𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗 - the threat

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"𝐉𝐄𝐒𝐔𝐒 𝐋𝐈𝐕, 𝐇𝐎𝐖 hard did you hit him?" Luke asked the Hale as he heaved Danny over his shoulder, carrying him like a sack of potatoes.

"I don't know? Hard?"

"Clearly, he's bruising already."

"What a shame."

Jess rolled her eyes as she moved forward. "Okay you two, shut up."

"Suck my dick, Jessica Jones."

"Get it out."

"You wish."

Luke chuckled as he listened to his girls, struggling to contain his laugh when he heard the crumbling of debris falling from the walls as the two 'Grown women' shoved each other as they made their way through the building to wherever Matt and Stick had run off to.

Olivia sniffed as she combed a hand through her now frizzy hair that was littered with dust and parts of the wall she had been slammed into and quickly increased her pace, staring at Danny's unconscious face that was bobbing along with each of Lukes heavy steps. The large man was right; on the right side of Danny's face a large purple and blue bruise had begun to show, erupting from the swollen lump and cut on his face where her fist had landed and spread out like a wildfire.

The woman chuckled, a smirk forming on her slightly chapped lips.

Jessica turned her head back, raising a brow at her friend. "What're you laughing at?"

"Luke's right. He's gonna feel that when he wakes up."

"Good, asshole deserves it."

Luke twisted his head to glance between the two, before a smile slowly formed on his face. "Yeah... Yeah, he did."

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After having to listen to a very awkward conversation between Jess and Luke about how they had missed each other and should have visited each other Olivia blew out a small breath of relief when they had finally made it through the building and into a room where Matt and Stick were busy setting up the chair and ropes that would keep Danny confined, when he decided to wake, that is.

Olivia and Jess stood back as Luke carefully placed Danny onto the chair, Matt and Stick proceeding to cover the boy in tight ropes. Olivia cocked her head at Luke, he was such a gentle giant and she could definitely tell that he, out of all of them, had taken quite a liking to Danny and vice versa. Back when they were all arguing, she caught sight of the boy's eyes glancing towards Luke every now and then as if he were expecting the man to be on his side.

"You think that'll hold?" Matt questioned his former teacher as he pushed himself up, dusting off his knees.

The old man nodded as he felt his work. "Well, it's a constrictor knot. Harder he pulls, harder it cinches. Rope's not your concern."

"I'm gonna assume it's his fist."

The Hale woman bit her lip as Matt's head twitched in their direction after Jessica rolled her eyes and muttered 'Obviously' under her breath. Clearly the P.I was still only used to the wolf being able to hear her mutterings and even then, it had taken Jess months to get into the habit of keeping comments to herself unless she wanted the Hale to hear. Oftentimes, it resulted in the P.I turning into an absolute child; muttering insults under her breath just to get her partner in crime to crack, and she did, too many times to count.

"How long do we have?" Luke piped up, breaking the wolf out of her trip down memory lane.

Olivia tilted her head as she shoved her hands into her pockets and glossed her eyes over Danny's face. "Probably another hour."

Stick nodded towards the girl. "Sounds about right, by the swelling on his face anyway." Olivia cleared her throat as her lips curled in amusement.

Jessica pushed herself off of the wall she had been leaning against and adjusted her gloves. "We need to figure out what he's the key to."

"Their headquarters is Midland Circle."

"Yeah, we know."

Stick's head remained facing forward as he addressed his former student. "Matty, you ever go back to that place?"

Olivia frowned as she brought her hands out of her pockets, a gum wrapper falling to the floor as she crossed her arms. "You've been there before?"

"Yeah." The vigilante sighed as he shifted on his feet. "Um, last year, when I was investigating the Hand, the, uh, trail led me to a construction site, which is now Midland Circle. Uh, there was a hole there. Hundreds of feet deep."

"A massive hole in the middle of New York, why not? Was there anything at the bottom?"

"I don't think so. I kept tabs on it. Once the building was finished, my sense was the hole was gone."

"You sure?" Stick questioned as he stepped closer to Matt who sighed.

"I'm not sure of anything anymore."

Olivia nodded slowly as her gaze flickered between the blind men before raising a brow. "Okay, how about this; why didn't you tell us?"

"It wasn't important Oli-"

"Nope, try again." The Hale shook her head as she stepped forward, their faces a few inches apart. "Why didn't you tell us."

Olivia cleared her throat as the man stammered, his words failing him. As she listened, she could hear his heart beating slightly faster than it had been.

"I was with Elektra." He finally clarified causing the wolf to roll her eyes with a small scoff. "It was a mistake not telling you guys about her. I realize that-"

"Listen very closely to my heart, Matthew," Olivia spoke lowly, her voice almost lowering to a growl. "The next time you leave out anything that affects them-" The wolf pointed behind her to Jessica and Luke who were waiting for the threat to come. "-I will tear your throat out."

Matt chuckled; his left eye twitching as he did, in fact, listen to her steady heart. "Well, neither of you are exactly open books, Olivia."

"You're joking?"

"Not at all, we don't know anything about you, you just show up-"

"After saving Luke, you assho- You know what, no, we don't have time for this. Our-" She gestured to herself, Jessica and Luke. "-Pasts aren't trying to kill everyone and have absolutely nothing to do with this. We need more answers. Now."

"Wolf's right." Stick hummed. "Perhaps it's time to go back to Midland Circle."

"We barely made it out alive last time, and they're gonna be waiting for us." Jessica countered.

Olivia sighed as she pushed her hair back in frustration, she was right; there was no way in hell that they would be able to go back and get in without being able to taste their own deaths. Her eyes averted to Danny.

"Well..." The Hale began, attracting all attention to herself. "We need to find whatever Danny opens... So, how do we do that?"

Jessica shrugged before blinking as a thought came to her; "The architect? My client's husband." She then glanced at Matt as a spark of animosity laced her words. "The one your ex tried to kill. He designed the place."

"You think he knows how Danny's involved in this?"

"Worth a shot, right?"

Olivia nodded, she couldn't argue there, it was all they had so they might as well make use of it.

Luke stepped forward as he looked between the girls and Matt. "Well, you three go ahead."

Jessica sighed, the thought of having to deal with the Devil of Hell's Kitchen making her regret ever leaving the house that morning, though, at least she had Olivia; the two acted like an old married couple, arguing and bickering about everything, but at least it was entertaining. "What about you?" She directed to Luke.

"Somebody's gotta stay and watch him." The man spoke as he walked towards Danny. "Preferably someone who can take a punch." He turned to throw a teasing smirk towards Olivia who quirked a brow as she placed her hands in her pockets. "And someone who won't punch him just for talking."

Olivia opened her mouth to argue, before clamping it shut at the man's look. "Okay, for the record, both of us would do that." She gestured between herself and her now smirking P.I.

Said woman nodded without hesitation as she pointed to the wolf. "Can't argue with that."

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"Listen-" Matt began as he fell in line with the wolf, ignoring Jessica's small groan at the silence being broken. "-I, I know I shouldn't have kept stuff from you guys, but-"

Olivia sighed as she pulled her coat tighter when a gust of wind brushed by before interrupting him. "There are things that you don't want people to know, I get that, I do. But when it comes down to putting people in danger for the sake of keeping an old memory buried, it's not okay."

"I know."

"Good, because if you do it again, I will follow through with my threat."

The Devil huffed out a laugh as he nodded and thought back to the sound of her heart when she had originally made the threat. "I believe you."

"It was a full moon after all." Jessica drawled out with an amused smirk.

Olivia rolled her eyes as she lifted her head to eye the moon that had almost been entirely replaced by the sun, no wonder she felt so tired. In all honesty, she adored the night, she adored the moon, but she did not enjoy the instincts that a full moon awakened within her every month. The urge to punch almost anything, it drained her.

"So, what's with that?" Matt questioned as he tilted his head in genuine interest. All tales of werewolves depicted that they transformed into monstrous beasts with every full moon, and yet here she was, pulling her coat close every time a cold breeze blew past them and bickering with Jess like a five-year-old; hardly the ferocious beast most would picture.

Olivia flickered her eyes across his face, her lips twitching as she saw the intrigue written on his features before facing forward again and biting the inside of her cheek. "Well, werewolves are influenced by the full moon, just not in the way that most people think. I don't turn into some giant, fuzzy and bloodthirsty dog. Not completely, anyway."

Matt nodded as he listened, gesturing for the girl to continue. "Our powers come from the moon, a full moon heightens our senses and emotions, therefore making them harder to control... Which can lead to some messy situations."

"You seem to be doing okay."

The wolf chuckled lightly, as Jess snorted. "I was born a werewolf, not bitten and turned. Born wolves tend to have an easier time, though I did struggle more than the rest of my family when it came to control when I was younger, every now and then I can... Snap, I guess."

"Like with Danny." Jessica offered, knowing that normally the girl wouldn't have hit the boy so hard, just enough to send him out, not to almost give him a concussion.

"Yeah... He pissed me off, my emotions spiked and I punched."

Matt nodded as he digested the information, he couldn't say he wasn't interested in finding out more, after all, until just hours ago if someone had told him werewolves were real, he'd be inclined to disagree, even if they did have a steady heart.

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The trio had finally made their way to Matt's place, taking his preferred entrance; up the fire escape and through the window, the girls groaning as they did.

He had since disappeared into what the girls assumed to be his bedroom to finally discard his Devil costume in favor of a clean suit, thank God. Olivia was honestly struggling not to comment on it and she could tell by the looks Jess gave him, that she had been struggling to hold her own tongue.

As he was doing so, the girls took a moment to look around; his place was huge, admittedly the walls were gross and he didn't have much furniture, but then again, he was blind and from what Jess had mentioned; an amateur lawyer so they couldn't exactly blame him. It did the job at least.

To be honest, as she looked around, Olivia couldn't help but think with a nice coat of paint and some matching décor, the place would be amazing, though she couldn't exactly judge; she had lived in a charred and barely standing house for about a year before moving into the apartment block Derek had brought, which to be honest, didn't look much different to what she was currently seeing.

Her room at Jess's wasn't much better either, plain white walls with a few chips and scratches here and there from the many break in's and spontaneous fights. A double bed in the middle, the wall behind it rather damaged from late-night... Escapades? Other than that, she had a mirror and a closet which was pointless as most f her clothes were decorating the wooden flooring, boring, but it did the job seeing as she was out with Jess almost all of the time.

In all honesty, the Hale should probably move out, she had money, a lot of money, the one perk of a dead, rich family she supposed.

As the wolf moved over to the windows she stopped, every time she moved, a mild metallic scent made its way to her nose; clearly the Devil of Hell's Kitchen had almost bled out many, many times.

"So-" The wolf's attention snapped to Jessica as the P.I spoke, she too was taking her time to scan Matt's home with her ever-critical investigative eye. "You wanna tell us how a pro bono lawyer can afford a loft like this in New York City?"

"You can't tell now, but there's a neon billboard across the street. Keeps most people up at night... not me."

"Got it."

Olivia's eyes trailed to the doorway of Matt's bedroom as she heard his steps draw closer. She slowly unwrapped a piece of gum and popped it into her mouth, tossing a stick to Jess who caught it with a nod and copied her friend's actions.

"Plus, I occasionally help the landlord out." He continued, breaking the girls from their silent conversation. "Not proud of it, but I put on the suit and rough up people late on rent"

Olivia laughed after she popped her minty bubble. "You know, if I couldn't hear your heartbeat, I'd probably believe you."

Matt chuckled as he set down his Devil suit on the couch, inhaling the scent of the gum as much as he could after a night of sweat and blood. "You think that low of me?"

"Absolutely."

He ducked his head with another chuckle, grabbing his suit jacket and sliding it on. "Sorry about the mess."

Jessica sighed as she took in the loft. "It's all right. You should see our place."

"You live together?"

"She-" Jessica pointed to Olivia who had retreated to the kitchen to throw her already gross and slightly hardened gum into the trash. "-Was living in a hotel, says she was looking for a place to buy, but never got around to it."

The Hale hummed. "Uh-huh, then I met this asshole, started helping her on her cases and crashing on her couch. She eventually just told me to move in, so you can imagine what the place looks like with the both of us living there."

"I actually dread to think." He chuckled, honestly, he did.

Olivia bit her lip in amusement as his heart actually remained steady before her eyes landed on some papers strewn across his table. "Do you work from home?"

Matt's expression sobered, his smile falling into a straight line as his eyes were relieved of their mirth. "I used to have a partner. We had an office."

Jessica rose a brow, her green eyes narrowed as they followed Matt's movement. "And?"

"Now we don't... You ready?"

Olivia frowned, the mention of his former partner had shifted the conversation and his tone entirely. Perhaps this 'Partner' didn't agree with his... extra-curricular activities, that is, if they knew about them. Then again, how the hell does one man patrol Hell's Kitchen, beat people up, get his own ass handed to him rather frequently and still managed to be a pristine lawyer.

Scott couldn't even fight a kanima and achieve a 'C-' in math.

She was snapped out of her thoughts as Jessica spoke: "Everything okay?"

Matt, who had been flicking through a bible with a confused frown, quickly sobered. "Yeah. Uh, yeah."

Olivia furrowed her brows as his heart rate increase slightly, he was lying, though she didn't quite see the point in questioning it, after all, what answers could the bible offer them in such a situation, then again, she had never picked up a bible in her life, so what did she know?

Matt's head turned to the wolf's direction as if waiting for her to call him out. He released a small, thankful breath as the woman brushed past him and handed him the cane that had been sitting near the door.

He took it in his hands, giving the brunette a nod in appreciation and moved towards the door, opening it and allowing the girls out before him. "Let's go."

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19-04-2020