"I’ve told you this before, yes there is. Stay, stay with me." Matt pleaded.
“I can’t Matthew, not this time.” Sdney gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked out of the room. Matt hoped that it wouldn’t be the last time he’d ever see the woman he still loved. Matthew sunk into the chair that Sydney had occupied moments before, taking in the lingering smell of her. There he waited for Vaughn to wake up.
Hearing bits and pieces of a conversation usually doesn't help one who has been unconscious for the past, oh, 72 hours or so. What really didn't help was that he only heard bits and pieces of really important information. Something about Sydney being a CIA agent, then her leaving, then her refusing to stay with Murdock. He decided then it was time to wake up.
Matt sat there in the chair holding his head in his hands. Even with his super powers, he couldn't stop Elek- Sydney from going after Sark, or whatever the hell his name was. He would have to get used to that name. Sydney.
"Uh... where is she?" Vaughn mumbled from his delusional state.
"She's gone. She went after the bad guys," Matt said, wiping his face with his hand as he looked at the man lying on the bed.
"Do you know where she went?" Vaughn said, rolling over slightly to face Murdock who had begun to stand up.
"No. I assume she's going to try to pick up where Bullseye left us off," he said with a slight tinge of regret and anger with both Bullseye and himself. He had fought Bullseye for years, but had never injured him apparently. Ten minutes into a fight and this-- this stranger lands a bullet in the a$$'s leg.
"We have to go after her. She has no idea what she's getting into," Vaughn said, making to get up out of bed. The doctor walked in at that moment, however, and he settled back down.
"Well, Mr. Vaugh, it looks like you're awake and doing well. You should be out of here soon, as long as you show progression in your healing," she said, taking a look at his charts and monitors. He flashed her a fake smile and she walked away.
"How do you know what she's getting in to? Do you even know who this-- this "Sark" is?" Matt said angrily, tension steadily growing between them.
"Of course I know who he is. He's almost killed Sydney and I several times, and I have seen him in action. He is not someone to be messed with."
"Fine. Then I'll go after her, and call you and tell you if I find her."
"Like hell you will. I'm going to. This is the love of our lives we are talking about, and I'm not about to lose her again," Vaughn started on a small rant, stopping half way to make sure his message got through to Murdock.
"What do you mean, again? I'm the one who thought he had permanently lost her. You have no idea what it's like having the knowledge she is or might be--"
"Dead?" Vaughn finished his sentence sadly. "Yeah, actually I do. Now since neither of us is willing to budge, I suggest we work together in finding her before she truly ends up dead."
"Fine. But how are you planning on getting out of here? It's not exactly like they'll be more than happy to release you," Matt said in hopes of deterring Vaughn from tagging along.
Vaughn smiled, a plan coming to mind. "Can I borrow your phone?"
"I guess," Matt said, utterly confused. Vaughn flipped it open and dialed a familiar California number.
"Hello?" a groggy voice picked up after four rings.
"Hey, Weiss, how's it going?" Vaughn asked, a small smile spreading across his face.
"Vaughn, you do realize it's five o'clock in the morning here? As in, I need at least two more hours of sleep?"
"Sorry, man, but I need some help. Call this number--" Vaughn proceeded to give him the number of the nurse's desk on the floor they were on "--and threaten to blow up the building if they don't clear out." At this statement, Matt gaped at Vaughn and how ridiculous this plan seemed. Ridiculous and brilliant at the same time.
"Why? If I do this, Kendall's probably going to court marshall me, which, yeah it would be fun to see his bald head glisten, but still man--"
"Dude, this is an emergency. Just do it, please." With that, Vaughn hung up, confident that Weiss would pull through. Sure enough, several minutes later, the nurses were starting to head towards the elevators. Matt and Vaughn briefly heard some squeals of excitement, though.
"--is really coming up here, can you believe it?" "Oh god, he is so--intoxicating--" "Is my hair alright?" "--Tom Cruise is actually visiting someone..."
"Huh, good old Weiss. Never lets me down," Vaughn said, struggling to get unplugged from the millions of monitors he was hooked up to. Finally, he managed to stand up and slip out of his room while the twenty or so nurses crowded around the elevators.
"I wonder what your friend said," Matt mused, helping Vaughn down the emergency stairs that led (conveniently) out into a deserted alley.
"He probably pretended he was Tom Cruise's chauffeur, and that they were coming to the hospital and didn't want anyone to know."
"Alright." They hailed a taxi, and were soon speeding along at a whopping ten miles an hour to Matt's apartment to get some gear and get Vaughn, who was still wearing his hospital gown, some clothes. Half an hour later, Vaughn was wearing jeans and a T-shirt while Matt changed into some sweats. Matthew figured he wouldn't have to break out the costume until later on, but just in case, he slipped it on under his sweats, stowing his mask in his pocket.
"Ready?"
"Ready." They headed out the back door and towards the roof, the first place Sydney probably went to.
"So how much has Elektra told you about me?" Matt said, tilting his head slightly towards Vaughn as he ran his stick over the hard metal surface.
"Everything. You're a lawyer, when you were a kid you had an... accident, and you fight crime in your own way to avenge your father's murder," he said pointedly. "And me?"
"Well," Matt started, not sure where to begin. "She said you two met because her fiance was murdered and you helped her in bringing down an organization called SD-6."
"Wow, that's quite a nutshell."
"Yeah, well, you obviously weren't as interesting as I was," Matt said, sensing something near the edge of the roof.
"At least my tale doesn't end in death," Vaughn retorted, following Matt's lead and checking near the edge.
"Does anything here seem rather... odd to you?"
"Some loose bricks were disengaged. Probably where Bullseye jumped."
"No, I smell something-- I smell blood. Elektra's blood. And it's fresh," Matt said, running his hand along the jagged edge.
"Wait-- it's over the side of the building. Come on, I see some blood on the ground. We can follow it from there," Vaughn said, pointing down at the street below and jogging to the fire escape. By the time he got down there, however, Matt was already on the ground, running his hand over the rough concrete.
"No, wait... one, two... three people fought here. Then they ran towards the Empire State Building."
"How can you tell?"
"Because there are three individual smells here. One is Elektra's rose oil, and the other two I can't make out. One smells like cologne, wait-- it's a British cologne. My uncle used to wear it," Matt said, standing up at sniffing at the air.
"Sark," Vaughn growled through clenched teeth. "He must have caught up with her."
"Then let's go." They started jogging towards the Empire State Building when Matt held out his hand in front of Vaughn.
"Listen, this will go faster if we take a shortcut. Follow me." The headed up to yet another rooftop which was distinguishably taller than the last one they had been on.
"How are we going to get there faster? Jump from rooftop to rooftop and hope Spiderman catches us?" Vaughn asked, slightly irritated by now.
"Well, if you're too inept for the challenge, then we'll split up and neither of us will be able to help each other."
"Let's go." Vaughn expertly pole vaulted to the next rooftop over using a metal stick he had found.
"So now you're ready to play with the big boys?" Matt asked, jumping (without help) from one rooftop to the next effortlessly, shortly followed by Vaughn. Soon Matt had stopped and was back on the ground, however, and Vaughn climbed down next to him.
"What is it? What can you sense?" Vaughn asked, looking wildly at the ground around them, not seeing anything.
"Blood spilt is blood shed. And there was blood shed here," Matt said with a sigh. Finally, he stood up straight and point at the ground right beneath them. In a small puddle of blood was the braille charm necklace Matt had given back to Sydney when she had gone out.
"So what does this mean?" Vaughn asked, dreading the answer.
"It means one of two scenarios; she's dead, or is losing blood rapidly. And for what reason, I don't know."
