darkest before the dawn

August 2nd, 2016

4:23 PM

Claire sometimes wished she never dragged that man from the dumpster.

So far, after dragging Murdock’s ass from the dumpster, she’s:

• Been kidnapped by the Russian Mafia
• Dealt with the bombing of Hell’s Kitchen
• Pulled a bullet out of a man’s eye
• Hid from the Punisher’s rampage in Metro Gen
• Got attacked by ninjas at Metro Gen
• Started dating a man with bullet-proof skin and helped him with his bullshit
• Went to China and fought more ninjas.
• Came back home and was attacked by more ninjas, because ninjas are just fucking great
• Watched as three of the four people that left came back and learned that the man who started her down this path of bullshit was dead

She never expected to add, Attacked by a cannibalistic creature at her old place of work and subsequently saved by what must be a teenager in a hoodie with powers, who was then saved by yours truly as she shot the creature with a weapon that was way above that kid’s paygrade.

God damnit. She preferred the Russians.

After Spidey had left, with the weapon no less, Claire went back outside and was immediately crushed in a hug by Danny, still in his suit, and Jessica, surprisingly enough, anxiously scanning Claire up and down for injuries.

“Hey, it’s alright. I’m fine,” Claire patted Danny on the shoulder. Danny was like a labrador retriever, extremely loyal and protective. “Where’s Luke?”

“We were closer,” Jessica responds, breathing hard and scanning the area around them, “Danny was at a meeting and I was in my apartment. Luke’s protecting Harlem.”

Claire smiles wryly. Of course.

Jessica catches sight of Stephen helping Christine load one of the severely injured into an ambulance bound for North General. “Claire, what happened?”

Claire looks at the scene before them. The hospital fire got put out; it looks like it only damaged a small part of it. There’s dozens of injured, patients and personnel alike. Claire spies Benson talking with the police, a look of pure determination on her face. There’s white bags being taken out of the hospital, stark white with scarlet swashes bleeding through. A police officer stumbles out of the back exit, and promptly vomits on the ground, shoulders shaking as he spits out vomit.

Forcing her lunch down and only looking at Jessica’s face, Claire responds. Her stomach twists into knots. “Not here. Luke’s?”

Jessica runs her fingers through hair, looking incredibly stressed. “Fine.”

Claire catches Stephen’s eye, and he jogs over, patting Christine on the hand before he leaves. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Claire says back, “You guys good?”

Stephen nods, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’ll drive Christine over to a clinic after we’re done. She says she’s good, but just in case.”

“Do you want me to help?” Claire offers, ignoring Jessica’s huff and Danny’s noise of protest. Honestly, they were children. Super-powered, traumatized children. 

Stephen waves her off. “We’ve got it under control. It’s fine, Temple. Go home. And, uh,” Stephen leans closer and drops his voice to a whisper. Jessica and Danny lean closer. “Is our friend okay?”

Claire barks out a laugh. Her pulse feels like a jackrabbit, slamming against her ribs.“Yeah. He’s alive, an idiot. But he’s alive.”

Stephen looks relieved. Jessica’s watching all of this with a sudden realization on her face, quikly covered up with her usual look of Does it look like I give a shit?

Yes, Jessica. We know you give a shit.

Stephen then nods to Danny and Jessica, backing away as he waves a hand to Claire. “See you.”

“Bye, Strange,” Claire murmurs, and then Jessica’s dragging her away from the bloody crime scene, away from the still smoldering hospital, away from the white bags with bloody bodies. Jessica’s grip is tight, holding onto Claire’s wrist as she strides to the subway, Danny following behind, who hasn’t said a word.

They get to the subway, Jessica not bothering to swipe her card and just vaults over it.

Danny, the rule-abiding vigilante that he is, squawks. “Jess!”

Jessica impatiently waits for them. “I don’t have time for that crap, Rand.”

“It takes literally five seconds!”

Danny swipes his metrocard for himself and Claire, and Jessica barely waits before she’s grabbing the both of them and dragging them to the train like a bunch of children.

Claire’s not quite sure why she isn’t fighting Jessica about it. There’s a feeling of annoyance that she’s being dragged like a kid, but mostly she just feels numb. Empty. Emotions rattling around like a penny in a glass jar. 

Danny watches her apprehensively from his seat. The subway car is mostly empty, a rare feat for New York at this time at night. Or is it day? Claire can’t remember. “Hey, Claire? You feel alright?”

Claire shakes her head, trying to get the cobwebs out of her mind. She flashes a grin. “Yeah. Just need to get home.”

Jessica, who’s sitting right next to her, scowled. But didn’t say anything. Danny made eye contact with her and Jessica sighed. “Claire, I think what he’s trying to say is if you’re in shock.”

“No, I’m fine,” Claire brushes Jessica off, “I’ve dealt with worse.”

Danny opens his mouth, but Jessica makes a face at him and he backs off. Jessica returns to talking to Claire. Her voice is low. Calming. “All right. Just stick by me, okay?”

“Okay,” Claire says back and then it’s their stop and Claire feels dizzy. Jessica helps her up and then it’s back to Danny and Claire being dragged behind the Strongest Woman in New York. Danny doesn't like it and tries to argue with Jessica, but Jess just snaps back at him and continues to drag them all back to Luke’s apartment.

Claire can’t really make out what they’re saying. Everything feels like it’s underwater. 

They’re in Harlem, Claire realizes, about a few blocks away from her’s and Luke’s apartment. Neon lights flash in her vision, stores being passed by and the sounds of people talking flooding in her ears. She feels cold. Cold and clammy.

She can barely move her feet.

Jessica stops for a minute, turning around to snap at Danny, who’s gesturing at Claire with a frantic expression on his face. Claire can’t hear them. She looks down at her fingers. She’s got a hangnail and her nail polish is chipped. 

But she didn’t paint her nails. And why do her hands feel sticky?

She looks at them closer and they’re covered with red-brown, flaking blood that’s crusted around her fingernails and it’s on Jessica’s jacket and Claire knows where it’s from; it’s from when that thing bit the security guard’s shoulder and he had died in Claire’s arms because she couldn’t do anything, even though this was a hospital-

Claire stumbles into an alley and empties the content of her stomach, heaving her guts up. She can hear Jessica swear, but her mind is racing and her pulse is doing the same, and she feels like she should run, but her limbs feel like absolute noodles-

Claire’s not sure how it happens, but one second she’s vomiting and the next Jess is lifting her up and carrying her, walking briskly to Luke’s apartment, where it’s safe and Danny’s right there, on the phone with Luke and he’s saying something along the lines of going into shock.

And then they’re there, and Claire is handed off to a familiar set of arms and an even more familiar face, and something warm and heavy is draped around her and she’s being laid down on a couch-

“You’re safe now. Go to sleep.”

And so she does.

❁

8:31 PM

When Claire wakes up, Luke is immediately there, hands grasping hers and an adorably concerned expression on his face. There’s a bit of murmured sweet nothings and soft smiles and hands laced together and kisses placed on forehead and cheeks, before there’s the sound of a cleared throat and Luke groans, pulling away from Claire.

Jessica and Danny are across the room, Danny on the chair and looking anywhere else but the couple and Jessica perched on the counter, drinking all of the liquor and staring at the two pointedly.

“As much as it would be nice if we could all just stop for the night,” Jessica drawls, a little tipsy if Claire’s being honest, “There’s some shit we gotta talk about.”

The attack.

Claire shudders, images of bloody teeth and convulsing bodies flashing through her mind. “I know.”

A cup of coffee in her hands and curled up to Luke, Claire breathes in and out as Jess and Danny arrange themselves comfortably, Jess pushing Danny out of the cushioned chair and Danny sitting cross-legged on the floor.

Claire licks her lips. They’re chapped and dry. “It attacked the main part first.”

The room is pin-silent.

“We managed to secure the maternity ward and the neonatal unit,” Claire remembers, “Got it all locked up and safe. I think that’s why it set the fire. Didn’t like that we could protect the kids.”

Claire huffs. “It tried to go after the kids. Specifically the younger ones. Thankfully, we managed to get them out the doors before it shut them with this weird-”

“Webbing?” Jessica finishes, hands tapping on her bottle. 

Claire nods, eyes slightly narrowed at Jessica. “Yeah. You’ve seen it.”

Jess takes a swig. “Docks, last night. Shot it and it tried to hit me with this reddish-silvery liquid. Weird as fuck.”

“Yeah, well,” Claire leans closer to Luke, “After it shut the doors, it managed to blow the fuses and cause an electrical fire. I was with Strange and Palmer, and we managed to take cover in the ICU.”

“We stayed there for about twenty minutes before it showed up. We tried to barricade the doors, but it broke through. There was a security guard with us, and when it showed up, he tried to shoot at it, but-”

Claire taps a finger on the side of the mug. “It’s got these teeth, they’re like knives. Claws too. It’s red, with these black-blue jagged lines all over it. It, uh,” She takes a deep breath, Luke rubbing circles onto her back, “After it killed the guard, it stayed around. There were a few people that tried to escape, but it, um, just killed them. Everytime someone tried to leave, it would attack that person. It was toying with us. Palmer-Palmer said that she thought it was planning something. That's why it stopped for a minute.”

Luke breaks the silence. “How’d you get out? ‘Cuz they didn’t catch the thing, and you were already out by the time Jess and Danny arrived.”

Claire smiles into her coffee. “You guys know about Spider-Man?”

Jessica groans and slams her head into her hands as Danny perks up. “Spider-Man? He was there?”

Claire nods. “Came running into the ICU like an idiot. Had to drag him down before he caught the attention of that thing.”

She pauses.

“He’s so damn tiny. He had this gun, said it took down the creature last time he saw it. Gave it to me, told us to get everyone out, then leapt up and punched that thing straight into a wall.”

Luke whistles. “That strong?”

“Stronger than that thing, that’s for sure. Right before I took the last guy downstairs, he had the upper-hand.” Claire shakes her head. “Made that thing so angry, all it did was focus on him.”

“Smart,” Jess murmurs, hand tapping a pattern on the glass bottle.

Danny’s staring at her. “You went back up.”

Luke stiffens.

“I did,” Claire concludes, “And before you people say anything, I was armed and also I have dealt with ninjas, so there.”

Luke grumbles. 

Claire pokes him before continuing, her small smile vanishing. “That thing nearly killed him.”

Jessica’s hand is clenching the neck of that glass bottle so hard, it’s going to break.

“Spidey had a dislocated shoulder, maybe some broken ribs, most likely a concussion, and he was covered with blood.” Claire shakes her hands out. “He let me fix the shoulder, but he got hit with that webbing, and that stuff, I think it’s got to be laced with some kind of poison. He kept hissing in pain.”

“Shit.”

“I hit it with the weapon. It took the thing down. Leapt of the window to avoid another hit. And then,” Claire takes a sip from the mug, “Spidey took the weapon and I went back downstairs. You guys found me and here I am.”

There’s another bout of silence. Claire sips from her coffee as Luke curls her tighter. She leans her head on his shoulder. She’s safe. This is safe. 

Then Jessica swears and stomps out of the chair, tossing the empty bottle in the trash and grabbing another one from off the counter. 

“Jess,” Danny calls, but Jess just shakes her head at him. 

“I knew that thing was trouble,” She snarls, opening the crap-ass beer Luke kept in the fridge, “I just-”

She falters. “I just didn’t think it would be that bad.”

Luke breathes in deeply, closing his eyes. “Did Spidey say anything about it? If he knows what is or not?”

Jess shakes her head no, while Claire sighs. “No. He’s just as lost as we are.”

“Then we gotta team up,” Danny speaks up, “Spidey’s the only person who’s fought this thing and survived; we have to work together.”

Jess snorts. “‘Cause it worked so well the last time.”

 And that’s when Claire knows that Jessica finally managed to get herself drunk.

Claire breaks the tense silence and the staring contest between Danny and Jess. “He’s not looking to team up. He barely let me fix his shoulder, so I doubt he’s going to be willing to work with people. Especially about this thing.”

“We need to stop calling it the thing,” Luke says at the same time as Danny exclaiming, “But we’re the Defenders!”

“I hate that name.”

“We’re really bad at it.”

“Hey,” Luke interjects at Jess’ comment, “Not all of us.”

Jess waves her beer bottle around. “Meh. The only one who got it really locked down on the whole I’m-going-to-be-a-vigilante thing was Murdock, and he ran around New York in a devil fursona.”

“Please never call it that again.”

Jess shrugs.

Claire thinks. “He reminded me of Murdock. Spidey did, I mean.” She taps a finger. “He could do that hearing thing Murdock did. Could hear heartbeats. Had a crappy costume.”

“Shitty fighting,” Jess points out and Danny’s mouth opens in outrage.

“You’ve seen him!?”

“Been trying to find him,” Jess takes a swig of the beer and sighs under Danny’s intense glare. “I think I’ve found a way to locate him. I’ll do it tomorrow. And no, you can’t come.”

“So it’s settled then,” Luke looks between the three of them, “We find Spidey and then we make a plan?”

Jess groans while Danny beams. “Fine.”

Claire laughs as Danny and Jess begin bickering over whether or not Danny should come to go talk to Spidey. Danny offers up useful arguments, while Jess just shuts him down every time.

Luke kisses the top of her head. “I’m sorry. For not being able to get to the hospital.”

Claire curls up closer. “Let’s not do that again, shall we? I think I need to take a break from being attacked at hospitals.”

He rests his cheek on the top of her head and hums. “I can do that.”

Claire smiles and cups Luke’s cheek, tilting her head to the side to catch Luke’s lips with her own. “We’re such great negotiators.”

Luke chuckles and moves to kiss her again when Danny shoots up, staring at his phone with wide eyes. “Luke, where’s your remote?”

“It’s on the counter,” Luke’s slightly peeved, but mostly confused. “Danny, what-?”

Danny snatches the remote off the counter and turns the TV on, changing the channel to the news. Jessica moves closer to where she can see the screen as Claire and Luke straighten up and watch the news, the red line at the bottom reading BREAKING NEWS.

There’s a picture of Metro Gen, live footage of the damage and Claire wonders if a miracle was pulled off and they actually managed to track down the thing and stop it. Doubtful, but a girl can dream.

Then Jess mutters, “Oh my god.” and Danny makes a sound of complete and utter outrage.

“-over 14 people were killed, with dozens of injuries. There’s reports of a fire being started by an electrical surge and a large, humanoid creature attacking the patients and personnel there. There are multiple reports of this thing attacking people, Robert, I don’t understand why-”

“Oh, come on Sandra. There were reports of webbing being found on doors and on people. The reports all said that they weren’t able to confirm what they saw and who’s to say he wasn’t just toying with them? Sounds like something he would do.”

“Do you really think that someone who’s been actively saving people’s lives since the beginning of April suddenly decides to attack a hospital filled with innocent civilians? Civilians that he protected and saved?”

“Who knows what’s going through his mind? I ain’t a psych, Sandra. But what I can tell you is that this person has stayed out of the public eye for most of his “vigilante career”. Then all of a sudden, Metro Gen gets attacked and the police named him as a person of interest. And not just the police; the FBI are looking into this. Looking for him. Do you really think that it’s a coincidence?”

“Have you ever seen a movie?”

The newscasters dissolve into squabbling, but all Claire can see is the black words fade out and replace themselves with others much worse.

Much, much worse. 

17 KILLED;  DOZENS INJURED AT ATTACK AT METRO GEN

SPIDER-MAN WANTED AS PERSON OF INTEREST.