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Matt should have seen this coming with Fisk back in the world. He should have stuck to the rumors he heard, he had just thought they had been talk like they usually were. How would Fisk have done something so soon without resources?
He had been subdued, not easily mind you but faster than he should have been. Fisk had come to gloat earlier when he had Matt thrown in a literal cage, barely large enough for Matt to kneel in. Fisk wasn't a shifter, he looked down on them. Like most of high society did, especially if someone wasn't an exotic or what they deemed special shifter. Everyone knew Daredevil was a shifter, knew he was a dog but not one solid enough evidence to say what kind... yet. It was a last resort to slip out of a fight when he knew he would not be coming out without being close to death. Closer. He had promised he would be more careful, watch for things like this, ask for help. Now he was stuck in a cage that in either form would be too small. Matt wasn't going to shift if he had a choice. Tonight he had already fought with too many people, ended up with a few cuts on his arms, two bruised ribs, a split lip, and a bloody nose. Before they had tasered him right under his jaw, it was not pleasant. He might have a mark from that but the whole area around where he had been tasered just burned. He had passed out after that. Barely waking until he was being dragged into this place, sounded like it was underground but he wasn't confident with all the hits to his head tonight.
Now he kneeled collared and chained to the wall outside the cage. His hands were chained behind him, though they made sure his arms were connected up to his elbow so he was not going to be able to slip these. Too many people had poked and prodded at him before Fisk came back. Ignoring them did nothing but make them more annoying so he shrugged them off and when he did no more than that they began to trickle away from his cage.
Fisk walked over to the cage and kneeled beside it, "Daredevil. You've had your chances, to stop, to join me, but you've not taken them. as a collective we've decided if you didn't stop your intrusions. We would stop them for you. Tonight, some guest of mine have asked we dole out a bit of punishment or payback if you will. For your actions, then we'll find out who the Devil of Hell's Kitchen really is. Put a real stop to your little crusade."
"Fuck off." He snarled, which was when the chain to his collar was pulled back, causing his head to hit the metal bars. The fabric on his neck pulled taught against his neck, making him wheeze as he fought back to pull away. He knew there was something being drawn in to a needle, he didn't recognize the scent, then he was injected with the drug, it made him panic, something was wrong, his chest felt tight, he felt wrong, something wasn't right. It wasn't making him fuzzy, or fight against sleep, it wasn't adrenaline. He didn't have a clue as to what it was. "What did you do?!"
"That was just a little dose to make sure you wouldn't think of shifting to get away. You're worth much more to be human, instead of a mutt." Fisk replied, chuckling as he stood.
Matt paled, he wasn't going to be able to shift. For how long? Hours? Days? Longer? Why didn't he think of this as a possibility? He would need to fix his suit so this couldn't happen again. If he even got out of this. He hated this, he wasn't sure how long it was until people started to come into the room that did not sound or smell like guards, no guns, their clothes sounded finer, smoother, not rough like the tactical gear they wore under what he assumed was venue appropriate outfits.
Matt was stuck against the bars still unable to move more than an inch away from them since he was injected with the anti-shifting drug. He was annoyed by the occasional daring guests as they stuck their hands between the bars to poke and prod at him, one man dared to go towards his mouth. So he did what any rational vigilante would, He bared his teeth and went back the inch he had and leaned into the bars, when that didn't deter the man he went to bite. He gave ample warning, and time for the man to be smart, well smarter, he was here for Wilson Fisk to reveal or torture Daredevil tonight. His collar was pulled tight against his neck digging into his windpipe ,almost choking him. He released the guests hand, ignoring the blood dripping from his mouth as he tried to breath. The guest were pulled back, either kicked out or given medical attention, he didn't know. His arms jerked in their confinement as he huffed trying to breathe as he was choked. A muzzle was forced onto him too tightly digging his mask into his face along with the metal around his cheeks and chin. This would leave a mark, he realized as he panted when the collar was released. He snarled at the man who tugged on the muzzle, unable to speak intelligibly with it on.
He was granted movement inside the cage now, it was exhausting trying to deal with everything, he decided to save his energy and stopped moving away from the guests, he endured the looks and comments, no one was brave enough to put a hand back in, even with the devil muzzled. The dried blood around his mouth served as warning. Soon the room was filled, he could hear how their small talk reverberated off the walls, knew he was the main attraction. It seemed like this could have been an abandoned auditorium, but why would it be under ground? He was on the stage, or at least elevated above the floor. He was the attraction.
---
Frank was on a rooftop a few buildings away from the warehouse he was watching through a rifle scope. He heard someone drop on the roof behind him, he pulled away from the scope and turned, only slightly surprised to see Deadpool walking towards him. "Wilson." He said in acknowledgement going back to his scope.
"Castle. You heard the talk then." Wade responded.
"Yeah."
"Red would be pretty mad if we just killed all those people for him."
"Uh-huh."
"Trigger finger itchin' still?"
"Do you ever shut the fuck up?" Frank questioned.
"Not unless there-"
"Do not finish that sentence or I shoot you."
Deadpool sighed, "What's your plan then Mr. Punisher?"
"I need more information, or people."
"What've you got now?"
"Ten outside, I saw the tail end of people going in, over fifteen guests not to mention more security inside with Fisk himself."
"More people would be nice. If we're not killing anyone." Wade agreed.
"I don't want Red on my ass more than he already is."
"I'm so making a joke about that later when he's out."
Frank turned and glared at Wade, "Who do you have on call?"
"Spider-Man, Domino, Cable, most of the X-Men, don't ask me which timeline they're from, it's confusing. The Devil, Nelson, who doesn't know as far as I am aware, oh! Jessica Jones stole -"
"Call her. She's worked with him before with a few others."
"I'll text Spidey too..."
"The kid?"
"He's twenty-two but sure!"
---
Peter joined them fifteen minutes later, Jessica, Luke, and Danny joined them separately over another twenty minutes.
"So what's going on with Daredevil?" Spider-Man asked.
"Fisk has him." Frank started, "Decided he needed to have an audience and record the torture and unmasking of Daredevil."
"Plans on selling the recording or viewing of it to the next highest bidders." Deadpool added.
"Shit." Jess whispered.
"What's the plan to get him out?" Luke questioned, the others nodding.
Frank turned to the group, "Rand and the kid get the guards outside, keep the exits guarded, there's one that comes out from an underground tunnel, that's where we enter. Jones and Cage will go for Fisk and his wife. Wilson will get the security inside and keep the guests away from the exits if he can but that's why the kid and Rand are staying outside. I'll take out any security in my way and get to Red. Any objections?"
"Wh-" Danny began.
"Great. Let's get going."
---
"Give him a little of the - yes that, then bring him out, the shows starting now." Fisk said.
Matt tensed, he didn't know what they were giving him now, he wasn't going to just let them drug him again. He thrashed and choked himself on the collar again but they still managed to inject him. A few moments later and he felt a bit lethargic, they really drugged him this time. He was spinning a bit, this was not good. Fuck, how was he going to get out of here, his senses were dulled, he couldn't hear outside this room without really focusing. He growled and then kicked when someone grabbed him, the cage was open. When had that happened? Fuck.
He was dragged out of the cage, kicking and snarling before he was uncuffed. He flailed unable to get his arms to work right. His gloves were taken off, then his top, he began to struggle more before he realized they weren't going for anything else. He was bound to a steel chair. His legs bound to the chairs legs with duct tape, his arms were bound with cuffs and then the duct tape.
Then people were shouting out numbers, they were bidding he realized after the last woman spoke. For who go to unmask him? For who got to torture him? He didn't know? The drug was making everything seem like he was underwater. Then he was hit. Again. And again. And again, They just kept coming, the drugs and consistency of the beating made his mind spin, unable to keep track of the guests and numbers, of Fisk. He finally was given reprieve and panted into the muzzle, his torso was now covered in more bruises, so was some of his back, his two bruised ribs had to have become broken ribs by now. Claire was going to kill him, so was Foggy... if he got out of this alive. Well no, they would raise him from the dead to kill him again. He let out a weak laugh at the thought which caught more unwanted attention from Fisk and company.
"It seems he would like to progress with the evening." Fisk declared.
Matt heard a cart roll out, he couldn't tell what was on it, just that both the cart and objects on it? in it? were metallic. Likely knives right? Or some variation of things to hurt him with? He felt an instrument ghost over his skin, he weakly snarled and tried to pull back, laughter shook the room making his head throb. He hated getting stabbed or cut. Claire really wasn't going to be happy. He groaned at the first cut, through the right scar under his collar bone, shit, this guy was going through the scar tissue, just deep enough to make it bleed and begin to well up, and definitely deep enough that it hurt, blood began to trickle down from the wound, likely for the audience, Fisk had to put on a show after all.
It proceeded as an auction for which of his scars to cut next, they injected more of something in him, making him limp and only react to the pain that was sharp enough to cut through the haze. They then got him out of the chair and strung up by his arms, taped his ankles together. His shoulders hurt, they dug their sharp instruments into his scars on his stomach and hips, so they didn't need to move him to get to his back. At least no more than spinning him making him react more to that than most of the cuts they made. Causing laughter once more. He was panting through the pain, trying to keep quiet, meditate but that wasn't very successful. Not with the drug making it so hard to focus on anything but the pain and discomfort.
Before he knew it the blood was slowly drying from dripping down his torso and clothed legs. His boots had been pulled off when they taped his ankles, he was lowered to the floor, horns and muzzle the only other thing than his legs touching the floor. He was unhooked again and placed back in the chair, bound once more. Though his ankles were left free, his world spun for a moment before his legs were grabbed and the soles of his feet were displayed. He groaned and panted, someone grabbed something new it sounded like. It his the soles of his feet. Something thin and fast, wooden it felt like but it was so fast it was a struggle and the blood on his face was not helping his sense of smell. He cried out at that, they kept coming till his feet were bleeding and he had gone quiet. Fisk would randomly drop a discriminatory comment to Matt usually about being a shifter, or gloat to him but Matt paid no mind, couldn't really when the pain was all he could focus on with the drugs in his system.
Then something happened, something big, guards left the room, voices raised, screaming started, gunfire - weak but there -, he couldn't tell where it was coming from other than outside the room he was in. Fisk grabbed the muzzle and tipped it up, making Matt look at him. "It seems our evening plans have been interrupted, they won't get too far though, even if they did, you won't be much help. We'll get your unmasking on camera." Then his grip left, Matt's head dropped to his chest, he relaxed as no one was torturing him for the first time in hours? he couldn't tell you even with a gun to his head, before Fisk's hand came back holding the front of his face, he was sent flying back in the chair and slammed to the ground, before his head was being lifted a bit and slammed back down, again and again. That's when Fisk stopped? left? ran? watching him? Matt wasn't sure what was happening or which was was up anymore. He was stuck to a chair on his back, broken and bruised. He didn't know who was in the room anymore.
---
Once Spider-Man and Iron Fist were in their places outside the others went inside through the only underground entrance. As Frank had stated. Wade led the pack followed by Luke, Jess and Frank.
Frank broke off from the others when they made their way out of the tunnel, once they separated Frank closed the door quietly and locked it behind him. He ended up dealing with eight security guards, they were all alive.. for now. He didn't want to hear Matt preach at him again. He knew Fisk would have heard or been told of the commotion the others were making and taken off far away from Red or at least he had hoped Fisk wasn't near Red, that he was going to escape and it was more than a room away from the Devil. He didn't want to be in between Fisk, Cage and Jones.
He checked the rooms he passed and found nothing until he walked into the fourth room down the hall and found a large room almost like an old auditorium with a cage opened, the room was large enough for over fifty chairs and tables with them, the cage up front, several items obviously used for torture and the main attraction of Red bound to a chair on the floor looking beat to hell.
"Shit Red." He jogged over to Matt and began to undo the binds. He realized Matt was quiet, no response not even a twitch to his presence. The man was covered in blood, muzzled, obviously beat to hell. He realized some of the blood was coming from the back of Matt's head. "Fuck." He finally got a reaction from Daredevil when he was moved from the chair to the ground.
Matt groaned and thrashed a bit at hand on him, he realized he was free and could fight back. Well as much as someone who looked beat to hell could.
"Hey!- Hey Red, Shit Red it's me, it's Frank. Stop it." Frank tried not to yell as he was fought against. The floor was filthy and there was no way he was going to be able to get Matt's suit top back on him. He struggled with the now limp Daredevil and put him in the trench coat he had on. "Thank you. Now this is gonna hurt Red. You hear me?" He didn't have much time before someone would come back for the Devil, he knew that much about these kind of criminals. He could still hear fighting so he knew not everyone was down for the count. After he got a flailed arm in response or what he hoped was one he grabbed Daredevil's boots and tried to gently but quickly put them on the man.
Matt cried out and tried to pull away.
It was odd seeing the Devil like this. He never shied away from things like pain before he had to be given something, obvious now with the flailing he had been doing. He left Red on the ground and grabbed any and every vial he saw which luckily was only four, they were small enough to all fit in one of his cargo pants pockets. Grabbed the Devil's gloves and shoved them in another pocket before grabbing his top.
He hefted Matt from the ground, an arm over his shoulder, he had a gun in the hand on Matt's waist and hoped he wouldn't have to use it with Red right here. With his sensitive hearing and all, and that he wasn't sure how good a shot he would be with a Devil almost limp in his arms. He had Matt's wrist and suit top in the other hand. They began to make their way out of the torture room and up to the upper most floor where most of the action currently was and seemed to be dying down.
A cat ran down the hall at them, from around a turn almost jumping when seeing them. That clued Frank in that it was not a stray cat but a shifter, smelled like one too. Frank dragged a groaning Red along before he ended up stepping on the tail of the cat until it changed back to a woman, before she could even speak, he shot her in the knee, Red didn't even flinch. Frank frowned at that.
The noises from around the corner and up the two flights of stairs seemed to have stopped, at least the gunshots. He dragged Matt up the stairs apologizing once and not again. Frank grunted as they got to the top of the stairs, Red was fucking heavy. He was not doing this again. Even if Karen asked. Frank pushed the stairwell door open and found Wade admiring his pile of weapons with people scattered around the room.
"There's other locked in some rooms. Oh shit he looks-" Wade stated.
"Like death, yeah. You missed one by the way, ran into us."
"Fuck." Wade hissed and was only stopped from going to hunt said escapee down by Matt making a pained noise.
Not more than a minute late Jess walked into the room with Fisk's wife Vanessa hung over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Take her Deadpool." She passed the unconscious woman over to the Merc. She walked over and carefully picked Matt up bridal style, his face going to her neck, the muzzle and horns digging into her skin. "You got a car Castle?"
"Can we trade? I should have thought of that before you handed me this woman with no plot relevance." Wade asked Jessica but was ignored.
"Yeah it's a few streets over. Wilson, call the cops, Red would want them on it. I'll send Rand and the kid in. I'll send the address to my safe house when we get Red settled."
"I'll give Luke the address and he can call Claire while he wait for the cops." She replied as they jogged out of the warehouse. "Unless you have a better person to fix him with all this shit."
---
They arrive at Frank's safe house, in what feels like an hour and five minutes at the same time, it's an old building with a vacant first floor. He got out and opened the back doors of his van for Jess to get out and grab Matt. He jogged up the few stairs and up to the front door before opening it and grabbing a first aid kit, a bowl of water, and a washcloth. Jones got Matt sat on the edge of the bed by the time he got back with all of the supplies. He helped get his coat off of Matt before going and shutting the door.
He rattled off his address to Jones before making sure Matt was securely leaning against him as he got the muzzle off of the man. He winced at the marks it had left on his cheeks and chin, he knew the helmet would be leaving marks due to the muzzle and what ever else had been done to Red too. He gently took off Matt's helmet and shook his head at the bloody imprint it had left on the man and the blood soaked patch of hair at back of his head. Frank gently undid the collar around the Devil's neck and frowned at the already bruising skin. He laid Matt down on the mattress, uncaring of bloody sheets, when Jones came back. He gave her the washcloth and bowl before going to dig through the first aid kit. He noticed Jess had started cleaning the Devil's face first.
---
The Spider showed up first. Then the Nurse. She took over for Jess, he didn't remember her name , felt kind of bad about it but he wasn't going to say anything about it. Matt wasn't very lucid still, hadn't been since he realized Frank had picked him up. She had cleaned his chest added a few butterfly bandages where it was needed but a few seemed like they would need stitches and she still hadn't even checked the wounds on his back, face, or feet. She had dealt with almost nothing so far. When Frank began taking the boots off to show Claire the injuries, not to help more, he didn't care that much, Matt groaned and began to flail. He tipped his head a bit, gasped, and swung at the closest person, Claire.
Peter jumped and pulled her back quickly, before Matt had truly even swung. Not that it would have done much damage with how uncoordinated Red was, but the Nurse was a civilian.
Frank stopped Matt from kicking, while Jessica stopped his hands, forcing the injured man to focus through his drugged haze. It took a few minutes before Matt really settled down.
"Hey. Hey! Murdock calm down. You're safe. Chill out. It's Jess." When that calmed him a bit more than just restraining him, Jess kept listing who was in the room until he seemed to understand.
"Good. Now you have to let Claire help you." Peter added.
Matt slowly nodded before groaning, he tried to do something, sit up, get off the bed, Frank couldn't quite tell but he knew why, he'd done it before, he was a father too, he knew that reaction. He grabbed a trash can quickly and pushed it into his hands before he threw up.
Everyone grimaced but Claire, Jess helped the man stay upright so Claire could get the wounds on his back, and so he could reach the trashcan.
---
Wilson and Rand showed up next. Red had been mostly taken care of. He had fallen in and out of consciousness until Wilson, Rand, and Cage showed back up. This caused more mayhem in the small safe house. Matt was bandaged up, and Claire was prodding at his face, making the Devil flinch with each touch. His lip curled every time, almost like a snarl. Frank frowned, he continued to watch the interaction as he ignored Wilson chattering in his ear and Peter and Jess catching the other two up.
Then he remembered, Red got drugged, hard. "Hey, he's obviously drugged but I don't know what they gave him." He walked over to Claire and handed her the four small vials he grabbed, two seemed to be empty and one half full, the other seemed untouched but he could be wrong.
"Okay, I was worried this was all the concussion he has." she replied as she looked over the vials.
He saw Matt relax at the lack of prodding, though he swayed just sitting. Frank sighed and just place a hand on his shoulder to keep him from bashing his head in again. "They injected it into his neck," he pointed at the injection sites, which were close to where the muzzle dug into his chin.
Matt didn't hear them or ignored them and stretched his jaw, he groaned when Frank let go of him and pushed Wilson towards the devil.
"I'll call Karen and let her know. She can call Nelson."
---
Karen and Foggy arrived under an hour later, in their pajamas.
Peter was dragging Wade out of the house now, citing it was for Matt's returning sanity and so Frank didn't find a way to permanently kill Wade. Told them to text any updates and then webbed Wade up and swung off with him.
"Matt! Oh my god!" Karen gasped, causing Matt to flinch at the sudden noise.
"He's still out of it, got pretty fucked up under all those bandages." Frank informed them.
Claire nodded, "Had to stitch up more than a few of the cuts," she said as she was wrapping his feet. "Bruised everywhere, he's got a least a Grade 2 concussion, two broken ribs at the minimum, definitely bruised a few more, dislocated his right shoulder, and his feet are a mess too. He was drugged, several times by the amount of injection sites."
"What did they do to his face?" Foggy asked softly.
"Muzzled him." Frank replied.
"Shit." Foggy breathed out.
"Yeah, they had him in a cage at one point, found him bound to a chair. Fisk and friends got him. Heard some chatter and when the Devil didn't come find me tonight I thought I should check it out." Frank stated.
Karen hugged Frank, startling the man. He put an arm around her before she pulled away. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me. Just was in the right place, Wilson found me and called the others."
Jess had taken off her signature leather jacket when she had arrived to help with Matt, it was obvious it was off due to the blood stains on her clothing and arms now. "Had to carry him with his feet, and he was dead weight for Castle there."
"Well thank you. All of you." Foggy said, though begrudgingly towards Frank.
Matt hummed softly, focusing on Foggy's voice.
"Hey buddy." Foggy walked over and sat on the bed beside Matt, Taking his hand, "You'll be out of commission for a while huh? The good thing is it was your right arm and not your left, least you got your dominant hand free."
Matt let out a pained laugh, "Can't shift."
Claire looked at him, "Yeah, don't do that right now. Wait until you're healed a but more okay?"
Matt frowned, "No, No I can't do it. Not there." He mumbled.
Luke stepped over and grabbed the vials.
"What do you mean buddy?" Foggy asked.
"Gone. I can't. It's wrong." He licked his lips and mumbled something unintelligible.
"This." Luke stated and showed the half full vial to Claire, "Street drug for shifters, it stops shifting from being able to occur."
"Shit."
Karen took the vial from Luke and looked over it before handing it back and going on her phone.
---
After figuring out what was going to happen to Matt the next question was how they were going to get Matt home in the least painful way. And explain what happened to him to everyone else.
Matt was mostly lucid for this conversation now. He frowned after his hand brushed up from his hips to his chest.
"Don't mess with the bandages Matt." Foggy admonished and moved his hand from his chest.
"Don't worry Murdock, Castle got all your gear." Jess told him standing near his head.
Matt huffed, and pointed at Jess, "Wasn't worried."
Really though Matt was pointing at Karen who was standing by Frank both who were standing feet away from Jess.
Foggy sighed and pushed Matt's hand to point at Jess, "Wrong person Matt."
Matt's brow furrowed, "No?"
"You pointed at Karen."
"Oh..."
Claire sighed, "You are not going out for a good while Matt. You can be a lawyer again in a few weeks with how bad that concussion is."
"Remind him when he's not drugged." Karen said.
---
They got Matt back to his apartment, Jess had once again carried him to the bed. Luke had offered but Jess had already picked the Devil up. Then acted as if she was being forced to do so. Everyone knew it was her way of worrying and showing she cared.
Matt now tucked away in bed asleep and bandaged up.
Foggy and Karen asleep on the couch they made him buy since it was a pull out.
The others left and went to get some much needed sleep. Frank sat on the stairs leading to the roof access in the apartment to keep watch for now.
---
Two weeks later Matt was going crazy. He could not stand being home alone any longer but knew he couldn't work or go out at night yet. He had called Foggy and begged him to just let him come into the office and he would just stay on the office couch or one of the small beds they bought for Matt and Karen to sleep in the office shifted.
Foggy had agreed after they conference called Karen for a ruling.
Foggy told him when he showed up he better still be in comfortable clothing. Which meant sweatpants and a t-shirt, possibly a hoodie. Matt begrudgingly agreed if only to get out of the apartment.
Foggy arrived and helped him down the stairs and into a taxi. They got to the office and they walked up.
"Hi Karen." Matt greeted as they walked inside.
"Matt, you look a little better than the other day. You feel any better?"
"I think so. Wish Claire would clear me for work though," at the silent but obvious glares, "Work, work. Not night work. Geez."
"Go be comfortably in pain on the couch Matt." Foggy laughed softly, Only hovering slightly as Matt relied more on his stick than his weird bat thing since his abduction. They assumed it was the concussion but they weren't completely sure.
Matt sat down on the couch in the conference room and grimaced.
Karen looked at Matt and then Foggy.
"I'm surprised he agreed to the clothing stipulation."
"He hated being cooped up, I'm sure he's just here to get all the juicy gossip he's missed from Linda down the hall."
Matt smiled a bit before half falling asleep as the two got ready for clients to show.
Foggy woke him about half an hour before the first client was due, "Got to move it to an office Murdock. If you shift you can stay in mine on the bed by my desk."
Matt huffed and handed his cane to Foggy and shifted, he walked with Foggy using him as a guidance knowing Foggy wouldn't let him run into anything. He curled up in the bed and fell back asleep. Lulled by the conversation Karen and Foggy were having as they got the papers for the incoming client was. Karen disappeared to her own office when Foggy greeted the client and took them back to his office.
"Ignore him, he was stir crazy and wouldn't take, you have a concussion as an answer. He gets to rest here for the day." Foggy told the client.
Matt lifted his head and titled it a bit.
Foggy smiled and gave him a quick pet, as one would brush someone's hair back, "Rest up Matt." He then focused on their client.
Matt fell back asleep listening to Foggy help people.