Chapter 0173: Retribution

Earth-65.

"Go ahead. Do it." Matt Murdock smiled with a look of pure success on his face, "Prove me right." He choked out.

Even as he dangled off the edge of the 45th floor of a skyscraper while being held by the throat, there was no fear on his face, only an expression of success.

"Gladly." Gwen's face mask retracted backward and revealed her smiling expression as she threw Matt hundreds of feet away as if he was nothing more than a ragdoll.

"WHAT DID YOU DO!" A feminine voice screamed in horror from behind.

"What needed to be done," Gwen said with a dark tone, "You and I both know that the justice system would fail in the face of someone like him. He can never be brought to justice since he owns both sides of the law, Captain." She turned around to address the woman who was still horrified.

It was Samantha Wilson, adorned in her blue, red, and white Captain America suit, she was currently lying on the ground with her leg twisted at an unnatural angle.

"You need me to heal that?" Gwen offered, "I can help out."

"You've doomed us all…" Samantha said with a tone of defeat.

"Please." Gwen scoffed, "Do you think I would meaninglessly kill him so quickly? He's currently dangling off of the edge of the building, barely holding the web I left for him. I'm not going to kill him so easily."

Gwen's words astounded Captain America, "Your anger and hatred for him are genuine. That much I'm sure of," She started analyzing Gwen's actions, "I can't imagine that you wouldn't kill him seeing the momentum that you had when you came here…" She narrowed her eyes, "You were ready to destroy the entire city."

…

Almost half an hour before these events.

The sound of glass shattering sounded as Gwen broke through the floor-to-ceiling window and entered Matt Murdock's office in his law firm. Adorned in her true Venom outfit that was sleek black along with streaks of white that formed a deformed spider symbol along her back. The back of her hood was black while the front side had a white jagged design as if she had a huge set of teeth surrounding her face. That thought was further cemented by the inside of her hood which was red, almost pinkish, seeming like the inside of a mouth.

"I'm gonna fucking kill you, Murdock!" She snarled out loud and punched in his direction. Before the man could even register the sound of the glass shattering, he was slammed into the wall as a large appendage extended out of Gwen's outstretched arm and restrained him against the wall.

"Fuck…" He coughed before laughing painfully, "If it isn't my favorite spider person." He groaned out with difficulty.

"Hi there…" Another voice groaned out. It was Samantha Williams. She'd just now been confronting Matt before he'd sneak attacked her and had just broken her leg before Gwen attacked him, "If you were like a minute earlier, I would've been able to provide you with backup." She said with a pained cough.

"You're too weak to be my backup." Gwen was blunt and merciless.

"Ouch…" Samantha decidedly shut up, not wanting to be attacked in such a personal manner again.

"This is the last fucking straw, Murdock." Gwen growled while approaching the restrained man, "First my family, and now my friends? What the fuck do you want?" She shouted before punching the wall beside him. It promptly broke down and destroyed the adjacent office. Thankfully, it was empty and no one was in there to get hurt.

It also freed Murdock from Gwen's grasp and she pulled back the appendage. He stood up while coughing because of the dust as he patted his clothes, "Welcome, Ms. Spider-Woman, to my humble abode." He said with a smirk that made Gwen feel that he had everything under his control.

"I don't like that face," Gwen said before punching the man in his gut.

"Argh!" He kneeled over in pain, "Fuck…" He heaved while trying to catch his breath, "At least give me a moment to threaten you…"

Gwen was a little weirded out, "I was expecting you to pull out something like your own Iron Man suit…" Gwen mumbled confusedly. "Or like a Daredevil version of it…"

"On the contrary." He groaned out, "I'll make sure that you regret hitting me." He said with a vicious tone.

"If you're talking about the snipers that you have stationed around my house and my friends' houses, you can quit it. I've already taken care of them." Gwen said nonchalantly as she walked back and sat in the man's seat behind his desk. She put her feet up on the desk before giving him an 'impress me' look, "Please, do show me if you have something else. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt." She said.

"Is that arrogance I see?" Murdock was almost impressed, "I have to say, not a look that suits you."

"Not a very good choice for last words, no?" Gwen put her feet back on the floor and stood up, "Though, I'm not one to judge…" She rolled her eyes and started approaching him.

"You might have taken care of my snipers," Murdock was still confident, "But you don't think that after all that time, that would be my only fail-safe?"

Gwen tilted her head while continuing to walk toward him. Even though her expression was hidden behind the mask, Matt could almost feel her nonchalance toward his threat. His brow twitched as he spoke while slowly stepping back, "I've spent years as the Kingpin of New York City, young one." He said, "I started from the ground up before taking over Fisk's position—"

"Can you get to the point?" Gwen said tiredly, "I'm already bored of your monologuing."

He showed an annoyed expression at her interruption and said, "If you dare to kill me, I'll destroy the entire city." He said with a voice full of annoyance, "Like hell, I'm going to let you take from me everything I've built through my life. I know this city better than anyone. I dare you to find all the bombs." He finished before saying under his breath, "She ruined the entire vibe…"

That seemed to stop Gwen, [Alex?] She asked in her head.

[He's saying the truth. And there isn't a trigger either. I can see a pacemaker-like device in his heart though, it's presumably the trigger.]

[Can you control it?] She asked hopefully.

[Yeah, you can just do your thing.] Alex cheered her on.

"So I can't kill you, huh?" Gwen tilted her face eerily as her 'hood' seemed to move a little of its own volition, creeping both Matt and Samantha out. Especially since it looked as if it was a monstrous mouth.

"Your move, Ms. Stacy," Murdock said, uncaring about revealing her identity in front of Samantha, "I've shown you my card." He seemed almost anticipatory about Gwen's following words.

"Haah…" Gwen was exasperated, "Fucking Murderdock…"

"I dig that address. Makes for a nice hashtag…" He chuckled, having depicted Gwen's reaction and knowing that she wouldn't make a move after this, "Matt Murdock, kingpin of all underground forces of New York City, murderer of thousands… With a little hashtag Murderdock at—" His words were abruptly cut off as he felt himself being lifted by the throat.

He choked out a confused groan as Gwen kept looking up at him while keeping him off of his feet. She started walking to the window that she'd previously broken through and said, "I'm getting real tired of your casual bullshit. Thinking that you have everything in the palm of your hand…" She trailed off.

Weirdly enough though, Murdock didn't seem too resistant to Gwen's actions. What weirded Gwen out was that he seemed to be looking at her with anticipation, as if he wanted her to throw him off the building.

"How about you tell me your motive as your last words…" Gwen offered since she was mildly curious about his motivation. She could've had Alex read his memories, but this felt more satisfactory.

"Don't!" Samantha's desperate voice distracted Gwen.

"Shut it…" She threw a web at Samantha's face that would automatically dissolve after a minute or so. But it served its purpose of shutting her up.

"Power corrupts, Ms. Stacy…" Matt groaned out as Gwen slightly loosened her grip over his throat, just enough that he could barely speak, "Someone as powerful as Spider-Woman… How can someone like you be so righteous... Selflessly sacrificing yourself for others, even under scorn… And I've finally ripped that mask off." He said before coughing as Gwen's grip tightened over his throat again.

"You put hundreds of people in danger…" She said with suppressed anger, "You targeted my only living family in this world such that he almost died, multiple fucking times…" She reached the ledge and held him at the edge of the window, "You sent that bitch Cindy after me to steal my powers so that you could influence me further by enticing me with those damn isotopes…" Her anger was palpable at the moment, "All that, for a fucking social experiment?!" She shouted in his face while tightening her grip even further, such that Matt's face almost turned purple within seconds.

[Hey, Cindy's a changed woman now. She's helped us out so much in the past couple of months…] Alex joked, calming Gwen down a little as she slightly loosened her grip over his throat, allowing him to speak.

"Go ahead. Do it." Matt Murdock smiled with a look of pure success on his face, "Prove me right." He choked out.

***

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