A/N: This fanfic was last updated in June 2015. What a shame, I'm a terrible writer. I was caught up in college and life, basically, and it's not that I had lost interest but I guess I missed Daredevil so much I didn't feel like writing anymore. I had lost motivation. But then, Daredevil came back and GOD THAT FELT SO GOOD and my shipper heart started to beat again and I finally finished this tenth chapter. I had actually started to write it last yearand I realized that my take on Elektra was actually pretty close to the show's. Anyway, I'm so sorry it took my ages to post this chapter, I hope you'll enjoy it! :)

"What do you mean you're part of a Japanese organization?"

Foggy's head hurt and he couldn't shut his mouth. None of it made sense. When Karen had burst into the room, going on about how she just had been recruited by that Greek girl from college, he had immediately understood they wouldn't eat anytime soon, and hunger and incomprehension didn't exactly get along in him.

Karen sighed. "I told them I was in, but I'm not. Not really." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Do you really think I would've betrayed you?"

Foggy heaved a sigh and sat down next to her. "No. No, of course not." He looked up at Matt who was standing before them. He hadn't said a word since Karen came in. "Matt? You're okay?" he softly asked.

The young man slightly shook his head. "Yeah, yeah." He turned to Karen. "You really need to be careful, Karen, the Hand is filled with... ruthless people."

"You know them?" she inquired.

"Stick had told me about them a little bit. They're as violent as the Yakuza, as trained, but they hold... strange beliefs."

"In other words, they're batshit crazy," Foggy deadpanned.

She silently nodded and put her hands on her knees. A painful silence filled the room once more. Karen stared at her feet, Matt gulped and Foggy sighed.

"Okay, let's cut the crap," the latter suddenly blurted out as he stood up, "we need to talk about Elektra."

Matt winced. "Foggy-"

"It's not personal, I mean it kinda is, but she's the mastermind here! She may be working for the Hand but she's leading the operations and she had Karen kidnapped for fuck's sake!"

Matt clenched his fist and his heart skipped a beat. She did kidnap Karen. The thought made him shiver. Had he known about this earlier, he would have been worried sick, fearing for Karen's life, and so angry at Elektra. Angry at himself, too. All this anger was meaningful: whenever he thought of Elektra, his rage was too vivid, his wound too fresh to be a simple scar. He wasn't in love with her anymore, this he knew, but he felt resentful, bitter. She still had an impact on him, and now she was threatening Karen. This had to stop.

"If she wants to meet him, he'll meet her," he said as he slightly gritted his teeth.

Foggy shook his head. "Matt, you can't-"

He shook his head. "I can, and I will. She won't hurt me, she needs help."

Foggy's jaw dropped. He brought his hands to his head. "You really wanna help the villain?"

Matt sighed. "She's not- I wanna know what happened to her."

Karen gave him a dark smile and chuckled. "So it is personal."

For some reason, he could feel his blood boil into his veins. Something snapped inside of him. "Yes, Karen," he said, "I wanna know how the girl I was in love with ended up working for those dangerous assholes, and I don't see why you should have any say in that."

Foggy frowned. "You said..."

"Don't, Foggy. It's none of your business, so let me handle this and please, stay away."

He heard Karen gulp. He smelled her pain. She was tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, her eyes set on the floor. She always did that when she was hurt. And he hated the idea that he, of all people, had caused this reaction.

"Karen-" he began before she silently stopped him, her palm raised before his face. "I'm sorry," he continued nonetheless, his voice weak and soft.

"So am I," she simply answered, and his heart broke. She collected her purse and coat, headed to the door but stopped at the threshold, one of her hands on the door frame, her back turned to him. "Be careful, please," she let out, a tremor in her voice.

He wanted to reach out to her, to take this hand that was clinging to the door frame, but as he motioned to touch her, she left in a heartbeat.

"Well done, Matt," Foggy told him before heading out.

He heard him shut the door, and he was left alone with his regrets. What was it that urged him to push away the people he loved the most? What was it that kept him from letting them in completely? Karen knew now. There was nothing left for him to hide, was it?

He grunted and walked to the fridge. A nice cool beer wouldn't solve his problems, but it would make them easier to bear.

"Hello, Matthew."

It was a voice he knew all too well. Its tones clung to his pores and stole his breath away with only two words uttered with an expected playfulness. He shut the fridge and turned to the voice.

"Long time no see," she added.

"Funny as ever," Matt deadpanned. His body tensed and he could feel his veins pulse against the fabric of his shirt. "What do you want, Elektra?"

She scoffed and took the beer from his hand. "Is that it? You haven't seen me in ten years and all you want to know is what I want from you?" She took a sip from the bottle and chuckled. "Disgusting."

Matt sighed and rubbed his forehead. "No small talk. How did you find me?"

She walked toward him, slowly, oh so slowly, like a snake crawling over to its prey. "Still bitter over our break-up?" she asked, her voice like sweet venom. "Or maybe you just want to go back to, what's her name again, Karen?"

The name caught his breath and he gulped.

"She's quite feisty that one," she continued, a sparkle in the eye. "I see a pattern here, Matthew."

He could feel her wink blowing air on his face like a butterfly flutter. "Leave her out of this," he threatened.

She chuckled darkly, her teeth shining in the dim, yellowish light of Matt's apartment. "A bit late to go all Prince charming, don't you think? You couldn't even protect her when she needed you the most."

Matt gulped. His fists clenched on their own, more out of fear than of anger. He waited, but expected her words.

"I know about Wesley," she finally let out, a smile in her voice. It infuriated him, the way she had to be so detached from everything.

"How?" he asked, confused.

She put her hand on his shoulder and he shivered. He remembered the touch of her skin against his own flesh... Ten years... How time flies. How wounds turns to scars. How scars are so easily reopened. "I have my sources," she said.

Matt shook away from her touch and returned behind the counter, feeling the need to hide behind a wall, to get far way from her. "You still haven't answered me. How did you find me?" he barked.

Elektra pouted and rolled her eyes. She had expected another welcoming. But then again, she did leave him without warning ten years ago. "I followed your precious Karen, duh. I wasn't sure you were the infamous Devil of Hell's Kitchen, but I'd recognize this building anywhere."

"And what do you want from me?"

No small talk it was. "I'm looking for Nobu," she admitted, very seriously. All trace of banter had disappeared from her voice. It sounded like steel. "He's gone missing for a while now," she added.

Nobu. The flames. The killing. He hadn't killed him, the fire had, he had killed himself. That's what Matt loved to tell himself, but had had spent nights wondering whether he had crossed the line or not. He cleared his throat and put both hand on the counter and tilted his head to the side, a smug smile on his face. "And why would I know anything about this?"

Elektra crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head, her lips stretched into a devilish smile. "You're the vigilante here, aren't you?"

He shrugged. "I'm doing what I can."

"Come on, I can see your halo, all gold and sparkles," she said as she pointed the top of his head, staring at the void above it.

"Halo or fork, even I can't really decide," he quipped.

Elektra's smile vanished progressively, leaving her face and going God knows where, outside of the apartment, away into the night. "Please, Matt," she almost begged, very seriously this time, "I was sent to find Nobu. Don't make it hard for me. For old time's sake?"

Old time's sake? Old sorrow's sake would have been more appropriate. She had abducted the scumbag who had killed his father. She had tied him up to a chair. She had forced him to beat the guy to death. He could remember the scene so clearly, so painstakingly clearly, the blood on his hands and the sound of her laughter. And then, as he was calling the police, shaken by Elektra's cold-blooded scheme, she had fled. And she had never reached back. Until this night.

"I don't know where he is," he lied. "I'm sorry." This one wasn't a lie.

Elektra heaved a sigh and sat on the couch. She buried her face into her hands. "If I don't find him," she said, "there's going to be a war, Matthew. And I'm sure you don't want to cause a war, do you?"

A war was the last thing Hell's Kitchen needed. "What are you talking about?"

"The Yakuza. They're still here, in Hell's Kitchen. You didn't get rid of them. The Hand think the Yakuza took Nobu. We know that they want something from us, something that we're the only ones to possess. We figured they were holding him captive in order to obtain it, but this option doesn't really make sense because they never reached out. No bargain, no blackmail, nothing. If I don't find Nobu, war will be upon us all."

Matt frowned, failing to understand. "Why? What war?"

Elektra bit her lower lip, opened her mouth, then closed it, words dying on her tongue. She had tried to figure out the right way of explaining the situation to him, then she had decided she wouldn't tell him anything. A part of her was counting on her charms, certain Matt wouldn't have moved on. The other part of her, the vulnerable one, perfectly knew that she was fooling herself. She hadn't moved on, and despite the mask she had put on her face, she still cared about the nerd who had turned into the Demon.

She got up and paced around the living room, alternatively staring at the purple light of the signs and the dark of the room. "Nobu..." she finally let out, her eyes set on the floor. "The Yakuza and the Hand will butcher each other if the former took Nobu. The Hand won't surrender."

"This is rather good news," he deadpanned.

She tilted her head to the side. "Is it? I thought Daredevil didn't kill people?" She saw him pout, his lips forming a crescent. She had missed that pout. "Plus," she added, "many innocent lives will be taken in the process. Believe it or not, there are many more industries blinding people in order to get them to work. The Yakuza are very creative and they know how to lay low."

He was at the crossfire, caught up between the will to help her and the pleasure he took in picturing two of the most dangerous criminal groups of all killing each other, doing the job in his place. He told himself he wanted nothing but to keep his city safe, that he wouldn't do this for Elektra but for Hell's Kitchen, but deep down, he knew she still had this power over him. He liked to tell himself he had gotten over this, over her, ten years had gone by after all. But had he? Why did he feel concerned by her involvement in the Hand? Why did he even care?

He shook off the thought. If Elektra was right, and if she was telling him the truth, they were on the verge of war. Daredevil had to step in, for Hell's Kitchen, for Foggy... for Karen.

"If I help you, no one dies, got it?" he said.

She sighed and smirked. "I can't promise not to kill anyone, Matthew."

"Then I can't help you." He took a step backward and showed her the door.

Elektra's smile vanished and she rolled her eyes. "Wait!" She sighed. "I'll do my best. Now, will you help me stop this war before it begins or not?"

Did he really have a choice? Hadn't he sworn to protect Hell's Kitchen? The devil has made a bargain, and he had to keep it. How ironic. "First," he said, crossing his arms over his chest, "tell me why you even tried to enroll Karen."

She rolled her eyes. "I knew she would never betray whoever this Daredevil was," she sighed. "I suspected you were him, but I wasn't sure. So I thought that if I proposed her a job, she would go straight to Daredevil to warn him. It was a risky bet, but it paid off. When she went to you, I understood." She suddenly burst out laughing, her eyes twinkling with malice. "But to be fair," she added, "I just wanted to have a bit of fun."

Matt rubbed his forehead, tired. What had he done to deserve this? Was it God punishing him for his sins? He had to fix things with Karen, and he couldn't do this with Elektra around. Something was telling him there were stormy seas ahead.

"I'll help you," he finally said, "but I don't want you anywhere near her."

She smirked. "Are you afraid she'd be jealous of me?"

"I'm afraid she'd kill you," Matt laughed.

Elektra arched her eyebrows, the smile on her face reaching for her ears. "You definitely have a type, Matthew."

A/N: Before you say anything, this is still a KAREDEVIL fanfic, don't worry. However, I cannot ignore Elektra, especially after season 2. She had a huge impact on Matt's life and his relantionship with Karen, so she's going to stick around for a bit. I can't promise I'll update soon, but be reassured, this time it won't take me a year ;) Thanks again for reading me and reviewing/favoriting this fic!