Elektra Natchios (assassinforhire) wrote in newalliance, @ 2012-07-31 23:23:00 |
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Entry tags: | daredevil, elektra |
The Path of Shadows
Who: Elektra Natchios - Narrative, OT Reaction from Matt Murdock, Maria Hill, Nick Fury, and other SHIELD Agents
Where: Elektra's Apartment, New York City, NY
When: Sunday, June 8 thru Saturday, June 14
What: Elektra prepares for war.
Rating: PG-13 for mentions of sex and violence.
Sunday
The funeral went as well as could be expected. Friends came, distant family called, Matt attempted to comfort Elektra, and they fell asleep on her couch, him holding her in blankets in front of the fireplace, while the uncanny snowstorm raged outside. Hers was a shallow sleep, with fitful dreams, old nightmares held at bay by the warm assurances and strong arms of her lover. She mourned this moment, holding into it even as she said goodbye to Matt in her mind. Where she was going, he could not follow. If only she'd been brave enough to tell him in person that it was over. Not yet. She couldn't let him go. She needed just a little more time.
Monday
The stink of hot metal filled the air in her apartment, and sparks flew as Elektra sharpened her sais over the spinning whetstone. There was a stillness outside, uncommon for a Monday in New York City, caused by the increasingly poor (and impossible) winter weather. The fury and motion of the wheel against her personal weapons rang out in the living area, cut quieter by walls that could absorb most sound. Her masters in the Chaste would have been outraged, were they here, to see Elektra Natchios dishonoring the noble weapons. To sharpen a sai was to fundamentally change its destiny from one of defense to one of death. Her eyes, as sharp as the tips of these ancient tools, saw many deaths in the path ahead, and at the end of that path, her own. She had little doubt of that.
Tuesday
Sitting in front of her laptop, Elektra finished composing her letter of resignation. The last thing she needed was the suspicions of the premier intelligence agency in the world following her trail. And there would be a trail of bread crumbs, one that only a person who'd been trained by the Chaste might fully understand. Though if they ever received wind of her methods, they would be her enemy as well. Old fools.
The letter had been finished for hours, but she stared at it. This was a future she'd wanted, before she'd found a better one she intended to live out with Matt Murdock. Now that future, too, was no longer before her. Only the path of darkness and death laid before her feet.
Before she submitted her letter of resignation, addressed directly to Maria Hill and Nick Fury specifically, she reviewed the latest intelligence on these weather patterns. SHIELD analysts were suggesting magic might be involved, and the more it persisted, the more likely they'd be mobilizing their special Avengers team to deal with it. Something like this was out of her hands as well. Even still, it would be difficult to lose access to the information SHIELD could provide. She would have to find alternate information sources. She pulled everything the agency had on a criminal called "The Calculator." Then, with one last moment's hesitation, her resignation had been emailed.
Wednesday
Elektra moved out into the city, to buy food and ascertain the severity of the conditions outside. That this was worldwide meant there could be lasting repercussions for years to come. The snow, however, told her something she was not expecting.
She was being stalked. The Hand were still treating her as prey, not realizing they trailed the footsteps of a huntress.
Thursday
Matt had insisted he come over, and Elektra did not give him much fight. They had a meal and wine, and before long retreated to the bedroom. Already she was growing distant from him, and he knew it. She could tell he was frustrated, but he misunderstood her behavior as mourning. The sex was almost animalistic, and they consumed each other out of a fear of the cold outside and the growing distance between them. The pleasure was electric and passionate and fierce, the two of them wrapped in those red silk sheets, her last haven from the path soon to be taken. When they were still, she held him tightly, and where once she might have shed tears, she kept her composure. Her hands traced over his curious scars. He did not know it yet, but this would be their last time. Elektra would not let go.
Friday Morning
Everything in her apartment was put in its place, cleaned and organized. She could still smell the metal shavings from the sharpened sais. Hand-writing a letter and handing it off it to a brave courier, she gave the young woman instructions to deliver it to the Law Offices of Nelson and Murdock no sooner than late afternoon. When she left, Elektra turned, and dressed in her garb for war. Something was missing. She was still having trouble letting go. She knew Matt would be by when he received her letter, and had to be gone by then, so things were all in place to prevent any tripping hazard. The incense sat on the table if he wished to take it.
Elektra looked down at her garb, then, walking into the bedroom, pulled the sheets off. She took out a small knife and cut into the heavy silk, the blade so sharp it felt little thicker than the air. They reminded her of her time with Matt, of the precious love she was sacrificing in pursuit of oblivion. Slowly, she tied the torn pieces into wraps, fastening the red silk over the leather, across her waist in dangling threads, and then, finally, wrapping the top of her head with the last piece.
A reminder of what she was leaving behind. Of the cost of vengeance. Because she couldn't fully let go of him. Now her weakness would become her armor. Now her love was a shield. And as she was dead to it, so was Elektra death to the Hand.
She turned the lights off, and a moment later, was quickly on her way out of the city.
Late Friday
After tipping the courier, Foggy Nelson closed the door to the office and looked it over. The handwritten letter was addressed to Matt, but delivered to Foggy, who opened it and did as Elektra instructed. Sitting in front of Matt's desk, his friend slowly read it to him.
'My Dearest Matt,
I am leaving New York City. Where I'm going, I cannot ask you to follow. While I will always hold a special place in my heart for you, I am ending our relationship.'
Foggy paused, but when Matt said nothing, he continued, his voice remaining even though he knew what this was doing to his friend already.
'Where I am going, I do not intend to return from. Do not come after me. Do not look for me. This is a path I must take alone. Please respect my wishes. I know how stubborn you can be, and I expect Foggy to hold you to this.
'You are a brave and kind and strong person, and you deserve the best this world has to offer. That is something I can no longer give. Live your life, find a woman who appreciates you and can be there for you, and continue helping people in that way you do so well.
'There is nothing you could have done to change my mind, and nothing that you did to make me decide to do this. Do not blame yourself. Be well, Matt. Live.
Warmest regards,
Elektra'
Saturday, at dawn
A dark shape moved swiftly through the cemetery, until he stopped suddenly and turned. The hunter was surprised to find his prey standing behind him. He turned and drew his blade, attacking swiftly. He was fast, almost inhumanly so, but not enough to mark the woman draped in red, and soon, his heart punctured by the sharp tip of a sai, he fell to the ground and bled out, the blood mingling with snow and coagulating quickly in the shadow of Hugo Natchios' tomb. His eyes grew dim as she yanked his hood off to look at them. "You were dead days ago," she told him, her voice cut from stone, "you just did not realize it yet."
She waited until he passed into the next world. It would be the last mercy anyone bearing allegiance to the Hand would have. Then, Elektra lit his body afire, standing in its warmth for only a few minutes. The Hand were legion, and she was only one.