They weren’t a lot of phone booths left in ordinary cities in ordinary streets but Gotham wasn’t an ordinary city and Crime Alley wasn’t an ordinary street.

“Betsy,” said a shaking voice. The voice of a man with the habits of a child. “Betsy it’s me.”

The phone slipped from his hands. He gripped it tightly but the phone slid in his hands.

“I… I screwed up,” the man said, he stared out the four glass walls of the phone booth. He felt trapped, his body all itchy. “I know you said no killing but… but…”

The man wailed. “They were threatening you and… and I didn’t want anything to happen to you. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

The phone slipped from his bloodied hands. “Please, please call me on that private number we talked about. You know, that one. Please call me to tell me if you’re safe.”

The blood on his jacket felt heavy, like sweat. His bald face looked like a tomato with all the blood that was on it. The man was so huge, his head almost touched the top.

“I know you have a lot of clients,” the man said. “So, if you get this, this is Melvin Potter. Please, please get out of this city. I put you in danger and I’m so, so sorry Betsy. I’m so sorry.”

Tears felt down his face. “I’m so sorry Betsy.”

“He’s over there,” shouted a voice. “He’s in that phone booth.”

Melvin hung up the phone. He left the phone booth, leaving behind a trail of bloody footsteps in his wake.

…

His senses exploded into life as the world around Matt came into focus. He was breathing heavily, feeling the individual pinpricks bandage thread dig into his body like needles.

And he smelt her, the lavender stained by the strong iron stench of blood. He heard the slosh of a cloth stained in anti-septic as Elektra rolled it up into a ball and walked towards him.

“That wasn’t like you Matthew,” Elektra said. “Rushing into battle like that.”

Elektra peeled off the bandages and started wiping the wounds. He could feel the anti-septic sizzling in his wounds but he ignored the pain, trying his best to keep his body still.

“Stick said you were the best warrior he trained,” Elektra said, putting a fresh new patch of bandages on his wound. “These wounds say otherwise.”

“Stick also said you were emotional,” Elektra said, her hand was like silk in comparison to the bandages on his body. “Maybe that’s why…”

“What do you want?” Matt interrupted. He listened to her heartbeat; it didn’t give anything away.

“You, Matthew,” Elektra said.

Matt chuckled. “Sure, you left me in college without a word and the next time I see you, you’re talking about Stick and you’re murdering people. Now tell me, what the hell do you want?”

“The same thing you do,” Elektra said. “Eradicate crime. How I’m going to do it in a place called Crime Alley, I don’t know.”

Matt chuckled. “By killing everybody? God, you and Stick are the same.”

“And what,” Elektra said. “You plan to clean your streets up by chasing them till they have heart attacks.”

“That’s none of your business,” Matt said. “Now get out of my apartment.”

“Stick was right,” Elektra said. “You’re weak. You can’t do what’s necessary.”

“Stick is a delusional old man,” Matt said. “He doesn’t care about you; he just wants soldiers for that League of Assassins. I can’t believe you were stupid enough to fall for his delusions. Now get out of my house.”

“So, what are you going to do?” Elektra said. “Flail your fists blindly looking for those children to compensate for your guilt. While people in your city die, while your law firm collapses?”

“What are you talking about?” Matt asked. “What about my law firm? Elektra if you did anything to Foggy, I swear…”

“Check your messages, Matthew,” Elektra said. “God knows you need to.”

Matt checked his phone and saw around 20 voice messages from Foggy.

…

“What happened?” Matt asked, sitting across Foggy by the window of Nelson’s Butchery.

The smell of rich meat invaded his nose as Foggy’s various brothers and Ma Nelson greeted him.

Foggy was stuffing himself with stew and bread, Matt could smell the stew around his mouth like he always did when he was stressed.

“Some kids,” Foggy said, licking his fingers. His voice was muffled by the food he ate. “After the trial they wrecked the office.”

“Why?”

“After Elliot’s case I don’t think anybody here likes us,” Foggy said. “Mahoney even told me some people over at the GCPD are calling us a bunch of ‘money swindling shysters.’”

“Did you find out who wrecked the place?” Matt said. “Maybe we can sue for damages.”

“And risk plummeting our reputation even more?” Foggy said, about to grab another piece of meat before Matt stopped him.

“You’re going to feel that one in the morning,” he mumbled. “Not cooked very well.”

Foggy took note of that and put it aside.

“The people that damaged the office are a bunch of teens that don’t know any better,” Foggy said. “No point in suing them and ruining their futures so I sent them over to that new school around the block, Ma Gunn’s. Face it, Matt we need something to get our reputation back on track or… I don’t know. Maybe starting a firm in Crime Alley was a farfetched idea.”

“This is our home, Foggy,” Matt said. “Remember what we said in…”

“Law school, yeah,” Foggy said. “To bring the law into Crime alley.” Foggy chuckled. “Damn that was cheesy but unless you have any bright ideas, Matt, I think we might have to find somewhere else to open up shop.”

“I’ll… I’ll sleep on it,” Matt said. It was just at that moment he smelt her scent lingering in the air through the strong smell of meat. “You mentioned a client…”

“Mrs. White,” Foggy said. “Yeah, if we manage to claim maintenance from her husband, we’ll probably have enough money to repair the firm or start a new one. It won’t do anything for our reputation but…”

Matt nodded. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll head home to do some of the research. I’ll call you if I find something.”

Matt left the butchery and followed her scent into a narrow alleyway.

She dropped down from the roof and had no time to react before Matt dropped all the pretences of pretending to be blind and pinned her against the wall.

“How the hell did you know about this?”

“Word travels around Crime Alley fast.” Matt could almost see her smile, the way he felt her body light up in excitement. “You’re trying to save your reputation, are you not?”

“Not with your help I’m not,” Matt said through grit teeth. “Now get the hell out of my life before I…”

“What, Matthew?” Elektra asked. “Before you what?”

Matt’s body tensed up. He let go of Elektra before turning his back to her.

“The enemies you face are…”

Matt raised up her hand to stop her. “Before you start. What is it you want?”

“To be with…”

Matt turned to face her. “Cut the bullshit,” Matt said, smirking. “You’re good at using people. At earning their trust and throwing it in the trash. I know you well enough to know you didn’t come here just to see me.”

Elektra’s body tensed. Maybe there was a shred of honesty in her, maybe she did come to see him. Matt couldn’t tell. That was what made her so enticing in college. Other girls were easy to read, their bodies and heartbeats gave everything away. Elektra’s didn’t.

Elektra was quiet. Her heartbeat had its same calm rhythm but there was a hint of hesitation in it. A small flicker of doubt like a ripple in a still pond.

“My father,” Elektra said. “I want to know who killed my father.”