We were too dangerous together." I sighed as I thought about him. He was bad news. "Gods knows where he is."

"HYDRA probably still has him after Barnes escaped." I looked at my watch. It was time for me to meet the others at the courthouse. "Devon...be careful." I nodded as I got up, leaving her and drove off. I did a quick search around the block before heading inside. It was clear.

"Oh thank god!" Foggy runs and hugs me as I entered the building. "You're not dead." He looks at me.

"Ouch, what happened to hi? Hello? How are you?" I pulled from the hug. I sat on the bench as we waited for Ray and Matt. Foggy kept looking at his watch. "Late?" He nods. "Traffic?"

"I hope so." Karen comes running in. She pants as she looks at us, making me huddle with them to talk.

"Theres been an attack. Some people got shot a few blocks from here." Another man, Blake Tower came up to us.

"They're locking down the building. I need to call my office." I wiped my sweaty hands against my pants, now getting nervous. They really want Ray dead and Matt with him and also Fisk wanting him dead, i didn't want to think about them being shot at.

"Hey, we're here." Matt calls out. My panic went away and I went straight to Matt, my body hitting his as I hugged him. He held onto me. "Im okay." He breathed deeply into my ear.

"What the hell happened?" Towers asked, making me pull away from Matt, stepping away from him.

"Fisk knows he's going to testify." How? Oh shut it Devon, Fisk always knows. As if you didn't work for him.

"Are you in any condition to?" Ray pants, catching his breath. He nods.

"Absolutely, yeah." They took him to the courtroom, now we wait. The four of us, Karen, Foggy, Matt and I stood in a circle.

"You all set?" Matt asked Karen.

"Yeah. Ellison really delivered."

"Is it just me or did our plan—" i turned to Foggy, placing my hands on his chest.

"Dont say it." Let us have this moment of victory for just one time.

"But it feels good right? The four of us working together and saving the...okay okay." Foggy rambles. Karens heads out. I quickly looked at Matt.

"Are you okay? Are you shot? Did you get hit?" I started to check him, Matt takes my hands, away from him. "Matt-"

"Im fine." He whispers. "Stop worrying about me." He still held my hand. "You worry too much about me."

"How can I?"

"Are you guys back together or?" We turned to him. We didn't say anything. We're we even together? We're we broken up? "I see theres some patchwork to work on, got you." We waited for a good hour until Towers and Ray got out. We stood up from the bench and met them at the door way.

"Okay. Your client was very convincing. Keep him here until the indictment comes in."

"Dont worry, we'll hold up our end." Foggy smiles.

"Good, im counting on it."

"You okay?" I coughed as I looked at Ray as Blake walked away. Ray, he looked so finished, so tired, so drained.

"For a guy who's about to send his family away and go to prison?" He sighs. "Yeah I guess so."

"You did good Ray."

"You heard everything through the wall, didn't you?" Of course he did. Its Matt. "You know thats kinda of creepy." Matt chuckles. "Did you talk to the jury beforehand? Threatening them?" He looks at me.

"Oh no, I didn't have time." I started to smile. The men stared at me. "What! Its a joke! Can I make a joke?" I crossed my arms. "Men."

"I heard a man standing up to Fisk. Your son will hear the same thing. And it'll mean a lot to him. I didn't know if we could get this done today, Ray, but we did. No...you did. So thank you." Ray showed a little smile.

"So what now?"

"Hopefully, you'll serve out your sentence in a minimum security prison. Can't be sure." I noticed that Matt tilted his head, he was listening. I frowned, letting him listen. Something was wrong. Matt repeated no. Shaking his head.

"Whats wrong? Matt?" I came behind him.

"The jurors. Fisk got to them." We all stood there in shock. That cant be. The passion of hating this man grew more. My hand went to a ball fist, nails digging through my palm, knuckles white. We were so close.

🕸️

We met up at the gym that Matts father used to box at, we were struck by bad news. Ray was shot dead. I sat on the table as Foggy was on the phone with Brett.

"Thanks Brett. Yeah okay." He hangs up and looks at us three. The silence was thick, you can feel the anger in the air. Matt snatches his coat off of the table and was going to head out.

"Matt, wait." I jumped off the table to go to him.

"No." He turns quickly, mad. It made me back up. "We tried it his way." He slams the door. I stood there, debating to stay or go.

"Devon, wait." Foggy reaches for me.

"I can't let him go down this road Foggy." Tears started to build up. I ran out to catch up with Matt, running past the people until I caught me. "Matt!" I pulled him into an alley.

"Devon don't. We tried, he killed Ray, Fisk can't keep doing this." He started to yell, out of frustration. She let him take it all out. "He killed Ray." He whispered.

"Im not letting you do this alone." I sighed. "Im coming with you. Just, don't kill anyone, please." I put my hands on his shoulders, calming him down.

"I cant keep that promise." The tone of his voice was different. It scared me a bit."Are you scared of me now?"

"No." I said softly, lying to him. "Im going with you."

"I don't want a babysitter."

"I wasn't asking you, im telling you."