Dex had completed his mission and kept his promise regarding Vanessa. A fragment of the trophy struck her in the temple. Even though he had taken a bullet to the side while fleeing from Daredevil, it no longer mattered.

Dex was bleeding out, but it wasn’t the first time, and he believed he deserved it. He stumbled into an alley, trying to get away, but Matt caught up to him and refused to let him escape.

Matt took him back to the hideout. They walked down a long corridor that resembled a bunker, but Dex had already lost the last of his strength back at the church. Matt was practically carrying him the rest of the way.

The door swung open.

“Could I get a little help here?”

You and Karen exchanged a glance, interrupting your training, then immediately rushed over to help him carry Poindexter. Soldatt removed the bullet, but he had lost far too much blood. As long as the wound was kept clean and free of infection, he would recover.

Karen wanted him to rot in Fisk’s basement. Matt insisted that everything that had happened had been an accident. But you couldn’t take your eyes off him, silently praying that he would be alright…

Consciousness returned to him in waves, each one dragging him through a haze of sticky pain. The first thing Poindexter felt as he came to was a sharp, throbbing pain in his wounded side. The injury had already been stitched up and covered with a fresh surgical dressing.

He instinctively tried to turn over, but the cold metallic clink of handcuffs stopped him short. Dex jerked once, then again, drawing a ragged breath through clenched teeth before finally forcing himself to open his eyes.

He saw Karen.

“Hello, Karen”

She was consumed by rage and vengeance over Foggy. With her pistol pressed against his head, she was ready to pull the trigger. For Benjamin, it would have been an escape from everything. Redemption. A final gift.

Just as she was about to fire, you and Matt walked in. Matt knocked the gun out of her hand with his baton, and you, overwhelmed by emotion, shoved her away from Benjamin.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” she shouted at Matt.

But you weren’t listening anymore. You had already walked over to Benjamin. To you, he would always be Benjamin.

Was he dead? Or was he in heaven, seeing your beautiful face? Matt’s little sister, whom almost no one knew about except him. His “North Star,” the one person he had begged Matt to let him see just one more time.

Matt knew you had feelings for him too, which was why he forbade the two of you from seeing each other. In fact, he had nearly killed Benjamin again because of it.

Dex slowly leaned back against the pillow. A sly, barely noticeable smile spread across his pale face, streaked with blood and covered in countless wounds.