956/Updates

Updates
Date of Scene:	03 April 2020
Location:	6C - Matt Murdock
Synopsis:	Matt and Elektra talk about the Hand and their future. Turns out ninjas are the easier thing to plan for.
Cast of Characters:	Matthew Murdock, Elektra Natchios

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Matthew Murdock has posed:
Daisy's program was still working on some of the codes, but they'd made some progress. Now came the difficult part, passing on the news to Elektra. Not that telling her was hard, he could send it in a text. But when it came to Elektra more than just this mystery with the Hand was a question mark. The way they had parted still felt raw, like a wound that never fully healed, and seeing her in person brought back not only the pain but the good times as well and there had been a lot of those too.

He sighs as he picks up his phone and texts:

> Progress on the case. Come by and talk?

Then he sets the phone down, leans against the wall and crosses his arms, waiting.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
> I will be there soon.

Is the message sent a couple of minutes later. Which by soon it's at least a good hour until she arrives. Because Elektra rarely goes anywhere without being prepared for it. And considering recent events she had to be real careful with where she went, and how. It had been bad enough being ambushed at Iron Fist's dojo... And for some reason she wasn't really willing to bring danger down to Matthew's appartment just like that. At least more than what she had done by getting back into his life after all these years. But she had always been a selfish creature.

Yet some words she had heard out of someone in Gotham still echoed strongly inside her, that she was doing this for others too, not just herself ...

Thoughts for later as right now she was moving through the roofs, her light footsteps heard landing on the rooftop of Matthew's appartment. Some work with the door. Yes, she was still a master infiltrator.., maybe even more than before.

And then she begins walking down the stairs slowly.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt jumps a little as the text comes in, chiding himself as his phone reads the text to him and he dicates a reply.

> See you then.

Not knowing about the attack on the dojo, Matt would be warier of this little meeting, but as it was just meeting Elektra and confronting his feelings was danger enough. When Elektra arrives awhile later, Matt's seated in one of the leather chairs in the living room, beer in hand. He barely hears her coming, which is a sign of just how much she's improved over the last ten years, and indeed he's not sure if he noticed her or she let him notice him either way, he turns his head her way.

"Elektra," he greets. "Drinks in the fridge if you want them."

It's all beer, but there's some of his scotch above the fridge as well, because of course there is, but it's cheaper than the Macallam he drunk like water when they're together, the price tag being a little bit prohibative for a lawyer for the down trodden.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Elektra's steps are careful, measured, she closing the door of the roof behind her and making her way down. Barely a breeze felt but to those enhanced senses that can detect her now. Though could they detect her always? Something they have never tried.

She comes dressed in a pair of jeans, sneakers, a tight black shirt. Very far from what are those usual dresses or high end clothing. No heels though so maybe they will be free of ninja-action tonight. "Matthew." her eyes go to the beer he is having, "How low the mighty have fallen..." she tells of him drinking beer yet it seems mostly she's trying to lighten the mood, that half-grin coming up to her lips.

Still, it doesn't hide some barely perceptible tension there. Something external? Or maybe what she sees in Matthew? Indeed there was a lot left unsaid still between them, which could either make things come toppling down or make them stronger.

Her elegant steps are heard making their way to the fridge, she opening it and glancing inside. And she decides to stoop just as low, taking a beer and popping it open.

"What did you wish to speak with me about?"

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt does smile, wryly at the little jab about the beer. "Hard to find a liquor store that trades Macallan for pie," he says easily. "But I've got some Johnny Walker above the fridge. And at least the beer is German."

His attention followers Elektra's slow progress down the stairs in that way of his, his eyes remaining fixed forward but there's a sense that he's watching her with ever other sense.

What was he doing? Drinking in the changes, trying to get some clue who she had become in the intervening decade, even so, when he 'looked' at her, he 'saw' her as he did that first night; the good woman awash in darkness.

That attention follows her across the room to the fridge, breaking a little when she stoops to choose a beer, hearing the cap pop off the bottle.

"My friend managed to break more of the codes, we've got two more locations and times," Matt says, though it's clear by the tension in the room that's not all he wanted to talk about.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"To small blessings at least..." Elektra toasts at the mention that the beer is german, just as she finishes popping it open, taking a small sip out of her drink. Refreshing at least. She might need that tonight. The fridge is heard closing and she turns, her back against it, watching Matthew, "Yet you didn't ask me to come garbed up tonight so we still have time until it goes down I assume."

The young woman of the past, even as determined as she was back then, already with her path fully known and chosen (or was she?), seems only to have gained an edge to her, a danger, even more than before. As if the times they were apart had only helped in shaping her further away from that dim light that she had shared with Matthew during those times they were together. But she was never an easy one to discern.

But reading tension is something she does very well. So she reaches to take the bottle of Johnny's, then moving to get two small glasses with that same hand. She silently makes her way to the couch where Matthew is. But her silence is telling. One that shows she is at least willing to talk. A truce?

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Looking at how far that light has dimmed makes Matt frown. He felt a bit of guilt for a moment, if he'd only done more to make her stay, but the price had been too high, to have stayed to save her light he would have had to have extinguished his own. It was the cruel trap of that night ten years past, and one's who's barbs could still be felt as keenly then as now.

The peace offering though, that gets a nod, Matt downs the rest of his beer, setting the bottle down by the chair, as he waits for Elektra to join him, making idle chatter as he does, "Did have a bottle of Macallan the other week, but I decided to use it to spoil my PI," he says wryly. And himself. He usually went to Jess to drink when he wanted the unvarnished truth and that went better with good scotch.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
They both had done much against each other. Did Elektra feel guilty though? Not that she would show it in her demeanor, even if she walks to the couch carefully, as if nearing it is bringing back all those memories to the fold. Those last words shared between them. It had not been an easy time, for any of them. But now here they were. A second chance? Was this why she had come back all these years after to New York?

With the bottle being passed along to Matthew she sits down on the couch after, the glasses down on the floor near the bottle. "Why are you frowning?" she asks directly, having noticed that expression in him. She takes a small sip out of her beer, listening to him.

"Jessica is the type to need some spoiling from time to time." though she spoke with surprisingly no malice in her voice. She could respect someone that wasn't afraid to speak their mind.

But Elektra knows how to small talk too. "I believe some members of the Hand have started to follow me. They ambushed me and Danny a couple of days ago." she informs Matthew. Yep, small talk.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
That was the question. Why come back, especially if she'd done her research and saw that Matt hadn't changed from the boy she knew in college. Still not a killer. Or maybe this was the same game with different stakes, he wouldn't kill for his own revenge, but would he do it to protect Elektra and the people he cared about? That was a question he didn't want to answer. At the same time he doubted that was the motive, why come back all this time for that?

The question about his frown, gets his head turning Elektra's way as he pours himself a drink. "You're darker than before," he says before taking a sip. "But then I should have expected that." There was no point in lying to her, even after all this time barriers when it came to Elektra felt out of place.

"And yeah, she's been through a lot, not sure what exactly, but, I can tell," he says, but then the details didn't matter, just the person in trouble. Matt was always ready to mount his white horse in defense of those in need. "She's a good person though."

The news about the Hand, gets a frown and he lets his senses reach out for padded feet on the rooftops. He finds none, but his expression reads his worry. "Not sensing any here, but we need to get them off your tail."

Clearly that white horse is being saddled up again.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"You should. But wasn't this darkness always there?" Elektra retorts, still tending to her beer while Matthew pours on a whiskey for himself. She rests her elbows down on her knees, looking down at her beer briefly, considering, that long hair sliding down a shoulder. She is silent for a small time, her own demeanor also shifted from that easiness in which she had just appeared back in Matthew's life. But then again they had just been in the middle of action, danger. Those things they excelled at. Talking about themselves, trying to open up. That was the hard part.

"I can still see the darkness in you, Matthew. It never left you, you simply express it in different ways now." Her eyes turning up to look at Matthew directly. "But in many ways you are still the same." the same boy she had fallen in love with.

"I was careful about being followed this time around. It wouldn't do to bring people on you now." She informs him, draining the rest of her beer with a sigh. "We will only be able to shake them when we get this over with I feel. When the 'head' here in the city falls the rest won't continue to pursue. They work mostly in cells."

Matthew Murdock has posed:
"Yes, but it's deeper now," Matt says of her darkness refusing to flinch from the deep topic. "What happened Elektra?" he asks her, concern plain in his voice. Whatever had happened between them there can be no doubt there are still feelings there.

He nods solemnly about the darkness inside himself. "I know, I feel it, especially when I wear the suit, but," he breathes in a breath through his nose and lets it out as a sigh. "But I need it. That much I know, it's part of what gives me strength." It was a hard admission for the Catholic boy, needing the devil to his angel's work.

"Appreciated," Matt says of her not bringing the Hand to him. He nods, "Makes sense, they cleared out the last time when Nobu went down, so I guess we'll just have to knock them on their asses again."

He nods to a bit of note paper on the table, with two addresses and times on them. Docks. One in Gotham, one in Starling City. The handwriting isn't Matt's.

"Looks like they're not just using the same dock for everyone of these, but I think our best bet is to tail the cargo, it's got to lead us to where they're doing this Black Sky ritual."

Elektra Natchios has posed:
So many things happened... The question almost makes her laugh, but instead Elektra reaches over to fill up her glass with some whiskey. Ugh. How low the mighty fall indeed.. She takes a drink out of it, just a bit, she wants to keep her wits about her. But it helps loosening tongues. "My path had already been set before, Matthew. So what happened was ..., what was supposed to." there is a certain fatalistic tone to her voice, as if it was something she could not step away from, no matter what.

She reaches to the paper on the table, looking over it, taking in the different handwritting, a thoughtful mmm. But she continues on the deeper topic. "I let myself be led down it, and now there is no turning back." did she hope she could turn back though? Her tone seems to imply such.

"We will take care of this soon. Did you want to bring in the rest of your friends?" She then asks, draining the rest of her glass.

A pause and then she speaks up. "We are so alike but also so different."

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt frowns, "That's not really an answer Elektra," he says, brows knitting above unfocused eyes. "Besides, we set our own paths remember?" he says speaking of the past freedom they had both enjoyed in their time together.

"If you need, help," he says picking up that note of hope. "You just need to ask."

As to bringing in the others, he nods. "I don't want to put Jessica on the Hand's radar but we could use her help, and well, they already hate Danny. Luke's gone out of town for a client, won't be back in time I think." Which severely lowered their muscle power but they'd adjust.

That last comment though, catches him by surprise. "How so?" he asks.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
A brief pause while Elektra considers Matthew's words then a faint nod of agreement about them setting their own paths. She frowns then, perhaps to herself. When had she gotten so ..., conforming? Hadn't she shaken off the path that kept her with the Hand, the one that Stick had wanted her to walk? Fueling her wish of vengeance and dark appetites?

But fine, seemed like they had to walk this path again, bring back those old memories. Painful as it was. "Do you know why I left that night? Why I didn't stay and tried to make things right?" she asks. She was actually curious if he knew why or not. A pause to refill both glasses.

The mention about bringing the Defenders brings a mute nod out of her. She expected as much. Though the focus goes to that question after.

"In the way we allowed our darkness to shape us. You have been close to wavering, but you never did." unlike her. But she doesn't say that last part.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt shakes his head when that question is asked. He had theories, but no real answers. "I don't know. I assumed it was because I wasn't what you hoped I'd be."

He takes his re-filled glass, taking in the smell of it before he took a sip.

The nod about the Defenders is taken in quietly. That part was done, as much as he craved the thrill of taking on the Hand, just the two of them, the numbers weren't on their side.

"It's true," Matt says about their darkness. They were so similar but at the same time what small differences there were between them had opened vast chasms of between them. He takes the unspoken words with the spoken. "It doesn't always have to be in charge, you're stronger than that. I know you are."

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Elektra needs another glass for this. She takes it without hesitation, draining it down, a grimace at the taste. "Because I knew you deserved better, Matthew. It was at the same time one of my best, and also one of my most difficult decisions to date." and she still felt it vividly. Both the words shared and the way they had left each other. Though indeed it was true that she had been changed. Shaped during that year they had been together. It had all culminated in that night.

She takes in a breath after saying those words, "What I felt for you was stronger than the rest." by her tone it's hard to figure out whether she still feels it or not. But then again, the way they kissed while taking in that elevator ride during their infiltration raid is telling..

The talk about their darkness simply makes her smile lightly, watching Matthew's expression quietly. "I have always known where my strength lied at."

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt is fine with the glass he has, but he takes a deep swallow of his drink all the same. That answer though changes his mind and he downs the rest of the glass. "Set me up with another?" he asks.

"So you left because of me?" he asks her. "For me?" he studies her then trying to divine the truth of that statement, but his gut says its true which sends him reeling. "I thought you left because you were disappointed in me, that I couldn't be the man you wanted."

He breathes out a sigh, suddenly finding himself questioning everything he thought about that night for the last ten years. Though if anything that kiss lent some weight to all of this being true.

He lifts his head then, turning towards her, "It doesn't have to be in your darkness though, you're a good woman Elektra, the darkness doesn't have to define you."

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Reaching down to the bottle again Elektra pours the two of them another pair, silent while she goes through those motions, letting that sink in. Both to Matthew and to herself, for the first time allowing herself to say those thoughts out aloud.

She breathes out through her nose, taking the glass close to her lips but doesn't drink it all at once this time, just a sip, "I was never disappointed in you." quite the contrary. "You know I loved you, Matthew." she then adds, running one hand through her hair before she pulls it to the side.

"If only you knew what I have done you wouldn't say that. I can accept who I am, Matthew." She says, turning on the sofa to look at him too. "Can you accept that too?"

Matthew Murdock has posed:
That was the question wasn't it? Could he accept Elektra as the killer that she was and still love her like he did. He did love her, he knew that much for sure. The rest well, that was still up in the air.

He takes a long sip from his drink before he even thinks of answering. "I love you too," he says, that part was easy. They'd both told each other that much with the kiss in the elevator. The hard part came after. Could he accept her as she was?

He wrestles with it for a while before finally he says, "I can try," he says. It wasn't a definitive answer but it was honest. He would struggle with who she was, but he wasn't willing to shun her for it.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Now that she had finally said those words she felt strange, a weight lifted? Or more on her shoulders? As if somehow speaking those words had left Elektra vulnerable. She could had let it stay hidden, unknown but here she was opening herself up to Matthew in that manner she did years ago, letting him in again.

"I know you do." She says about him loving her. Yes, she knew it. Exactly why she had stayed away. And now she was back and things were indeed harder, different. They couldn't be the same. But could they be happy?

"We can try together." An admittance that she is at least willing to give it a try, to attempt and see where it may lead them. She levels her gaze up with Matthew, "You never gave up on me, did you?"

Matthew Murdock has posed:
"No, never," Matt says of giving up on her. And he wouldn't even with what may lay ahead of them. As for giving it a try? That's more complicated.

"I love someone else as well, Elektra. I feel I owe you that truth. I am not with them right now, things, the Hand, made it complicated, but I do love them." There it was, Matt's time to feel vulnerable, to tear down the curtain between his two worlds and expose his heart. "I don't know what that means for us 'trying' but I wanted you to know, so we're going into this aware of everything."

He turns his attention on her waiting for her reply, both the one she spoke and the one her reaction would give him.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Elektra is the realistic type. Without any illusions that Matthew couldn't had found someone during those years they were apart. Wasn't it exactly why she had left too? So that he could find some measure of happiness. Still, doesn't make it any easy to hear. And with Elektra being Elektra it brings the kind of irrational jealousy within her that makes her tense up some.

"Well, you have always been honest. That much I can give you." She finishes her glass, perhaps one too many, it making her pause for a few moments, gathering her thoughts, considering that revelation. Did it matter to her? She knew it didn't. And after she had spoken the words she had she wasn't the type to go back or retreat. Her body eases up some from that tension.

"Does she understand you the same way I do?" Her tone is curious, she propping her elbow on the back of the sofa, hand holding her head up, keeping her steady while she looks at Matthew.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt feels that tension, understands it, indeed if she had found someone else he would have felt the same. Still, it was better to be honest than to try to hide things from any of them. He would have to have some version of this talk with Daisy too, and he wasn't looking forward to it any more than this one.

He senses the tension ease but is uncertain as to the cause, it makes him wary.

Still when asks, he shakes his head, "Not in the same way, no, but she understands me," he says not willing to explain powers that weren't his to reveal. "There's a lot of common ground." Powers, the orphanage, their insane jumps into the things that changed both their lives for the better. "You changed my life though, I don't know, I think I'm going to need some time to figure out what I want. That said, I am still for you Elektra, I want you in my life." He was worried this would make her go, that she'd try to take on the Hand herself and he'd lose her. Some of that fear comes through in his voice.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"Interesting." Elektra says in that neutral tone of hers that could mean so many things when Matthew mentions they understand him, even if in a different manner. "I do suppose there are many facets to you, there's always been." she brings one leg up to rest under the other on the couch, letting out a sigh. "You are saying that as if you think I may be going to do something brash or simply disappear." a brow arching up, but then again it's Elektra we are talking about. She can do that a lot...

"I came here with a goal, I want to see it to the end." Well, many goals. And some perhaps harder now. Though her eyes continue on Matthew, her tone relentless. "That kiss we shared during the party though, it did mean something. It lit up something I thought was long lost." the light inside her? Or what love there was still inside her?

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Yes, 'interesting' was like some weird variant of Schrodinger's Cat, where it could simultaneously mean many things all at once. It did little to soothe Matt's anxiety about this moment, so he reaches for his scotch instead, finishing off the glass.

There is a faint smile at the idea she could simply vanish, she did that often enough in their year together, not long mind you, but she did what she liked she always had.

Matt nods, "And I promised to help you with your goal, that hasn't changed," Matt says before nodding about the kiss, probing gently. "And what was that?" he asks, a touch guarded now. It had definitely reminded him of his feelings for her, and how much he had enjoyed the excitement of their various escapades. "It lit up something for me as well."

Elektra Natchios has posed:
And Elektra certainly isn't the type to soothe any anxieties, at least not in the traditional way, not really developping more on what she actually meant by that 'interesting'. She only smiles briefly at that question, the guarded tone, looking over Matt's demeanor. "The promises we shared, our dreams. We had a lot back then.." she leans over to pick the scotch up again, pouring them a couple of glasses again. Poor Johny Walker is getting finished tonight apparently!

"What you saw inside me." She takes a drink of the scotch. Yes indeed it helps loosening tongues, "Sometimes I feel you were my light in all this, Matthew." a vague gesture with her hand that comes out a bit slower and lazy than she'd normally do, the booze taking it's toll, "In all this life that keeps trying to get us down."

"What did it awake in you?"

Matthew Murdock has posed:
No, she is definitely not one to soothe anxieties, not at all. Matt takes the glass when it was offered and nods, "We did, then you wanted me to kill a guy," he says a bit more coldly than he had intended. That moment was still raw. It still stung.

"Sorry," he says after a moment. "But it's true, that shocked me, made all those dreams taste like ashes. I do love you, Elektra, and I want to be your light, but I don't know if I can trust you," or by extension trust himself with her. The lure of the darkness was always strongest when she was around and before Sweeny, he had been happy to be pulled that way, not knowing where it led. But now, it was different, dangerous. At least when he had time to think about it. The kiss had been different, though, the infiltration, then it might as well have been ten years ago, before it all went wrong.

"It reminded me how much I care for you Elektra, how much fun we have. It was good." He says of what was awoken for him.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Elektra could surely speak about Stick now, how their meeting wasn't exactly by chance and what her mission at the time had been. But that harshness on Matthew's tone certainly turns her mind against it. In the end it seems it'd only make it worse than it is right now. "Sweeney." she says the name, as if telling him it wasn't just 'a guy', apparently her way to cope with that cold tone, by lashing back.

But then she lifts her hand, not exactly verbalizing her apologies but the motion apparently one for it, or at least for a truce. "I don't know if you can trust me or not either. But that's always been the lure, hasn't it? The unknown, how free we felt together. Yet we are both different now, older, shaped by these years. We can't survive out of that rush alone." she says, her brows furrowed slightly.

"The question is if we have what it takes to brave out a new path." one hand reaches forward and she will rest it on Matthew's if he doesn't take it back. The callouses on her hands are felt, undoubtedly made of hours and hours with the sword. "And I never turn my back away from a fight."

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt breathes a sigh out of his nose and sets down his empty glass. The name brings up a visceral anger in him. The sort that clenches hard in the gut. "He's dead you know?" he asks her, as much to give them a breather, or well him a breather anyhow, "Shivved in Rykers by one of his men he left to rot in jail while he lived it up. Barely lasted a couple of weeks."

That was the amount of life that their split had bought. Actually, now that he thought of it this wasn't much of a breather.

She was right, things were different now, he wasn't sure if that was a vote for or against what she proposed and when she offers her hand though he takes it. "You know I don't either, but I need time to sort this out, alright?" he asks. "We'll deal with the Hand, then with them out of the picture think about us." He wanted the time yes, but also wanted to be sure the impending danger wasn't what was driving them together. That without the sword hanging above their heads there would still be a spark.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"I do." Elektra had made sure to follow what happened with the man once they separated, "He found others that weren't as merciful." Elektra takes in a breath as well, shaking her head slowly to herself, "That man was rotten to the core." and in that insane way of hers she could certainly find a way to blame him for a lot of what happened... But then she runs her free hand up on her face. No, that hadn't been that man's fault.

Yet this is a rather different experience for her, normally used to having control of the conversations she is in. This one though, slipped her control a long while ago. How did that happen? She frowns. Give it time. It's not something she likes doing, she lives in the moment. Or at least, she did. Could she be different? And if she was different would it still be the same with them?

"After ten years apart, it won't hurt to wait a bit more." She concedes.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt makes no argument about Sweeny's fate. Even so, he felt some regret that the man was dead, though he couldn't be sure if he regretted the death or because he wished he had lingered longer in his punishment before that shiv set him free. He lets out a breath.

He can feel Elektra's discomfort at losing control of the conversation, but this was too important to let things be dictated by that, though when she agrees to more time, Matt, squeezes her hand and does his best to aim his eyes at her own. "Thank you, Elektra," he says. "And for what it's worth, I'm glad you're back."

Elektra Natchios has posed:
And that seems to settle it for tonight. Perhaps they should had talked it out while driving at top speed down the streets, with Matt driving of course. Or taking care of some Hand. These two never having been the type for the 'serious' conversations out in the couch. Or at least, not yet.

Though the whiskey has been getting to her tonight so after she returns Matt's squeeze she glances over. "I am not going anywhere tonight though." but for some reason she isn't putting up a sexual connotation there.

"I will let you choose between the couch or the bed." because she had to regain some kind of control back. And besides, she does feel somewhat drunk to be going back out to her home with the Hand on her tail.

Though in the end Matthew is rewarded with a very small smile that is a reminder of that first night they had together. At least there had been some progress in whatever it was they still had here.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt would have to agree, this whole conversation would have been better with the spike of adrenaline in their systems instead of booze. Calm wasn't really their friend. Which might be a sign that things had a ways to go before they were really ready for anything more long term. But right now the booze and his feelings for Elektra were blocking those thoughts. Right now at least he's enjoying the moment like he did with her ten years ago.

The ultimatum is met with a grin, that was more like them. "The bed's yours, unless you've learned not to see in the last decade," he gestures out to the billboard that is only a few moments from lighting up fully as dusk claims the city.

He feels the smile in Elektra's body language and offers one in return. Things were settled for tonight, but with them, a single night was about the most they could hope for where settled is concerned.