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Matt was surprised how fast Frank could be up and running again. It had been hardly half an hour since their eventful chat on the rooftop and Matt was already chasing after him again through the alleyways of Hell's Kitchen. Frank smirked seeing Red twenty feet behind him. If he wanted to lose him he would've done it by now. There was something about Red, though...
The ex-soldier had escaped the apartment building's elevator to elude the Dogs but after encountering a stray gang member in an alley, he let a gunshot to his victim's head and an arrogant yell of "Come on!" give himself away. Matt was on him in a heartbeat. The night was young after all, and before Frank patched himself up he needed to see that masked devil one more time. Needed to get something out that he hadn't had the chance to before.
Frank climbed a nearby fire escape with Red still in pursuit. They climbed all the way up before Frank used a clothesline to swing his way across a wide gap and climb to the next roof. Matt could feel how far the next roof was, much too far for him to jump, and Frank had pulled the line so Matt wouldn't follow. However, that racing heartbeat stayed in the same place, the owner of that pulse staring him down.
"Red." Frank stood like a soldier at ease: chest out, feet spread his shoulders-width apart.
Matt had come to a halt and finally relaxed enough to shout something back. "Frank, I'm going to get you, one way or another."
Frank smirked. "I know. Not now, though. Not tonight...Tell me something, you know why I really didn't take your mask off?"
Of course not. Frank said he just didn't care who he was and he had assumed that was true. Matt dropped all expression before yelling across what felt like a void. "No, why?"
"'Cause I didn't want to see myself." Frank paused for a second, catching his breath and stepping towards the very edge, sitting down and propping one leg up while letting the other hang off the side. "I didn't want to take it off and see some version of me that could have existed, might have existed...Stare into the eyes of the person I might've been at one point, if I could remember. The war changed me beyond recognition. I didn't always feel so...empty, Red. I didn't always feel nothing when I pulled that trigger, when I took a life. I was just like you, Red. Just like you..." Frank nearly laughed at himself for letting him babble at some stranger who wanted him imprisoned. Someone who, somehow, managed to make him feel like he was talking to himself, and not in a bad way.
Matt was on the other roof, listening intently. Not moving, all attention trained on Frank. The more Frank spoke the farther away he felt. He didn't know what they were exactly, but at this moment they didn't feel the slightest bit like adversaries.
Frank continued, "But you see, thing is, Red...the war did happen. I did change. And I'm not like you no more. I can pull that trigger whenever I want to and I don't care. That Dog of Hell in the alleyway a few minutes ago? When he ain't riding his motor around with his buddies, he goes home and beats his wife for fun. She's no saint either, but he's still in the wrong."
Matt frowned, eyebrows dropping in something akin to disappointment. "He didn't deserve to die for that, though." Justice and murder didn't always have to be interchangeable.
"Yeah? Well, what if it was worse? Worse than murder, worse than rape. Somebody so sick and so chaotic. When you have a mad dog, Red, you put it down. People that sick don't stop. You want to send them to jail, let our flawed legal system serve them their time. But you know what? Some people don't stop. They never stop, Red. That man was doing something wrong and I did what you'll never be able to do. And I ain't ever gonna stop. That's my justice. That's my way of life. You think these fallible-ass courts of virtue are going to save your city? That they'll save this nation from crime and all the bad guys who come after you? You're dead wrong."
"Then you're dead wrong about me, too, Frank. We're nothing alike. Not if you think like that." Matt retorted.
Frank ran a heavy hand through his hair, wiping the sweat and letting the night breeze graze across his forehead. "Red, we're two sides of the same coin. That's why I got your attention, why I brought you here. So I could see myself. I'm looking at you now and it's like looking in a mirror, Red. A skewed, distorted mirror. Like some kind of carnival shit. But it's there. It's me. Me, if things had gone differently. You and I think we can hand out punishments as we please. And for me, I think some people deserve to die for what they've done. You think I'm wrong for killing bad guys?"
Matt hesitated to spit out an answer. "Yes, I think your methods of justice are wrong. That's why I need to stop you."
"Two sides of the same coin, hun. You do the same thing, just toned down a notch. You take me down then people are gonna start smelling the bullshit and hypocrisy wafting off you, and they're gonna turn on you so fast. They're gonna get a nice whiff of the truth because it's gonna blow right into their faces. That you ain't no hero. And I ain't no hero. Just two crazy dudes who think they can make the world a better place by taking it by the reins. Not everything is so black and white. It's a haze of grays, sunshine. You may be a lighter shade but we're all in the same family. Anyways, that's what I wanted to say to you, since our little heart-to-heart got cut short earlier. I'll see you around, Red. And next time, I won't stop for a psych appointment."
Frank stood up and gave Matt a lazy salute before walking off to the other side of the roof and climbing down the fire escape.
Matt stood there and let the night sink into his skin the way Frank's words did.
He may be blind, but he, too, could see himself in Frank. He let that thought go and carry off on the wind before he disappeared into the darkness once more.