Arc Three. Chapter Seventy-Six. Demon In A Red Dress

Elektra Natchios, the only child of the Natchios fortune, loved by her mother and father, always had an easy life. She was looked after, cared for, attended the best school, had tutors for classes she was failing, and also for those she was not. A child of rich parents she never wanted or asked for anything, and after practising ballet one day and seeing the class across the hall doing judo, she asked her father for that as well.

Loving his daughter, he agreed and brought in the finest teacher he could find, and then another and another. Elektra's love of martial arts spiralled and soon, it was everything. What made it worse for her father was that she excelled at it. She was a natural and as she picked up and mastered style after style he saw less of a daughter he could trust with the family business and more of a warrior, who would simply drive her enemies before her.

Her mother was both kind and loving, and the day she died broke both her and her father's heart. It was not until many years later that Elektra learned the truth, and in doing so sought revenge against the ones that planned her death.

After her mother's death, her father became a recluse. Venturing out only to take Elektra to school, or to the dojo where she trained. His own investigations into the assassination of her mother led him to befriend a man whose name she never knew, only that she was to call him uncle. It was his daughter however that slowly worked her way into Elektra's life. As a child, the much younger Felicia would follow her around, and as she grew, mimicked and attempted the strict martial arts that she practised.

Taking a liking to the young girl, even with a five year age gap, she would spend time with her, teaching her not just martial arts but to talk, how to act around the adults, and how to fight.

At 18 she bid a tearful goodbye to the young woman, they were both heading to the States but as Elektra was enrolling at college, Felicia was being taken to enrol in high school. Promising to keep in touch, they send messages and letters to each other often, and after Felicia's father mysteriously vanished, Elektra would make sure the young woman was okay, sending her money and small packages of food and other niceties.

At Columbia University, she studied business and finance, while continuing her martial arts training. Her father was now adamant that she studied as hard as she could, whatever demons driving him to find his wife's killer made him aware of just how much danger that he and his daughter were in.

It was at college that she first saw Matthew Murdock, being led by his friend Foggy Nelson. She was intrigued that a blind man could be so agile, watching his friend try and prank him while all the while being seemingly aware of what was going on around him.

It was this intrigue that led her to follow him one day, to learn the secret martial arts that could teach a blind man to be so aware of his surroundings that she found him, dressed in red, leaping from rooftops to rooftop. Following he took her on a chase across the rooftops, his agility surpassing hers and as she stood, her hands on her knees panting and swearing in greek at him she spied him on a nearby rooftop, he mockingly saluted her and then dived away.

The next day, she confronted him, but of course, no one would believe the blind student was running across rooftops. Storming away, she missed the small smirk on Matt's face. It was not the first time she chased him, and not the last time he got away from her.

The pair continued their little game of cat and mouse, for the four years they were both at Columbia University. Daredevil leading her into a famous den of thieves and the pair beating down the group, Elektra, leaving a trail of clothing, led him to a notoriously dangerous spot where he found a young woman being robbed and stripped, and he beat the would-be rapist almost to death as she made her escape.

Over four years, the Devil and his temptress played cat and mouse with each other, neither winning and neither willing to concede. Even when the game moved into the bedroom it continued, and as each was their first they learned and grew and loved together.

In her last year, Elektra's father left her a cryptic message. He had found them, and after that, nothing. Waking the next day she received the call, and heard the news. Hugo Natchios had been found, murdered and behind him, the sign of a notorious contract killer, two concentric circles with a cross drawn through them. Bullseye. Electra had no choice. After a tearful goodbye, she left and travelled the world, seeking out the trail her father had followed and clues to find out who the identity of Bullseye was.

Her trail left her to japan, where a group calling themselves the Chaste offered to help. She had heard of the group before, late nights training with Matt often brought up the name of his mentor, and after a year of their teachings one day, she was summoned to her master's study.

There, waiting with a downcast Matt, was the old man. He stared at her and with a wave of his hand, dismissed the woman from not just his sight, but the organisation. As she yelled, inconsolable, he prodded her with his cane and the pair fought. Elektra's master held Matt back, while Stick was relentless.

Taunting her over the death of her father, taunting her over the love of Matt she was outclassed and outmatched. Leaving her broken and bleeding on the training room floor, his final words to her only served to steal her resolve against both the ones who killed her father but now, the Chaste as well.

"Your father was consumed by his revenge, as have you been. I will not allow my adopted son to fall victim to such a woman"

Matt could only watch as Elektra, lying on the floor of the dojo, half yelling and half crying as Stick shook his head and led him away. It was four years later that Elektra met Matt again, and their reunion was not a pleasant one.

Elektra had been true to her word. She had joined, infiltrated and then destroyed any gangs or organisations that held ties to not just Bullseye but any rumour they had been complicit in her father's murder.

As she investigated, she found that not only was it the same group responsible for his death but also her mothers. As she looked, it had been a warning at first but as she scrapped more and more of the lies and deceit away she found a single name.

Embarrassed by her behaviour and the illegitimate child she carried, a single man had plotted and paid for the downfall of the Natchios family. He paid a group to attack the boat her mother was on, killing her. He paid for Bullseye to attack and remove her father, who after she followed more and more leads had come to realise just who the killer was.

As she stood, dressed in her white Kusari, she slipped quietly into the office of the man responsible for all the death in her life.

"I assume you're finally here to end it sister?" a rather plain and boring middle-aged man asked.

Elektra had found out less than a week ago that it was her older brother. Tired of facing the bullying over his mothers supposedly promiscuous ways he had arranged the small group of men to kill not just her, but the young Elektra as well. He had found the documents, that Elektra was illegitimate in his father's study, after looking for a financial report on the Natchios empire. He had been written out of the will and disappeared. Until she dug far enough, Elektra didn't even know he existed.

Enraged by the betrayal he hatched the plan, and it was only his father being called away on sudden business and Elektra taking a holiday with him that saved them.

As a normal, middle-aged, and balding businessman he could only gasp and die as Electra drove her sword through his chest. Taking a small finger of blood she drew the marking she had seen over her father's corpse on the wall, in blood, with

"You are next"

As the blood of her brother stained her clothing, from that day forward everything she wore while searching for Bullseye was no longer white.

She had become Elektra, the Devil in Red. And nothing would stop her from her revenge.

She had tracked him across Europe and then back to America, and it was almost comical. The man responsible for the deaths of so many, of her father, was dying himself. A rare brain tumour and he took job after job to pay for the specialist neurologist needed to save his life. She thought it ironic the one thing saving his life was laying a paper trail from her to find him.

In New York, she found a crime lord was using his connections to call Bullseye to work, and she hunted him to hasten the process. He was an evil man, using slavery and drugs to build his empire and in the night she killed and took his men.

Daredevil was not happy to see her as she had hoped. Her exploits, the wanton death of crime lords and their enforcers had reached him, through his mentor. As she smiled and walked towards him he had shaken his head and turned away, "You are not welcome here, Demon," was all he said before leaping off into the night.

As she stood, the anger eclipsing the pain she felt as his rebuff she shook her head, tightened her fists and walked away. If the Devil needed no Demon, then she had no use for him either.

She heard the rumours of a new gang, the Black Cats and while the name was cute and unusual their methods were more brutal. Huntress was her name and she was cutting a swath of terror across the nightscape of New York, helped by the man in black, Venom. She had heard of his involvement in the death of a policeman, but to her, they were just as guilty, as even she knew of the payoffs and services demanded by the corrupt element within their ranks.

As she followed their trail, hoping to catch a glimpse of them she finally found her mark. Disappointingly so. Venom was trained, but it was by an amateur. She saw bits and pieces of a style she recognised but nothing good enough to stop Bullseye from killing him. He was special forces and had also been the recipient of several experimental treatments, one of which caused the very cancer now killing him. He wasn't on the same level as Venom but he was close enough this wasn't a fight, it was a slaughter.

It wasn't until her oldest and dearest friend called her name that she slipped. Of anyone to find hunting on the street it was her, and in the single moment of surprise, it was all over.

As the pain of the sai driven into her chest blacked her vision, Elektra heard the distant voices arguing. It was cold and she knew she was dying,

I got him papa, she silently thought to herself as a single tear trickled down her face.

Unseeing, unfeeling she was barely warm when the creature touched her mind,

We find you near death but we taste you and find you suitable for our offspring.

and in the dark came a spark,

We taste you, and wish to bond. You are death, and in your mind we find it. Hades, you may call us Hades.