c29: Having a Delusional Episode? A Shocked Elektra
Karl and Elektra completely ignored the Daredevil standing off to the side.
The two exchanged a glance, and without caring about Matt Murdock's increasingly awkward expression, they left together with their arms around each other, looking every bit like a perfectly matched couple.
As for Daredevil…
he used his radar sense to perceive their retreating figures and remained silent for a long time.
He felt an indescribable sense of frustration at being completely ignored.
As the Devil of Hell's Kitchen, he was usually the one making criminals feel pressure.
Today, however,
he felt like an irrelevant background character in someone else's romantic drama.
But fortunately.
This terrifyingly powerful existence had not attacked him again.
His injuries from the previous encounter had not fully healed yet.
His ribs still hurt,
his shoulder still felt stiff,
and even breathing too deeply reminded him of how casually Karl had thrown him around before.
If he were to be injured again,
that would truly be disastrous.
Claire Temple would probably refuse to patch him up a second time and tell him to stop getting beaten up by impossible people.
Of course,
there were fates even more miserable than being injured.
For example,
finding out that the woman you had just tried to flirt with
was the girlfriend of the same monster who had previously humiliated you in front of Kingpin.
That was definitely worse.
However,
Daredevil chose not to think too deeply about it.
Because the more he thought about it,
the more miserable he felt.
After a while, he finally turned around and returned to the café.
He sat back down in his original seat.
At this moment, Daredevil felt some genuine regret.
If he had known this would happen,
he absolutely would not have chased after them.
His law partner and colleague, Foggy Nelson, who had been watching the whole thing from a distance, wore a mischievous smirk.
"How about it, Matthew? Did you get that girl's contact information?"
Foggy leaned forward with a teasing grin.
"Let me tell you, that woman was seriously beautiful. She looked like she walked straight out of a magazine."
Then he narrowed his eyes.
"Uh… why do you have grass and weeds on your suit?"
"Did you trip while flirting?"
"..."
Daredevil simply gave a bitter smile.
He could not possibly explain that he had been thrown over ten meters like a sack of potatoes by his crush's superpowered boyfriend.
That would be far too embarrassing.
So he said nothing more.
...
On the other side.
Karl was walking down the street with his arm around Elektra.
The afternoon sunlight fell across Manhattan's streets, and passing pedestrians occasionally turned to look at the unusually eye-catching couple.
At this moment,
Elektra suddenly remembered what had happened just now.
She turned her head and looked at Karl with obvious curiosity.
There was even a trace of suspicion in her beautiful eyes.
"What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"
Karl smiled knowingly.
Elektra narrowed her eyes slightly.
"How did that person fly more than ten meters away just now? Did you do that?"
"And when exactly did you arrive?"
"Weren't you staying in Queens recently?"
Elektra asked curiously.
Earlier, the moment she saw Karl,
she had been too happy to think clearly.
After all, they had been together for years, ever since their days at Columbia University.
Seeing him appear suddenly had naturally overwhelmed everything else.
She had not paid much attention to the strange details.
But now that her emotions had calmed down,
Elektra finally realized
that several things about what had just happened were completely abnormal.
For example.
In her eyes, one second earlier, she had still been exchanging blows with Daredevil.
The next second,
Matt Murdock had disappeared.
She had only vaguely caught sight of a black blur flying away at terrifying speed, which she instinctively assumed was Daredevil being knocked back.
And yet, Karl had somehow appeared directly in front of her almost at the same moment.
When she turned again,
Daredevil was already lying on the grass more than ten meters away.
Then Karl had kissed her,
and she had responded almost instinctively, too naturally to even think.
Now that she carefully replayed everything in her mind,
the entire situation was clearly not normal.
Elektra and Karl had been lovers for many years.
Karl had started dating her during his freshman year at Columbia University.
Back then, even the proud Elektra Natchios had been surprised that someone could keep up with her personality.
In fact,
Karl had even met her father Hugo Natchios.the wealthy Greek diplomat and businessman whose influence reached far beyond ordinary society.
Because of that,
Elektra did not hesitate at all.
She simply asked whatever came to mind.
"Oh, I just arrived."
Karl nodded casually.
"I was at home, saw you fighting someone, and then came over to help you."
"As for that guy, yes, I was the one who threw him."
"You came from home? Weren't you in Queens?"
"That's right."
"Queens?"
Elektra stared at Karl in disbelief.
Queens?
She was currently standing in Manhattan.
Even ignoring New York traffic,
there was still a significant distance between Queens and Manhattan.
Even by subway,
it would take dozens of minutes depending on the route.
But what Karl had just said was he first saw her fighting someone, and then came here?
There was obviously something wrong with that sentence.
First of all.
Queens and Manhattan were far apart.
At the very least,
based on normal human vision,
it was absolutely impossible to see what was happening here from Queens.
Even someone standing on a rooftop could not casually observe a street fight happening across boroughs.
Secondly.
Even if Karl somehow could see her fighting someone,
the timing still made no sense.
Now Karl was already here.
And the fight had not even truly ended yet.
This was completely illogical.
The subway would take tens of minutes.
Even a taxi in good traffic would not be that fast.
Did he fly here?
Faster than the subway?
Faster than Spider-Man swinging across Manhattan?
"How did you get here?"
Elektra stared directly at him.
Karl answered calmly.
"I flew here. Probably in less than a second."
"Are you joking, Karl…"
Elektra looked at him and felt both speechless and amused.
She genuinely thought he was joking.
After all,
it was not as if they had never joked with each other before.
It was just that Karl's jokes were usually terrible.
And this one was especially outrageous.
Flying?
In less than one second?
What was he supposed to be, Superman from Metropolis?
"I'm not joking."
Karl shook his head seriously.
"Did you forget that I sent that guy flying over ten meters earlier?"
"Do you think you could do that?"
"I threw him."
"This…"
Elektra hesitated.
Because she certainly could not do that.
Even with all her training,
even with her strength being comparable to peak human fighters like Black Widow or Batman,
she could not casually throw Daredevil that far with one hand.
And honestly, deep down, she still did not fully believe that it had been Karl.
After all,
Elektra and Karl were college alumni.
They attended the same school.
Once.
Elektra had once personally seen someone from the Sanda club sparring with Karl.
Back then, during their days at Columbia University, Karl had already been someone who stood out.
Unlike the rich second-generation heirs who only knew how to attend parties, Karl had trained his body seriously since he was young.
Whether it was boxing, wrestling, Sanda, or practical street combat, he had always maintained strict discipline.
Even before obtaining any extraordinary abilities, his physical condition had already surpassed most ordinary students.
During one of the university club activities,
Elektra had watched a senior from the Sanda club confidently challenge Karl to a sparring match.
That student was strong, broad-shouldered, and well-known on campus for his fighting skills.
Yet Karl had defeated him cleanly and effortlessly.
His movements were calm,
his attacks were precise,
and his control was far better than someone who merely trained for fitness.
Naturally,
that was how Elektra became interested in him.
After all, Elektra Natchios had never been interested in weak men.
She had been raised around danger,
trained to recognize strength,
and possessed an instinctive attraction toward capable people.
That was how the two of them gradually became familiar with each other.
That was also how their relationship slowly developed from curiosity into love.
Elektra knew very well
that Karl had combat ability.
And in her understanding,
his combat ability was roughly on the same level as hers.
Perhaps even slightly stronger in terms of pure physical confrontation.
Of course, even so,
it absolutely should not reach the level of casually throwing Daredevil more than ten meters away like tossing a broken training dummy.
After all,
even Elektra herself could not do that.
Not even Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, could casually do something like that with pure physical strength.
No normal human being could.
At least,
not without being named Superman or Wonder Woman.
But even if she did not believe it,
she also could not explain what had happened just now.
Because Matt Murdock had indeed disappeared from right in front of her
and appeared more than ten meters away on the lawn.
That was not an illusion.
She had seen it with her own eyes.
For a moment,
Elektra became even more confused about what exactly was going on.
Karl looked at her expression and smiled.
"Simply put, I suddenly acquired superpowers."
"Not only can I fly, but I also have speed faster than an airplane."
"I even have telepathy, and I know exactly what you're thinking right now."
Karl did not intend to hide things like his abilities.
In fact,
from the very beginning,
he had never seriously considered hiding forever.
If one day in the future,
while he was flying over New York,
fighting criminals,
or casually throwing people like Kingpin's bodyguards into walls,
he was discovered by government agencies like S.H.I.E.L.D.,
or by noisy reporters from places like the Daily Bugle,
Karl had no intention of pretending to be normal.
Because he felt there was no need.
Why hide it?
Was he supposed to worry that after people discovered he had powers,
they would come looking for trouble?
People foolish enough to do that
were no different from walking directly toward their own funerals.
Whether it was ordinary criminals,
government investigators,
or people like Lex Luthor from the DC side who loved studying dangerous beings,
Karl would not fear them.
Nor would he show unnecessary mercy.
For people close to him like Skye, and especially Elektra, there was even less reason to hide anything.
However.
Elektra suddenly laughed so hard that she almost could not straighten her back.
She leaned directly against Karl's shoulder,
laughing uncontrollably.
"Hahahahaha"
"Karl, your joke today is actually pretty funny."
"Superpowers?"
"Are you having some kind of delusional episode?"
"That shouldn't be right. We've already been out of college for several years now."
"You didn't suddenly become Clark Kent behind my back, did you?"
Karl, on the other hand,
was calmly admiring Elektra's figure.
Elektra already had a nearly perfect figure long legs, a slender waist, and the kind of dangerous beauty that made people instinctively keep watching.
And now,
with her body shaking from laughter,
those curves shifted in even more captivating ways.
After quietly appreciating the view for a while,
Karl smiled as well.
"I'm just telling the truth. I really have telepathy."
"You're thinking right now that you still don't understand what happened just now."
"I already told you, I was the one who threw that guy."
"You can try it now."
"Think of something else, and let me guess."
"Fine."
Elektra still wore a smile.
She clearly thought Karl was continuing the joke and teasing her.
After all,
for an ordinary person,
this kind of thing was nearly impossible to accept.
Mind reading?
Flying?
Super speed?
This sounded less like reality and more like something from a Justice League comic.
Karl did not mind.
The next moment,
he spoke calmly.
"Hmm…"
"You're annoyed that your father is forcing you to attend that banquet tonight."
As soon as Karl finished speaking,
Elektra froze instantly.
Because she had just been thinking exactly that.
Her father, Hugo Natchios,
had once again arranged one of those unbearable high-society gatherings a boring banquet full of politicians, wealthy businessmen, and people pretending to be important.
She hated those events.
She hated fake smiles even more.
And just now,
that thought had indeed flashed through her mind.
Elektra forced herself to stay calm.
Maybe…
it was just a coincidence.
After all,
Karl knew her very well.
He knew her personality,
her relationship with her father,
and how much she disliked formal social events.
At this moment,
Karl spoke again.
"You're thinking that me guessing correctly was just a coincidence."
"You're also thinking that I actually look kind of cute when I'm having a delusional episode today."
Elektra's eyes widened instantly.
She stared at Karl in complete disbelief.
Because those thoughts
had also been exactly correct.
Not even a single word was wrong.
Karl smiled slightly.
"You're now wondering whether I really have telepathy."
"If you still don't believe me…"
"I'll just take you to experience it directly."
As he said this,
Karl naturally wrapped one arm around Elektra's waist.
His movement was smooth and confident.
Before she could even react the next moment,
their figures vanished instantly.
There was no warning.
No running start.
No visible movement.
It was as if space itself had folded around them.
Almost at the same time,
their figures appeared high in the air above Manhattan.
The wind howled around them.
Below them,
the city stretched endlessly towering skyscrapers,
moving traffic,
tiny pedestrians, and the shining glass of buildings reflecting the afternoon sun.
The streets of New York looked like toy models from this height.
Elektra was completely stunned.
She stared blankly at the buildings far below,
her brain nearly stopping for several seconds.
For the first time in many years,
Elektra Natchios, who could calmly face assassins and danger, was genuinely, completely,
shocked.
.....