Arc Four. Chapter One Hundred Nine. Punished

If you want to win then fight like it," Hades yelled at Huntress as she ducked under another swing and drove a fist into her stomach. As Huntress staggered back she snarled and pounced forwards, bringing another fist round and as Hades lifted an arm to block it, Huntress spun and followed it with a kick to her midsection. Turning and absorbing the blow with her hands, Hades was pushed back, "Good, good. Again," but Huntress lifted a hand and her symbskin mask slipped back and she shook her head.

With both hands on her knees she panted and coughed, "Enough, can't" and taking deep breaths she knew she had no more stamina to continue fighting. Sweat dripped from her face, and her chest and limbs burned from the constant fighting.

Ignoring her Hades stepped forwards and kicked her legs out from under her, and then stamped a foot into her stomach. "Will your enemies give you time to take a breath?" and Felicia glared at her, "They will wait until you are tired and kill you." A symbskin sword extended from her arm and slid down to Felicia's throat. "And now you are dead." tutting and taking her foot away the sword slid back into her armour and she morphed back into the normal t-shirt and tight pants she normally wore.

Felicia lay spread eagle on Elektra's dojo floor, staring at the dusty air-con filled ceiling. Huffing in deep breathes she knew she wasn't good enough, compared to the others she was a genius, but compared to Elektra she was a blind amateur,

"Felicia, you are too soft. We have only been training for 6 hours and you are this tired? What happened to the endless stamina, are you not enhanced? Do you not possess powers over and above what Huntress provides you?" and as she lifted, unscrewed and handed her a bottle of water, Felicia snatched it angrily and huffed.

"Compared to you, no" she snapped and sat on the floor with the bottle pressed to her forehead.

"And yet we have been training for just as long. I remember your father bringing you to the dojo and we would play before fighting. So?" and as she took a bottle of her own, she sat next to Felicia and took a sip, "What happened?"

Felicia huffed and leaned back, lying on the floor with her hand over her face, "I don't know, things." and Elektra laughed,

"A boy you mean. Don't think I can't smell him on you, even if Huntress devours him you are still thick with his scent."

Felicia huffed, "so? Don't think I can't smell that lawyer on you either, plus he stinks of formula. I didn't realise what Peter meant until I met Matt." Felicia retorted, her relationship with Peter gave her strength, the reason she was fighting like this was for Peter. She tutted to herself, for Peter, not Gwen and she felt a little bad. I'll make it up to her.

"And yet, here we are, you lying on the floor, pouting and me, sitting next to you, kissing your booboos. Like a little child." and Felicia shot up straight,

"Oh fuck off. I almost lost three people I care about. I need this to get better, not to get a fucking lecture." but Elektra laughed and rubbed her hand on her shoulder.

"But a lecture is what you need as well, come stand." and as she stood she helped the groaning Felicia up off the hardwood floor of her training dojo. "You are not focused. You are not calm, I will not repeat your father's words, as we both know we never listened, but I will repeat my own. There is no emotion, only peace, there is no ignorance, only knowledge." but Felicia looked at her,

"That's the Jedi code, what the hell Ele?" and with a surprised look Elektra burst out laughing.

"You finally watched the movies then?" and Felicia glared at her. "Your father was never one for, what did he call them? Pointless trivialities. I am glad you finally got someone to sit and watch them with. They are good yes?" and Felicia shrugged,

"First three were a bit wooden, maybe cut out some of the, what? No. No reciting the Jedi code as training bullshit. What gives? Wait? Did you steal all your lessons from movies?" and Elektra took a swig of water and shrugged.

"Only good movies." and she laughed as Felicia gave her an incredulous look and shook her head,

"I don't believe it, really?" and as Elektra shrugged "really. Fucking unbelievable."

"I have the eye of the tiger next if you want to listen, Rocky, very good movie." and as Felicia burst out laughing Eletrka joined in. The pair standing in the middle of the training room shared a moment of lightness. "But the lesson still stands. You are allowing too much to burden you, too much for you to do alone. With Matt, I have time, if you wish it?" and Felicia nodded.

"You are still calling them the Black Cats, yes?" and Felicia nodded again, "then, as Daredevil, Matt has made it clear that he does not approve of you or Peter. I am not as naive. Your approach is correct, to curb the worst and allow the darker shades of grey, to stop them from falling into the black. Hades agrees, We will join your Black Cats, and we also wish to meet Peter," and as she smiled, "and we will apologise to Gwen." As Elektra took the water bottle from Felicia she returned them to the cooler, "but first, we fight, and no slacking off, fat lazy American. I see how much you eat at lunch," Felicia raised an eyebrow

"Fat lazy American huh? And where is the Greek tub I saw eating a whole gyro and salad as, what did you call it, a snack?" and as they got down into their fighting stances the pair grinned wickedly at each other, and training began once more.

As he sat on the edge of the roof he let the cool breeze waft away the smoke from his cigar. As he waited and watched the pair sparring, impressed by not just their speed but their stamina. He had been here almost a day and they had fought for all that time and only now one of them was tired.

As he took more notes he spotted a figure, clad all in black approached what it thought was silently, but his voice sounded out in the quiet dark. "You know, I figured if I followed the deliveries of cream I'd find one of you pyjama wearing fucks eventually." and as he flicked the cigar away the black figures face split and a maw of jagged teeth hissed at him as long blades extended from his fingers.

"Well, that's new," the man said, drawing a large calibre handgun and firing off a round at the creature. "Bulletproof though? Maybe not" as he watched it crumple to the ground. As he walked over he kept his gun trained on the man, or whatever it was, and as he nudged it with a steel toe capped boot it rolled and sprang up, "yup, bulletproof" and he fired off two more rounds.

Ducking under them and almost gliding forwards the creature slides out with a claw and caught the man across the chest, slashing open his Skull motif t-shirt. The armour underneath now wore three long gashes from the creatures attack. He raised the gun once more and fired off a few rounds, knowing he would be unable to hit something that fat but a combat knife, slid from its sheath, was held, hidden behind his back, ready and waiting for its next strike.

"Yeah, fuck you, these t-shirts ain't cheap you know," he taunted it, and as it hissed once more it derived towards and this time the man stepped back and met its hand with the knife, slicing at its palm.

It hissed in pain and pulled its arm back as the black inky skin peeled away from its hand and fresh blood dripped down from the slash. "Bullets but not knives yeah, good" and as he holstered the handgun he drew out another large survival knife, "Figured as much, John was an accident but right before that, he got in a good shot, stunned but no real damage. Figured slashing was better, maybe try blunt and see if those bones break just as easily," and as he raised both knives in front of his chest, the creature paced back and forth, watching not just him but the building behind him as well.

"Hmm, home? Or a less than friendly visit?" and all he got in reply was a hiss. Frank had watched the dojo for a while now. Whoever was at the top of the food chain after Fisk disappeared spent time here, but even Frank wasn't stupid enough to take this place on. He had a thick dossier on it and he knew Elektra Natchios owned it and trained there, fuck he thought to himself, if she's mixed up in this then I can kiss this lead goodbye. He had also heard the name Thomas Hardy, and if it was his daughter, he figured she wouldn't have had his wife and daughter killed, thieves don't kill, but he still needed to be sure.

Frank was not having a good time right now. While the creature was vulnerable to his slashing, it was also fast and slippery and twice now it had gotten him a good blow across the chest. Even the fine kevlar weave with chainmail underneath was scored from its finger weapons. He had gotten a few good hits in as well, and blood, or something, dripped from a slash across one of its arms.

"Look, give it up. Tell your boss I want the names of anyone involved in the Central Park murders, alright," and lowering the knife a small amount he waited to see if the creature would respond.

As it hissed once more it ran forwards and as Frank brought one knife up to defend, this time it let him stab it, The knife penetrated deep into the creatures arm and it grabbed hold of him, crushing him in a bearhug,

"Kill me," it hissed weakly, and Frank responded with a head butt and as he pushed it away, he stabbed out and caught the creature in the chest with his second knife. Even as it staggered back it roared and hissed at him, pulling the knife free and throwing it to one side.

"Well, shit," Frank said. He had managed to get a copy of the police reports, not just from John's death but the supermarket as well and he knew that whatever these things were, their armour was bulletproof. He had spent hours honing the blade of his knife, coated in diamond to make sure it cut anything they might be wearing, but as he looked at the thing he was unconvinced they were even human under there.

The knife had gone straight in and yet whatever this was still stood, no blood, no sign of weakness. Sure the blade had gone in, but into what? The creature still continued its pacing and Frank knew he had to switch to more unconventional tactics.

"Come on then," he roared at it, and as it skated forwards once more, Frank twirled and let it run past him, pulling out and spraying the creature with a strong-smelling liquid. As it was doused it shook itself, but Frank shook his head,

"Homemade napalm," and striking a match, he tossed the lit flame at the creature, watching it burst into a bright orange flame. As the creature struggled it dived off the roof and ran screaming down the street.

As Frank watched he pulled out a fresh cigar and lit it with a match. "Yeah, you run motherfucker. You tell them The Punisher's coming for 'em" and as he went back to watching the dojo, he sat on the edge of the roof and smoked his cigar.

Hearing some commotion Felica took a glance out of the dojo window, seeing nothing and even as her eyes picked up someone smoking a cigarette on the roof of their building she shrugged and turning back to Elektra, and began to train once more.