Work Text:
one: MACK
Ever since he started up his solo practice, business had been well, slow. Matt had the resume to show his credentials, but starting any law firm was difficult. He'd been able to keep his previous clients from Nelson & Murdock, but none of them could pay with actual money.
His first real client who could afford the fee was a man by the name of Alphonso Mackenzie. Matt could smell mud on his boots and the strong scent of laundry detergent that had been used to clean out blood. He was fairly certain that this guy had at least one gun on him.
"I'll be honest with you, Mr. Murdock. I don't live here, but my cousin does," Mr. Mackenzie's voice was rough and gravelly. "'Tez is a good kid. He's going for his Masters in art therapy. His girlfriend just had his kid a couple months ago. But 'Tez's landlord… He sucks. There's no hot water, the staircase is falling apart, and he's actually knocked holes in their walls! This guy needs to be stopped. I heard that you were the best lawyer with this kind of stuff."
"That's very generous of you to say."
Matt was suspicious. The story sounded true. Mr. Mackenzie's heartbeat wasn't faster than normal. His nervousness came from the situation itself. But everything else… This man wasn't clean.
"Mr. Mackenzie, what do you do for a living?"
"Not that it is important to you, but I'm an insurance agent."
Matt narrowed his eyes. He didn't particularly trust Mackenzie, but his tale about his cousin was definitely true. He'd had multiple tenants from the same building come to his office. And he really did need the money.
"I'll take your case."
two: SPIDER-MAN
It wasn't that Spider-Man was annoying. He was just… inexperienced. Matt thought he was too young to be a fighting crime. It reminded him a little of himself and how Stick had prepared him for war when he was a little kid. Matt was curious what or who made Spider-Man fight.
Spider-Man definitely made a name for himself.The Queens newspaper 'The Daily Bulge' was practically the exclusive insider for the hero. He'd heard people talking about the kid, either praising him for his heroic deeds or shaming him as a coward behind a mask. One thing was for sure, kids loved him.
Matt didn't expect for Spider-Man to ever wind up in his territory. Why would he? The guy had never wandered outside Queens. So the day that a fight between Doc Oct and Spider-Man spilled over into Hell's Kitchen, Matt was pissed.
After their duel was over and Doc Oct had been taken away in handcuffs, Spider-Man didn't leave. He swung around the Kitchen using his webs from building to building, finally landing on the roof of the Silver Towers. Matt ran up several flights of stairs and scaled half of the building before he reached the roof. He could smell… pepperoni pizza? Yes, Spider-Man was sitting on a roof in the middle of Hell's Kitchen eating pizza.
"What are you doing here?"
There was a gasp and a rustling of fabric. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! You saw my face! Oh God!"
Matt did his best to hold back his laughter. "You're secret is safe with me, kid."
Spider-Man exhaled and whistled. "Oh God, thank you, dude. Tony would kill me if he found out. And--" The boy paused, and if the kid's heart was racing before, it was beating even harder than before. "You're… you're him! You're the Devil of Hell's Kitchen! Can I have your autograph?!"
three & four: ANT-MAN & THE WASP
It didn't matter how small someone was, Matt could still feel them. The racing of the heartbeat, their footsteps hitting the ground when running, or even the rapid flapping of wings in this case.
It wasn't any trouble at all to track them. It was like they didn't care if they were followed. Maybe they didn't realize that the Devil of Hell's Kitchen was on their tail five stories above.
It did shock him was that he could hear them. They must have been microscopic. Their voices were so tiny. Like they were very, very, very far away, not He shouldn't have been able to hear them or distinguish their words, even if he did have heightened hearing.
"Did you see that?!"
"Yeah, Scott. I saw it."
Okay, man and a woman then. The man, Scott, seemed overexcited while the woman was humoring him.
"I was like whoosh and you were like zoom! Me and Ant-thony barreled right at Backlash and she didn't know what was happening to her, and--"
"Hey is that guy looking at us?
There was a long pause. Matt guessing that they were staring at him. It didn't make him uncomfortable at all. He was used to people paying extra attention to him. Apparently being blind freaked people out and made them think that he was fragile, about to break at any moment.
Matt decided to mess with them. He smirked and gave them a small wave. Both of the small people gasped.
"Holy shit, I think he can see us!"
"He-- he couldn't have. It's impossible."
"He waved, Hope! There's no one else in this alley. Who the hell else is he waving at!" Scott was more frantic with each word.
"We're going," Hope said hurriedly. "We're getting out of here, and heading back to San Francisco. Maybe my dad has an idea of what's going on."
There was the sound of wings buzzing, and just like that, the pair were off.
Matt leaned back on the wall of the roof. "What the fuck?"
five: NICK FURY
He was sitting inside a small cafe at West 47th and 9th Avenue. Honestly it was probably the tiniest cafe in all of New York. Matt liked this mom & pop place because they had Braille menus and served the best chocolate cheesecake in the Kitchen. He came so often that all of the servers knew his name, his order, and whose section he preferred to sit in.
It was a little past two in the afternoon and Karen was late. They were supposed to meet for their weekly 'I'm sorry I didn't tell you that I was Daredevil sooner, and yes it's not fair that Foggy knew and neither of us said a word, so I'll pay for anything you want on the menu no matter what the price' lunch. He didn't care that she was late. Ever since Karen got the job being an investigative reporter, her schedule had been rather crazy.
"Mind if I take this seat?"
The hair stood on the back of his neck. He didn't have a good feeling about this guy. Matt didn't recognize their voice, their scent, anything. The person was quite calm is their heart rate showed anything.
"You're not a hard man to find, Mr. Murdock."
Matt gnashed his teeth together, instinctively wrapping his fingers around his cane. If this guy was affiliated with Fisk and wanted a fight, Matt played to give it to him, costume or not.
"No need to feel threatened, Mr. Murdock. I'm not your enemy."
His eyes narrowed behind his glasses. "That's to be seen. I don't even know who you are."
The man laughed, a laugh that was full of amusement. "Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Murdock." Matt heard the creak of leather as the stranger moved. Either a leather jacket or pants. Guessing from the source of the noise wasn't below the table, he was assuming a leather jacket. "My name's Nicholas Fury. I'm the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Well used to be."
Matt quirked his lips. "Bold statement for someone who is supposed to be dead."
"You'd be surprised about a lot of things. I think you more than anyone else know what I mean."
Matt raised one of his eyebrows. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I think we both know that's not true."
A tense silence filled the air between them. Neither of them spoke. Matt could tell that this Nick Fury was cool as a cumber. He wasn't threatened, and had the air that he controlled the conversation. Fury kind of did though, since Matt really had no idea what was going on. Why would the dead ex-director of spy organization sitting in front of him like all of this was normal?
"Things happen beyond Hell's Kitchen, Murdock. A lot of things. You may want to believe that this is your turf, but it's not. I'm thinking of a bigger picture here."
Matt scoffed. "Like what? All of New York City?"
"Try the world." The sound of a bunch of papers fluttering through the air, were thrown across the table. "Everything is right there. I had the guys translate it into Braille so you could read it," he sighed heavily. "We need help, Murdock. You and your Defenders. There's an enemy that wants nothing more than to destroy this planet. We're going to need every hand on deck. What matters to you more? Hell's Kitchen or Earth?"
His phone buzzed and the monotone robot voice repeated 'Karen. Karen. Karen.' over and over. Matt felt around and lifted the phone off the table and cradled it in his hands. Before he could answer, it stopped ringing. Karen must have given up then. He looked back up to continue his discussion with Fury, but was astounded to find that the man was no longer there. Matt walked his fingers on the table until he felt the paperwork that Fury had left. He read the words at the very top of the page. Classified: Infinity War.