human
Since she'd started answering the phone again,Jessica Joneshad waded through a lot of cases. The sound of ringing had basically permeated her life to the point that it was just a thing that happened. What wasn't as usual was her cellphone going off. There were only like four people who called that she cared about. Well, exactly four. Hogarth, Trish, Luke, and Malcolm. Danny had it, but the last time he'd called she'd just sorta not bothered to pick up. She'd get back to him eventually. Danny only ever wanted her to come out with him to do... hero things, and it didn't seem to matter how often she told him that she wasn't that kind of person, he still thought she would help out. This time, it was a number she didn't recognize, which was weird but prompted an answer. Once she had, she was glad she did. The details were stressful enough that she had to be careful not to crush her phone, and Jessica couldn't afford to replace them so she held the thing a little like someone might hold a valuable vase while she listened. It was all ridiculous. Ridiculous bullshit, and she couldn't help but feel like it was probably her fault. Given the kinds of things she ended up poking around in, it was basically inevitable that eventually someone would get at her friends. Again. This time it wasn't something she could just bust in and solve though, this was... well it wasn't legal, but it was going through the law.
So Jessica needed the law too.
She tried calling. She had Matt's work number from when he'd been her lawyer ,but according to Luke, the lawyer and vigilante had been ignoring everyone. He hadn't picked up when she called either, and whether that was on purpose or because it was pretty solidly into the standard lunch hour, she wasn't sure. If he was ignoring her, Jessica supposed she could understand why - he hadn't exactly been pleased with them the last time they'd all been together. She and Luke had hauled a goddamn elevator up what felt like a million stories right before the entire building exploded, and apparently that had been thewrongthing to do. Jessica got it, or at least she thought she did. Losing someone like that had to suck like nothing else in the world, but they weren't going to just leave him behind. But as far as she was concerned one person being alive was better than two people being dead, at least, as long when she was thinking about other people. That meant making a personal visit.
To her credit, when she got to his office she didn't break the door. Sure she swung it open with a little more energy than needed but that was what happened when Jessica was stressed out or in a rush. The fact that the doorknob banged into the wall hard enough to leave a dent was pretty mild compared to what could have happened."Malcolm got arrested," the dark haired private detective announced immediately, loud enough that no matter where in the little office he was, Matt would be able to hear. He probably didn't know who Malcolm was, and that entirely didn't matter right now. What mattered was that Matt was going to be able to help, because law was his thing."Someone planted drugs on him."Probably the cop who'd arrested him.
There was no way Hogarth would have helped. When she'd been arrested she'd end up with Matt anyway, and had the feeling that if she went to Hogarth, Chao and Benowitz, she'd just end up right back here anyway. No charity cases or whatever. But Matt, Matt was all about being the good guy and taking the charity cases. And he didn't, she'd throw his desk out the window.
gpt
Every strike and block. Each word and sentence. Her smile that she wore like a mask.Matt Murdockhad been mulling over all those things and more since it happened, what could have been different, what could have he done in another way, but there was no going back. Even if at the end the choice had been taken from his hands by those he had started to consider allies, all the decisions that lead him there were his and his alone.
And now Elektra was dead. Again. For good.
Of course he tried to go back and check if it was true that there was no escape, but it was going to take months to dig the rubble of the Midland Circle out of that hole if they ever did. In those hectic days both Elektra and any means or knowledge to bring her back from the dead once more were lost. No matter how much he thought that the Hand had to be stopped, that they needed to be gone, it was painful if it also meant that he wasn't going to be with her again. Letting her go when she pushed him to kill opened a wound that never healed, being unable to save her from the Hand tore him to pieces, and getting the tiniest hopeful bit of recovering her just to let her die?
Matt had been missing from church. Nor had he been in Josie's. He didn't want to answer Karen's questions, nor Foggy's endearing attempts to bridge the gap. And the one that dragged him out of that certain death? Some of them tried to reach him, but they had their own things to take care of. Luke and Claire were taking care of Misty with Danny's help, and the Rand golden boy himself had his own things to do now that the Hand was gone. Jessica... well, she returned to be Jessica, Matt guessed, so that was it. Without church or alcohol, without friends or comrades, Matt had only other two avenues of relief.
And he hadn't been taking any cases.
Fighting for the sake of fighting, Matt was taking care of the rabble that felt a power vacuum in the city, violence and that cursed scarlet suit, that devilish mask, becoming his refuge. Unaware of what time of the day it was, or even what day of the week for that matter, Matt knew himself well enough that such was a foolish path that had to stop somewhere, so one day that was nothing special nor meaningful, he finally managed to get showered and dressed in something that wasn't a crime fighting costume and went to his office. What for remained to be seen, he probably hadn't been receiving many cases if any, but even if it wasn't the same without Foggy there, at least had a little semblance of normalcy.
Until she came banging the door against the wall."Jones"Matt mumbled. He would have recognized her stride outside the door, or the faint hue of alcohol that sometimes seemed to envelop her like an intoxicating perfume. Matt could have bragged about knowing that something was wrong, as if her presence her wasn't obvious enough, but he didn't get to say much before she started barking at the empty office. It was so tempting to get out of a window and escape that he almost took that exit, but if Jessica came seeking help it had to be something important, something big.
"Jessica"he said, appearing into her view from one of the side rooms. What to add? He wasn't going to whine about what happened, it would serve for nothing and she wouldn't care. What was she going to do, apologize for saving his life? A heavy sigh preceded his next words."Who's Malcolm?"he asked honestly, having just met him in passing on those hectic days.
human
She'd known he was there. The door was unlocked, there were little things around the office that made it clear that someone had been there recently. And there'd been enough Daredevil that he'd be running out of resources soon, she figured. He couldn't have made much more money than her, given the state of his office. Jessica was no stranger to breaking into buildings, but there wouldn't have been any use in doing it
"He's my..."she paused and frowned, trying to figure out just what to call him,"assistant."One of her few friends. But she gave him a cut of the pay in her cases and he did basically everything to keep her office functional and presentable, so she supposed 'assistant' worked as well. "He used to be a drug addict and that's a real long and unnecessary story," she didn't want to talk about Kilgrave,"but he's clean. And he definitely wasn't carrying."Malcolm was better than that."You're the only one who's any good I can afford."And who she trusted to really believe her and Malcolm about his innocence. Jessica's choice of the word 'I' betrayed her care - she'd be paying for it, not the man she was seeking help for. It was the least she could do, really. Malcolm was only in this position to begin with because of her. He'd only gotten addicted in the first place because of Kilgrave, because ofher, and this was almost certainly because of her too.
The detective stared him down for a moment, not bothering to hide the fact that she was looking him over. Didn't matter, wasn't like Matt would be able to call her on it even if she thought he'd have cared."You look like shit."Maybe it wasn't the best thing to say to say to someone who's help she wanted, but it was also true. What Matt might not know was that it was sort of her way of expressing concern. He looked like shit so something was probably wrong, she just wasn't gonna ask outright. There wasn't a whole lot of room to probe into the fact that Matt probably felt as much like shit as he looked, because she had something more pressing to focus on."Brush your hair and have some whiskey and let's go."Fishing into her pocket, she took out the almost always present flask and shook it, letting the liquid slosh around inside it like it would motivate him to get going. The advice sounded like something she probably told herself as opposed to something that would be exceptionally useful to other people, but it was all that Jessica had. Life advice - especially for cheering people up - was not something she had in spades. Not unless it was on how to do research or keep from being tailed, things that were mostly useful for her.
If she actually asked Matt to help, he'd be able to say no. As long as there was no question there, she might have an easier time getting him to help. It required that the lawyer and vigilante be able to interpret the way she communicated to pull out the real message underneath all the spines and fire without the help of having been around her long enough to really get to know her like her little inner circle did. He a had super senses though, he should be able to figure it out. Somehow. It wasn't like she ever really asked anyone for anything, not directly. She told them she needed things and her friends knew what that meant. 'Please' only came out when she was playing a role to get information or in moments of deepest desperation.
This was that, but she didn't want to just jump straight to putting herself out there. It was hard to ask for things, it felt like opening herself up. While she trusted Matt, it was hard not to after what they'd been through, it was still something she wasn't sure she could do. That took time and patience from the other person, and not a lot of people hung around that long. Some of them accepted it because it was part of the service they were paying for, but that wasn't him. She'd punched ninja with him though, and that had to count for something.
gpt
He wanted a case, he needed a case, anything to keep him from thinking or returning to the streets one night more. And yet his first impulse was to say no. Not knowing Malcolm he wasn't as sure as Jessica that he wasn't using, after all he had been before and even if Matt didn't do anything beyond alcohol he knew what being addicted to something felt like. Maybe the recent events had caused him to fall into old habits as Matt himself did, but he would have no way of knowing without talking to him. That meant spending more time with Jessica, something he had mixed feelings about. Of all the bunch, she was the one Matt liked most, despite her abrasive personality. Luke was too righteous, and he tended to come across with a holier than thou attitude that Matt felt uncomfortable with, if only due to being a reminder of himself. Danny was a hotheaded brat, and even if he could be easygoing when things were just fine, things were never fine, so it was a side that he rarely showed to Matt. His connection to the Hand didn't help either.
So in the end, even if it was a bit by default, Jessica was more palatable. Matt stepped closer to her, taking a small sip of her flask before returning it to her."I don't keep booze around"he croaked, familiar with the burn of the cheap stuff she carried. He respected that she worked as a private investigator, and a good one to boot. During those days they teamed up and she was quite amazing, not to mention that she had discovered his secret like it was nothing, something that made discomfort mixed with admiration. How many secrets of different people was she privy to while keeping hers close to the heart."You say he's clean, you say he wasn't carrying. Are you sure?"he asked. Jessica was as tall as him, so they were face to face, or would be if Matt's head wasn't slightly tilted as usual. She sounded pretty sure when she said it, but he wasn't exactly paying as much attention as he was at the moment. "The closest ones to us are the ones we are usually blind to"he added, trying to soften the question, but he had probably rattled her already.
"I could use a shave, but that can wait"Matt commented, touching his own face. He wasn't court ready, but there would be no court that day, just going to the police station where they had him and run some questions. He couldn't help but feel that a conspiracy of sorts was acting, that someone was after Jessica and perhaps the rest of them... but maybe now he felt like there were enemies in every corner, in each shadow. Maybe Malcolm had just started using again. People did that all the time, right? Weak people. "Lets go and figure out what happened"he said, trying to sound helpful but unable to start judging already. The habit troubled him, even if his education, his instincts and his abilities made him a good lawyer, he was also aware that only judges or God were up to the task. The closer he stepped to the role of jury and executioner, the more and more true Frank Castle's words rung.
Perhaps they weren't so different after all.
human
She relinquished the flask easily, something that wasn't really usual. It wasn't like she was going to not give him some now that she'd offered it, so really it was the offer that had been unusual, not the actual sharing."That's on you,"she informed him, like it was a personal failing not to have bottles of cheap whiskey and vodka stashed around his office. Jessica refrained from a comment on the fact she could hear his reaction to bottom shelf liquor, but refrained from it because there were more important things to attend to. She'd give him shit for it later, there'd be time.
Whatever calm was starting to come from having someone she knew and trusted around to talk to was lost in an instant when he asked the question."Yes I'm sure,"she snapped. Malcolm was near as much a soft spot as Trish, and the idea that people could get hurt just because they were around her... well, it hurt. Jessica didn't like hurt. Didn't deal well with hurt that wasn't physical."Are you trying to tell me to be suspicious of people?" That was all she was. And he was using a line she'd have used with clients, though he'd delivered it with a lot more gentleness than Jessica probably would have. There was the grating sound of metal shifting, as the flask crumpled inwards a little bit under the force of her grip before she unscrewed it and took a swig to force a calm that she didn't really feel like she could have right now. "Look, it's a real long story but he didn't get into drugs of his own free will in the first place. Someone got him hooked to... to get at me. I'll explain later."No she wouldn't. Not unless he asked specifically. She lifted the flask again, tilting it back for just long enough it was a little bit weird, and then screwed the lid back on and tucked it away in a pocket.
"I know what happened. What I don't know is why. I'll figure that out, I just need you to keep him from going to jail. And keep me from going to jail when I find out the who and why."It was supposed to be a funny, her tone said it was a joke, but it wasn't really. Bones were going to break, and she would find it satisfying.
That moment of vengeful fantasy was cut into by the memory of vertebrae snapping under her hands, the heavy thud of a limp body onto concrete. She didn't regret that, but it still weighed on her. Jessica wasn't sure if it was because she'd done it or because it had taken her so long to get to it. Her fingers curled around the flask in her pocket again, and then Jessica tore herself away from those thoughts and let out a tiny grunt."Hope the police like you better than they like me."They weren't her fans, to put it lightly. Probably had decent reason, but it didn't mean that annoyed her less. They seriously needed to get their shit together. "Don't do that slow pretending you don't know what's going on walk, I don't have time for it. I'll tuck you under my arm if I gotta."
That was actually a joke.
She held the door open for him - sort of. What happened was more her shoving her foot in the way so the door didn't close and giving Matt an almost aggressively pointed stare that he wouldn't actually be able to see. Her breathing and heart had evened out a little since she'd gotten there, betraying the fact that having Matt on her side was calming her a little bit. She was still stressed and angry. Angry was easier than being worried, after all. Came more naturally to Jessica at this point. A lot of feelings flowed into anger, really. Exhaustion, hunger, pain, worry, fear, hangover. Yeah, she was pretty sure that hangovers counted as an emotional state at this point, she was hung over more often than she was happy. The moment he was out the door too she was heading for the street, steps quick and focused. She wouldn't let Malcolm know she'd been in such a rush when they actually got there, but if Matt said anything she wouldn't really mind punching him. He might be blind but he also wore a real dumb armored costume, and that evened it out in her mind.
Plus she was equal opportunity. People got what they gave, whether in violence or in words. Sometimes people who used words got violence in return, but that was how life worked. Mouth off to the wrong person and your mouth was gonna get all messed up. As far as she was concerned, no matter what someone wanted, she was the wrong person. For the job, for friendship, for romance, didn't matter. If what you wanted wasn't a total destruction of your life or someone to break down a door, Jessica was the wrong person. Other people were just too stupid to realize it or didn't listen when she tried to tell them.
gpt
Matt knew that Jessica wasn't lying, someone did really made a number on Malcolm to get to her, or at least so she believed. That didn't really mean anything, but since she was rattled and could punch his head off his shoulders it was better to not pressure on. Not that she actually would hit him, that much he knew, but if she had come to him for help she was already making an effort as far as Matt knew her, so it was better not to punish her for caring. There was a sheen of dishonesty there somewhere, she wasn't telling the whole truth there somewhere. Was it the part about the explanations? Or that thinly veiled promise of violent retribution when she finds out who did it? It was hard to pin it. Matt sort of believed Jessica roughing someone up, he could understand the need of it, but he hoped that she was better restraining herself than he was, or with such power it could get beyond what Matt would just ignore.
"Well, we'll know once I meet my client"Matt just stated."It's probably some bad apple in the department I guess"he added, not wanting to go very far with the guesswork as having a preconceived notion would only cloud his judgment. Matt grabbed his walking cane and put the crimson sunglasses on when Jessica finally pocketed the flask."Police are never fond of defense attorneys, so I'd set us on par"Matt shrugged."I know you would, but lets try to keep it civil"he couldn't help but smile briefly to the idea of Jessica carrying him on her shoulder like a sack of potatoes and dropping him on the precinct. Yeah, that would be quite the entrance. The smirk didn't last long, perhaps short enough for Jessica not noticing it, so he followed her diligently.
"There is something you can do in a hurry though"Matt voiced, folding his white cane back into the jacket pocket."Instead of tucking me under your arm, how about you hold and guide me?"he offered, standing next to her and presenting his right arm for her to hook into. "We will go faster that way and I can still pretend I don't want to get disbarred over being some kind of costumed vigilante"he added, following her dry joke with another of his own."It will be also easier to get a cab"added.
Matt could almost feel her fuming, hearing the heightened rate of her beating heart. Perhaps the part about exerting violent revenge upon the one that had snared Malcolm wasn't a lie, not if she was in that state. He knew all too well what was to be moved by that fury, and even if one wanted to disguise their choices, their mistakes on that state of mind, the truth was that the responsibility didn't magically vanish because someone was angry. "It will be fine, I'm the second best lawyer in the city"he tried to joke, aware of the extra edge his abilities gave him to stand over most of those practitioners of the law."And I've seen you in action. We'll get to the bottom of this"Matt finished, before taking a cab to the precinct. For a moment he wanted to add a 'don't worry' to his sentence, but that would probably only rile her up, and that was far from what he wanted.
human
"There have been a whole lot of bad apples."When Kingpin got arrested there had been a pretty big cleanup of the police system, but Jessica didn't trust that it had purged everyone who was problematic. Especially because the Hand was a thing now. Had been a thing for much longer than Kingpin. "There are always going to be bad apples."This was a thing that Jessica believed completely. She let out a tiny snort at the suggestion of 'civil', but didn't say anything about it. She didn't really need to, there was no way Matt didn't know exactly what she thought about civility. It... had a use, of course, but it wasn't her forte. Maybe on the phone or for short periods of time, but she got by just fine and just the way she was. In whatever version of functional she and her life were.
She hooked her arm around his when he offered, rolling her eyes. When she realized that he wouldn't be able to see it, Jessica announced"I'm rolling my eyes at you,"thought the fact that she had his arm did sort of take some of the intended meaning for that away."Fine, but now I'm real close to dragging you."It was a half warning, though she kept pace with him carefully on the way out to the street as opposed to just dragging him like she could have."Hard to believe you can stand cabs, even I hate the smell."And she didn't have super senses. It had to be real bad for Matt. Still, he was right."I bet this is the fastest you ever get a cab."She was a pretty woman and she knew it, and Jessica had no qualms about using that to get the thing she needed. In this case it was a cab, and she plastered a stupid fake and super happy smile on her face to flag the cab down.
"Oh boy. Second best. That's what I wanted to hear."There was no real fire in her tone, just the same sarcasm that seemed to drip from her words at least half the time. She dropped down into the cab and shoved herself up against the window about as far from Matt as she could be. It was nothing personal. Well, not too personal. Not more personal for him than it would be with anyone else. She just didn't like being too close to other people. Well actually she might not mind getting real close to Matt, but only once and only if she never had to talk to him again. He was a good looking guy, even if a little bit exhausting.
When they got to the precinct, she took a moment to drain the rest of her flask and then let out a loud sigh."Right. Let's go. Christ I hate this."The people in there, they knew her. Detectives were dead because of her, there had been the incident with Kilgrave, some of those officers still wouldn't look her in the face. Admittedly she'd only seen them once or twice since then, but she knew. These were the sorts of things that Jessica noticed."I'm coming into the interrogation room,"she informed him."I don't care how we have to get me in, it's happening."There had to be some legal maneuver, otherwise she'd have to doherthing to get in, and that was a lot less friendly than Matt's thing that didn't involve menacing and fussing at the police officers until they gave up and let her do what she wanted."Every time I'm in here I'm being interrogated and then something weird happens,"she warned him casually."Not my fault,"she clarified after a few seconds, which would have sounded entirely true to anyone who didn't happen to have super senses.
gpt
Matt could feel how Jessica didn't entirely believe in the system, even if the end result of many of her cases would probably lead to either in divorce or arrest. He was part of the system as well, but with his other half as a vigilante he well knew that any lukewarm defense of the system he could do would come as hypocritical. He tried not to smirk when Jessica agreed to walk with him despite threatening Matt with carrying his body around and making sure he knew she was rolling her eyes, but there was only so much he could take without wanting to partake on Jessica's verbal back and forth. "If the smell is too much I'll borrow your scarf again, this time for the lower half of my face" he commented, Matt's poor attempt of a joke since he had taken her scarf once to hide his identity. Her smell of booze, sweat and the cheap deodorant she used had a charm of its own, and was way better than any of the smells a New York cab could have.
It didn't take her long to send another verbal jab on his direction, although he had been deserving it for leaving the door open with the 'second best' nonsense. The cab ride was as awkward as it could possibly be, with Jessica sitting as far away from Matt as she could on that, to be honest, strangely humid smelling cab and being silent the whole time. The next time she opened her mouth they already were by the precinct and it was once again to whine about something."Don't use His name in vain"Matt chastised seriously when she started to grumble. If she took it to heart or just ignored his sanctimonious request Matt didn't know, as Jessica was more worried about getting to see Malcolm than anything else.
"I'll make it happen"Matt assured, letting Jessica meet Malcolm would be easy enough, but what worried him was if it would be a good idea. At least that should make Matt appear as a friend and make Malcolm prone to trust him, but if Jessica did something impulsive the three of them could be into trouble."I don't know if us meeting for the first time while you were cuffed to a table weird"Matt noted, as it was how he was assigned to her case thanks to Foggy and Hogarth. "But weird doesn't have to mean bad, your fault or not"he added, resuming his hooking of her arm, so Jessica could help him in and could save some time and the familiar rhythm of the cane tapping around."What's Malcolm's full name?" he asked, as they approached the precinct entrance.
human
When she worked for the law it was finding things for defense attorneys or delivering subpoenas. Not everyone was probably innocent, but a lot got off anyway because they could afford. Between her own issues and the fact that she got paid to find bad things about people, it was probably no wonder she was a negative person. Not that Jessica really bothered to do that sort of internal thought. She knew it, she just chose not focus on it because it wasn't going to get anywhere useful. "You look better when I can't see your whole face anyway."There wasn't any venom in it, not really. But if he was gonna make a comment on her scarf, she was gonna take a swing at his face. Didn't mean it, and she expected him to know that.
She didn't say anything about his chastising, but Jessica made note of it. One word (or two, she bet 'God' was out as an expression of annoyance too) wasn't that hard to cut out of her vocabulary while around Matt. It would be a little bit of an annoyance, but just because she didn't like to edit herself. She hated doing it for anyone else's sake, anyway. If it had been any other person there was the chance the detective would have told him to shove it, or completely ignored what he said. But Matt was doing her a favor, she could be... not a complete asshole to him.
"Thanks."She said the word like it had to be ripped out of her body. She trusted that he would, because... well, Jessica didn't really know how great of a lawyer he was, but if someone from Hogarth's office had designated him to defend her in court, he had to be good. Her lips quirked up slightly, not quite smiling but almost."After that there was a guy who said he punched a dragon and a building blew up."She avoided mentioning his part in that because Matt was protecting his dual identity fiercely. That meant not talking about Daredevil related things unless he was in the costume, at least for now."And also you're not exactly normal," he was Daredevil was what she meant, though it could have just as easily meant the whole blind lawyer thing,"so that counts." Two people with super human abilities didn't just stumble into each other in daily life. Okay no, that was a lie. This was the second time it had happened to her, so maybe it was actually super common."Weird has never ended in me getting a thousand dollars and a cookie."Matt himself wasn't bad, but the overall experience they'd shared hadn't been... great. Nice to have people watching her back, but they were a bunch of misfits. Danny might be straight up nuts.
When he hooked his arm around hers, she bent it slightly to make it a little bit easier and so it wasn't just her ignoring his gesture entirely."Malcolm Ducasse."Her mind was already on to bail money. It wasn't going to be cheap. Probably not too expensive, but more than she'd like. Maybe she should take some of the shittier cases and start saving a little bit more. Just thinking about it felt a little bit like a betrayal to who she was as a person, but Jessica also didn't want to have to rely on Trish for money in an emergency.
gpt
"I can't do anything about the money as I'm pretty tight with it myself"Matt said, feeling a little bit lighter after Jessica thanked him. That couldn't have been easy for her, although presuming to really know her after just a bunch of hectic days would be saying too much."But if our visit to the precinct goes well I'll get a cookie for you" he added. Perhaps it was a tad too goofy, but having Jessica calm down a bit would be nice if they didn't want even more trouble. Taking a deep breath, Matt walked into the building guided by Jessica and his senses, although he had been around a few times already and he knew the place well enough.
"I'm here to see my client, Malcolm Ducasse"he said to the policeman at the front desk, firm and serious without being hostile, cops didn't answer well to confrontation. "I'm his lawyer, Matthew Murdock, and she's my assistant, Jessica Jones" he introduced them both, although small changes on the man's breathing made him think that he had recognized both of them. Matt hoped that Jessica was able to play along, even if she wanted to chew him later about calling her an assistant.
"I know who you are, both of you" he said. "You may pass, but she can't go in" he said, the voice sounding affected, trying to project authority. It seemed to be more of a disdain or trouble with Jessica than anything related to the case, but even if Matt didn't knew the reason, it didn't feel that it was directly connected to the case.
"If you know me, you are aware of my condition"Matt said. "Condition that allows and almost requires that I have some sort of help" he continued, leaning over the desk and making an stapler fall to the ground."Sorry"he said, pausing for a moment. "What I mean is that without my assistant to guide me I could harm myself and that would be terrible"Matt continued. "I also need her to take notes and visual confirmation of any injuries or anything my client may have suffered, as he has right to it. Burdening him with my own shortcomings is nowhere near fair, there is no justice there"he finished, feeling the man waver and not wanting to push him further.
"Fine, fine, fine" the cop sounded more tired than anything else. "You two may see him, I'd point you the way but I'm sure your assistant knows it plenty" he added, dismissing them with a wave of his hand.
Nodding in appreciation, Matt awaited for Jessica to guide him to the cells in the back. He wanted to talk to Malcolm and get his recollection of what happened, sizing him to see if he was honest.
human
She was a little surprised that worked. The man definitely knew who she was, and anyone who had been around her for more than five minutes could probably guess that Jessica wasn't the sort who worked as an assistant for a blind guy. Matt's appeal worked, which was probably good because her plan had been more along the lines of just being incredibly menacing. She scowled from a spot behind Matt, thought not nearly as threateningly as she probably could have.
There'd been more than one occasion where Jessica had called herself an assistant in order to get people to give her information that she wanted. There was a specific voice for that character, pulled from memories of the most annoying girls in high school, but it wouldn't do any good here. This guy knew who she was. So instead she wrapped her arm back around Matt's and let out an at least slightly more friendly than usual"yes, Mr. Murdock". She gave a gentle tug to let him know which way to walk, not that Matt actually needed it. "This way." They hadn't actually told her what room Malcolm was in, but that didn't matter much to Jessica who just looked in every little window until she found the right one."Here. Now... do your thing."Legal them into letting Malcolm out. If Matt could get them to let him out until arraignment that would be good, she didn't want Malcolm spending time in a cell. He didn't deserve it.
Between now and arraignment there'd be time for investigation. She was going to need a lot of whiskey and even more energy drinks. How much sleep did lawyers need? The thought crossed her mind briefly, but Jessica shoved it right out because she didn't need him for that part. This would be like every other case. Jessica would treat this like every other case she'd ever worked on. Find the evidence and provide to the lawyer. The stakes were higher than a paycheck though. She didn't really like to admit that was a thing. Paycheck was lower than vodka though, there was a hierarchy of things that she liked a lot that weren't people. That she sometimes liked more than people.
that usually she liked more than people.
"I don't actually have anything to write notes on, so you better be good at memorizing."She was. But it didn't matter that much, she couldn't imagine there were too many notes that would need taking here. If he was injured, someone was going to get at least that much in return. She gripped the doorknob for a second and then pushed it open, fingers tight on the metal for the few seconds until she let go. Nothing damaged this time, but there was no way to brush off finger dents in doorknob. Couldn't explain that away as easily. Malcolm looked exhausted and uncomfortable, maybe a little bit roughed up though it was nothing serious. He hadn't been beaten, which was an immediate relief that Jessica had reluctantly accepted that she wouldn't be able to hide from Matt. Would he know that she'd just thought he was a dick? Because the fact that she couldn't hide her feelings from him made him a dick.
gpt
Matt could feel Jessica's posture and body language, specially so close as she guided him along. The tension of her muscles, how the breath changed pace, the trepidations of her heartbeat. He felt a bit bad for peeking, but even if it was something he could control, he could avoid, Matt couldn't help himself but peek. He just had to be mindful of not being too sanctimonious, of not poking Jessica too much, too far, even if she showed signs that worried him. She seemed to be mulling over something, but Matt felt like she had abandoned whatever she was thinking about and hurried almost indiscernibly, perhaps anticipation to see how Malcolm was. Whatever it was going through her mind, they were about to find out how Malcolm was, although Matt could already start to guess that he was more or less fine.
"So I guess for the lack of swearing that Mr. Ducasse looks mostly fine"Matt said, even if he knew Malcolm was fine thanks to his senses and Jessica's relieved reaction."I'm your lawyer, Matt Murdock" introduced himself, offering a hand to shake in the general direction he was, keeping his act."We met briefly during... that"added, having seen each other in passing on the precinct in those dreadful days. It was somewhere that Matt didn't want to return, so it was better if they moved on with things."Ah... chair..."Matt mumbled, feeling about for somewhere to sit down, more or less in front of Malcolm.
"Please, tell us what happened"Matt asked gentle, no need to be rough with him unless he was hiding something, specially if he didn't want Jessica kicking his ass out of the case."Leave no details out and..."he took pause, wondering if it would be appropriate to add more or not, but in the end he decided to keep running his mouth."And don't lie to me"Matt's tone was less gentle and more firm, this time including only himself in the sentence, Malcolm's relationship with Jessica wasn't his concern after all, was it?"There is no reason to, and it would hinder my defense"he added, softening his tone noticeably.
"I've been told that I'm good at spotting lies as well"he said with a smirk, clearly a joke for anyone that didn't know him well.
human
"I'm fine."Malcolm spoke instead of Jessica, who had opened her mouth to say something that would probably have been less positive than that. It was a good choice, because she had only sarcasm at the moment. A slightly perplexed Malcolm managed to properly cross the distance for the handshake, though he had to sort of realign Matt's arm once their hands were connected to do it. "Malcolm Ducasse." He was confused for a brief moment, and then realized both what Matt was talking about. "Yeah. Weird day."That was an understatement. Jessica had filled him in on most of it afterwards. Like most of the world however, he hadn't made the connection between the lawyer in front of him and Daredevil. The owner/chief (and only) investigator of Alias Investigations had made no attempts to inform him of the things he still hadn't connected, out of respect for her team-mates and to make sure that her friend wouldn't be put in danger by the things he knew.
Jessica moved the chair closer to Matt like a person should when helping out a blind man, but didn't help him further than that. She just pulled out the one she was going to sit in and dropped down gracelessly. As an afterthought she did pull the chair out for him before pushing her own back far enough that she could kick her feet up onto the cold steel table."Jessica," Malcolm half chided, and she shot him a stubborn look, head tilted a little defiantly. The ex-social worker didn't push it any further, knowing that it would be pretty much useless and Jessica was going to do whatever she wanted. Especially now, when she was a little on edge and trying to find a way to express her displeasure in the issues at hand.
Jessica didn't particularly like the tone he used with Malcolm, and she kicked the lawyer under the desk. Not hard, not even in a way that would be considered hard for a normal person. Had it been anyone else she would have understood the suspicion, but she had responsibilities towards the man. Because she hadn't stopped Kilgrave properly the first time. "I trust him. Mostly"It was more towards Malcolm than Matt, who had already gotten that spiel, and more aggressively. The simple fact that she'd brought him was enough for Malcolm to assume the Jessica trusted the blind stranger, but hearing the words was a heavy reassurance. It also told her that he didn't know about Kilgrave. Well, he couldn't be sure, but it was a fair assumption if she was tacking on qualifiers like 'mostly'. "I was walking home from the support group I'm part of,"he figured Jessica wouldn't want that dirty laundry aired so he didn't get specific, "and this guy started tailing me. Revealed he was a cop, and said he had a tip. Said he needed to search me. Did a pat down and found and two grams of cocaine. I've... been in trouble for it before, and didn't have a whole lot of room to argue."He'd tried, of course. But he didn't want to end up on the wrong side of the police officers, he knew what that could be like. His heartbeat was as steady as one could expect for a man who had been arrested for a crime he hadn't committed, but Jessica's was erratic and her breathing was a little tense.
"I told you," she half snapped at Matt. He'd be able to use his weird super ears to confirm everything. The idea that she was wrong had briefly occurred to her in the beginning, but Jessica had banished it. She couldn't be suspicious of the entire world, life was showing her that. She'd picked Malcolm as one of them, and was working on everything that meant. She wasn't not quite there yet with Matt, but she didn't distrust him, and that was good enough.
gpt
Matt did notice something iffy about the support group, an unsteady beat, a hold breath. It was probably nothing more than just a bit of shame or embarrassment, so he thought nothing of it, trusting that in case it had any impact on the case Jessica would divulge it."A tip over two grams is certainly suspicious"Matt commented, ignoring Jessica's told you so attitude."I'm gonna guess that no one in that support group is angry at you and would slip something in and then call the police, right?" he asked for confirmation."That would leave us with the cop himself. Did you do anything that would warrant that cop having a thing against you? Did you recognize him?"Matt questioned further, discarding options.
"In any case 2 grams is a class D felony at worst, so we should be able to get you out with a fine, even if it's a steep one"Matt continued, tilting his head towards Jessica slightly, making her know that he wasn't done yet. "Besides that, I'm going to request talking with your arresting officer so we can..." Matt took pause,"size him up. See how he reacts. He shouldn't even have your fingerprints on the cocaine bag so I guess we can push him easily enough even with your priors"he said. The case didn't seem to have much complexity, maybe the agent was overzealous or wanted a catch to fulfill some kind of quota and saw in Malcolm an easy catch for a detention or perhaps a bribe.
"If we can't settle this with the arresting officer quickly by intimidating him with lawsuits..."Matt commented."Is there anyone that has that kind of money close to you? Because if we want Malcolm out today either we find something dirty to use against the officer or it is going to be expensive"he said. Even if they managed to get Malcolm out in the most civilized and law abiding manner, Matt almost itched to pay a nightly visit to the arresting officer. Corrupt cops were always a good target for some old fashioned vigilantism.
human
He shook his head firmly at the suggestion that it might be someone from the support group."No. Definitely not. And they're not drug related."Get that out of the way now, so Matt didn't think that was the direction to go prodding. It was basically the biggest collection of people who knew Jessica and didn't hate her, but that might have been more about what she'd done and less about them having adapted to and understanding her personality. "It's a trauma support group,"Malcolm clarified further. "I help run it."He was good at it. It was helpful for him, but it was also close to what he'd used to want to do with his life, it felt comfortable and good. "A bunch of cops don't like me."Matt could thing this was simple, but she didn't believe it for a moment. Paranoia was part of the job, and she was very good at it. "Because of my job and because of the uh, incident."The one that he hadn't been part of because he absolutely wasn't Daredevil, and they'd had to think of a reason why a blind lawyer would be beat to shit that wasn't the fault of the three bruisers he'd been with.
"It's not the first time. I used to have a serious problem."So it was unlikely that he'd get away with just a fine this time. Jessica perked up a little at the mention of talking to the cop, because while that wasn't always her strong suit, she was very, very good at making it clear to other people that they should stop and listen to whatever it was she wanted them to. Her ability to put people at ease and gather information only worked when they didn't know who she was. Probably shouldn't threaten the police, but she might not need to. If the guy knew who she was, her presence might be enough.
Jessica heaved a deep sigh."Yeah. I know someone."She and Trish were on much better terms, and it felt a lot like how it had been before Kilgrave, but that didn't mean she liked asking Trish for cash. "I'll call her when you're done talking."She wasn't going to leave Matt and Malcolm alone unless specifically asked to. She wanted Malcolm out now, so he could stay at home until he had to be arraigned. They needed that time, and she needed to not feel like shit about the fact he'd be sitting in a cell."I'm offended you don't think I've got the money."She didn't look like someone who had money, and she didn't act like someone who had money. She definitely didn't lawyer up like someone who had any sort of cash to spare.
The moment they weren't with Malcolm, she was going to be speaking to Matt. His ability to bust heads and appear out of the darkness like the a blind ninja with stupid costume was definitely something she could appreciate, but it wasn't going to be useful to find out why this had happened without alerting anyone to the fact that the cop was being watched. This was her thing.
Now, could she use a blind ninja in a stupid costume? Yeah, probably.
gpt
The way Malcolm said "trauma support" and how it resonated gave Matt pause. He had been doing some digging those days, as Jessica has been doing the same on him, and even if he lacked the prowess of the private investigator, it wasn't specially hard to find the incident she had been involved in. Was that mind controlling thing real? He had seen weirder things, so he was inclined to believe it, but there was still a lingering feeling that there were huge parts of the story missing. Either way, he wasn't going to ask about it, that road would lead nowhere. The news about Malcolm having priors weren't a surprise, but for a moment Matt hoped he didn't, or at least that they weren't serious. He had to get his hands on Malcolm's file as soon as possible.
The money thing seemed to be easier to sort out than expected, so Matt wouldn't have to worry about that beyond listening to Jessica grump about it. Maybe he could even get paid? Not that it was a priority, but the money he had would only last so long unless he returned to take either paying cases or the ones that Foggy passed him from Hogarth, Chao, and Benowitz. Remembering that it was precisely that way how they met, Matt wondered what was the interest they had on Jessica or why she didn't resort to them. He didn't feel he was being played, but the sensation of something unknown being so close to his grasp and yet away from his fingers irked him. It wasn't like Jessica didn't have the right to have a private life that was indeed private, the one that wandered in a mask to protect the shreds of his civilian life was him after all, but that woman was more of a puzzle than he thought at first.
Hoping that the things he didn't know about Jessica Jones wouldn't be related to the case, Matt had no choice that let it rest, noticing that both Jessica and Malcolm had been silent for a bit now and his pensive silence was making everything a bit awkward. "Don't talk to anyone, about anything, if I'm not present. Not even a good morning without your lawyer in the room"he instructed, getting up from the chair and removing it of his way."Jessica, a word"he added, tilting his head towards the door and signaling her to guide him by the arm, keeping the appearances. Malcolm may be his client, and if he and Jessica disagreed on something he would have to do what Malcolm asked, but Matt knew that it would be her the one calling the shots.
"What do you think?"Matt asked once outside. Jessica's insight wasn't to be scoffed at, and she was the one that knew Malcolm personally.
human
Malcolm's file wouldn't reveal everything Matt might want it to, but it would be at least good for how his life had been before he'd gotten clean. A lot of thing were going to have to come from Jessica, and both she and Malcolm knew it. They'd just avoid it unless it became inarguably relevent."No problem."He knew most of what to do, he'd been through this before. Had a public defender last time who'd seemed to care a whole lot less, though. This time there was... whoever Matt was, and Jessica. Which meant there was something to Matt, or he was attached to someone else she knew.
Matt's pay would be coming from her, though she wasn't going to necessarily tell him that. Jessica didn't like being in debt, except when it came to bar tabs and people she could ignore. Him though? No, she'd pay him what she could because she wasn't going to be indebted tohim. She didn't really like to ask Trish for money either, but she did it on a regular basis because it was the kind of bad feeling that could be squashed by alcohol and self serving logic. It didn't make her feel worse about herself than anything else did in life. She had gotten things a little bit under control, but it was a long way up and she wasn't trying all that hard. Liquor, sleep, and fist fights were all easier.
"Yeah sure." She pulled herself out of the chair with a look of severe disinterest, though she knew that facial expressions were entirely pointless with Matt. Once he was standing as well, the dark haired private investigator took his arm gently, guiding him out of the interrogation room. Closing the door, she leaned against it almost protectively. Maybe Matt would want to move farther away so there was no chance of Malcolm trying to listen in, but she trusted him and she wasn't going to go anywhere that she couldn't get to the door before someone else. Call it overprotective, call it paranoid, she didn't care."You know what I think. I think there's half a dozen people who'd like to hurt me who would be too scared to come after me face to face. Cops don't like me, people who pay me to find out secrets don't like me, you and Danny introduced me to a bunch of crazy political ninja, take your pick."Yeah, she was blaming both of them, because both of them had known about it ahead of time.
Sure she was suspicious, but suspicion was part of the job. It was what made her good at what she did. He work a devil costume and ran around the streets at night, he didn't have the right to call her out on it. He was objectively weirder with more concerning behavior."I guess there might be a drug dealer or two who wouldn't be happy with Malcolm, but they seem less likely. Nothing is ever going to be as simple as we want it to be."Not that is probably ever had been, but there was no going back at this point. They'd blown up a building that had a portal to another world or... something. She was a little unsure on what K'un-Lun actually was, and hadn't bothered to research it. If it became relevant again, she'd come in well equipped with knowledge but right now she was leaving that to Danny. It was a hole she didn't want to go down.
gpt
Once they were out of the room, Matt was caught unaware by Jessica's take on the situation. Was she right? She was probably right and it was someone after her and not after Malcolm the one that had set that in motion, but who they were and how much they knew was a mystery yet. Matt wanted to keep it professional, to keep it calm, but the events of Midland Circle were too close to ignore."So it's me and Danny yeah?"Matt hushed, getting closer to Jessica so she and only she could hear."You could have left. Well, you did leave"he hissed on her ear. Being that close to Jessica was akin to approach a live wire, Matt could almost smell the sparkles and it was a matter of time until he got shocked.
"But you did return, running over those same ninjas with a car"Matt reminded her."And it wasn't for me or Danny, was it?" he asked, knowing well that there was, there had been something between Luke and her. Some history, some past. Maybe a relationship, maybe one of those debts she hated, but something. Matt also knew that he had gone too far the moment he said it, there was something about Jessica that pulled him to her orbit, almost pushing him to act with the same honesty she did. Or perhaps it was just him, and Jessica's attitude was an excuse to get some parts of him that rarely saw the light out in the air.
Matt backed of her, giving Jessica space before she took it by her hand."That was out of line, sorry"he admitted."But you are probably right, if someone is after you we won't solve it with daily technicalities. Maybe I can handle the paperwork while you get the bail money..."he insinuated more than instructed, knowing not to step out of boundaries twice in a row. "And we can look at the issue from..."Matt paused, tilting his head, listening to make sure nobody was close."Another angle"he suggested, feeling the itch on his knuckles again, feeling that need to vent building up inside him after being rude with Jessica.
human
Ooh, he was touchy. That wasn't exactly an unusual when people who spent time around her and weren't used to it, and she supposed that was only going to be made worse given what she assumed wasn't the most fantastic emotional state he'd ever been in. She got it, she just wasn't giving him much wiggle room here."No. It wasn't," she responded bluntly. That was partially true - it wasn't about anyone in the room specifically, it was about what they'd been intending to do and what was happening to the city."I'll leave anyone behind. I didn't particularly give a shit about either of you."The second half of her statement wasn't a lie. She wasn't going to let them die, but at the time Jessica wouldn't have felt like she was missing out on anything if she'd never seen their faces again.
Her fingers twitched briefly like she was considering curling them into a fist but instead she she lifted a hand, setting it on his chest and pushing him backwards out of her personal space. It was restrained and slow so that she wouldn't knock him off his feet (or force him to act in a way that might be revealing as he tried not to fall), but with a strength that was very hard to argue with."If you push, I'll push back." There were several threats there. The obvious one where her palm was still pressed against his tie where it lay flat over his shirt and she could break his bones like eggshells, and the more subtle point that if he was going to bring up things about her, she had a lot more to weaponize in return. Jessica wasn't exactly hiding who she was, after all. It was what attracted people to her business these days. That note seemed like the end of the conversation, and while she didn't verbally respond to his apology she did let her hand drop and then shoved them both in the pockets of her leather jacket. Being accused of being selfish was something she was used to and was willing to own. In the end her actions when things got messy tended to betray the attitude she put forward when nothing was going wrong, and Jessica knew it. She just ignored it and down-talked it when someone brought it up."Don't be mad at me just because you can't drive." Out of all the things he could reasonably be mad at her for that wasn't one of them but she was still bringing it up, almost entirely to lash out at him. Or maybe it was just a joke.
"It's getting done my way." She wasn't saying that he could join in but she hadn't outright said that he wouldn't be part of it, either. He'd be invested in this no matter what, the best she could do was make sure he played by her rules. She gathered information without people knowing what she was doing, Matt threw down with criminals. "But we won't... ignore anything ." That was admittance that she was expecting him to tag along. Jessica was still pretending she didn't care about that sort of thing. Part of it was because she had, once, and it had turned out very poorly. Helping people had for a long time been something that was more trouble than it was worth if she wasn't getting something out of it. Or that was what she'd told herself, and she was a very good liar. She was back to being vague, because that was safer. Not because of her, and but even if she could lump him in without fear of exposure for some of the situation, she couldn't talk about the things they'd be up to later unless it sounded like research or her running off to be herself and him staying behind to be a good boy and proper lawyer."I'll go make the call and then come back and... I dunno, point at the dotted lines you need to sign?" It seemed unlikely that they had anything here that would help Matt with reading the documents, and it didn't look like he had something for that on his person. She wasn't gonna read that shit to him, but she'd read it for herself if she had to.
Could he actually read? She knew he had some sort of seeing thing going on, could he feel the ink? That wasn't something that he'd be able to do with other people around, it'd be super suspicious.
gpt
As Jessica planted her hand on Matt's chest, pushing him back in a firm and unflinching way, he couldn't help but feel he had overstepped but also a bit of admiration. He knew what she could do, or at least part of it, as she always seemed to be holding back a bit. But that touch? That restraint over herself? For a woman that tended to seem like a mess and acted in such a brash way, her awareness of her power and how she used it was admirable. Of course, it wasn't like Matt was to give out any awards for not crushing him like a peanut, but the fact that she could do much more and still elected not to, remained. It was hard to make both her reputation and facts like those mingle, so Matt wondered how much it was true, and if she did kill someone, he knew for a fact that they had it coming. Even if he didn't share the sentiment, he had been close to doing it himself, so the sinner Matt Murdock was well aware of the temptation.
When her hand abandoned his chest, Matt adjusted his tie and shirt. They had been somewhat crumpled to begin with, but Jessica's calm push didn't do his wardrobe any favors. "I can drive. Although you'd have to tell me what color the traffic lights are" Matt added to the joke, understanding that it was time to stop that grudge dance and do their work. "I'm fine with doing it your way, I just want to help"he commented. It was the reason she had come to him, right? So he could help? He wasn't going to say it out loud and start yet another cat and mouse game, so he just fell in line for the time being. "Yeah, I'll do that, won't be hard to find" he nodded, agreeing to deal with the boring paperwork stuff that was his task.
As Jessica did whatever calls she needed to get the money, Matt dealt with the bail and release paperwork he had contended with a thousand times. It was just procedure, but the fact that the arrest was a move against Jessica, or so it seemed, made it all the more tiresome. When Jessica returned, things were sorted out already, just a few details more about the money, a couple signatures and they would be able to take Malcolm home. That made Matt wonder, if it was that easy to get him out, what was thinking the one that targeted him? A distraction? A warning? Matt felt uneasy not knowing what was going on, and hoped that Jessica's way did bring some light to the issue.
human
Control was necessary. Jessica had to be able to open doors, hold coffee mugs, and not hurt the people she wanted to touch, after all. She broke things all the time, but mostly they were hers, and very replaceable. Alarm clocks in particular got the worst of it, as did her office door. They suffered for entirely different reasons, but they both suffered. She would, however, say that she definitely should be given some kind of award for not crushing people because there were a bunch of people who deserved it. His understanding of what she'd done wasn't necessary. It didn't matter if nobody else got it, not anymore. She knew it was the right thing to do, and there were more people than she'd probably ever know who'd felt his effects and could sleep at night now. He was dead, they'd be fine, that was what mattered.
Matt accepted the topic change, and she settled down the rest of the way."The light color doesn't really matter." That wasn't an opinion based on Jessica's personal driving habits - she barely ever drove - it was casual observance of twenty-some years of formed and held memory of what the city was like. "Good." That made things easier. The dark haired woman hesitated, lips tugging down into a frown that went further than it usually did, and she all but forced out"that's why I came to you."It was followed up promptly by the less flattering"well that and you're the cheapest lawyer I know and I was pretty sure you'd feel obligated to answer my phone call."She wasn't sure how well he'd listen to her because she may not have entirely have planned to listen to him if things were reversed. Depended on how things went down, she supposed. Jessica liked to have a plan, but sometimes plans were garbage and it was just better to wing it.
"Keep an ear out. If anyone says anything weird, I want to know about it. Information gathering starts now."It turned out that what she meant by 'go' was 'walk to the end of the hall where she could skill keep an eagle eye on Malcolm's door. The conversation she had was short and a little bit stressed, but her voice was gentler than it often was. Not obviously, but there was something that relaxed in her when she talked to Trish. She was the closest person Jessica had, and she'd realized that was important. Using a credit card was kind of a pain in the ass - Jessica couldn't help but run through all the ways she could end up tracked every time she swiped the card - but it was the fastest way to move money for this kind of thing and Trish had convinced her.
She found Matt when she was done, tucking the slightly beat up cellphone into her pocket."Malcolm's going to go stay with a friend until I can pick him up later."She hadn't asked the man about this plan, she was just assuming that he would agree to it. Leaving Malcolm home alone left him open to reappearance from the police. Trish's apartment had cameras and she would know not to let anyone in unless it was illegal not to."After he's out I'm getting him a cab and going to the bar. To think."Obviously that was why. Telling him was kind of
gpt
Done with the bail paperwork, Matt had nothing for Jessica when she returned with a plan that included packing Malcolm over and getting into a bar. He certainly sympathized with the idea of getting hammered, but he couldn't afford it, not without turning into someone he didn't want to be."They aren't talking about it"Matt said, having caught on the chattering going around the place."The cops are either doing their things or worried about your presence, but nothing on Malcolm or any misdeeds. A rotten apple, I guess"he said, chalking the issue to some corrupt agent instead of the whole system. Matt debated if he should go with Jessica to the bar or leave her be, when his phone ringed.
"Karen. Karen. Karen..." the monotone voice said, identifying the caller as Karen Page.
"One moment-"Matt asked, taking a few steps away."Hello Ka-"Matt greeted, knowing at the moment that something was wrong. Even through the phone Karen's breathing sounded restrained, held back, as she usually did when trying to appear calm when she was scared to death. "What happened?"he instantly asked.
"Some-someone has been in my home. The police is here"Karen stuttered, clearly affected."I'm... I'm fine, but can you... can you please come?"she sounded affected, making Matt's heart rate jump and him to move as soon as Karen ended the call.
"Whoever they are, they are going after us" Matt informed Jessica."Something happened in Karen's house" he said. Matt didn't even took the time to explain who Karen was, or why did she matter for him, too eager to go with her for that. If Jessica bothered to look into him when they stumbled with each other she would already know who she was, but that didn't occur to Matt. He noticed that a guard was already moving to release Malcolm."They are letting Malcolm go, lets pack him to safety and get a cab"he said, pacing in circles, a caged dog.
human
"Good. They should be."Something in her tone didn't match the conviction of her words, though in a way that probably only Matt would be able to pick up on. It wasn't her that she felt like they should be afraid of, it was the things she brought with her. Not that Jessica wasnt dangerous, she just knew better than to fight in a police station unless things turned real bad. "It's more than a case of a rotten apple." She was going to keep repeating that until the proof inevitably turned up. Because it would, she was entirely sure of this. It wasn't worth it to fight him about it, the lawyer was in on this with her even if he didn't fully believe it was a bigger issue. His phone started to chant, which got an arched eyebrow in response though Jessica wasn't a hundred percent sure that Matt would be able to tell that was happening. It probably would have been politer to walk away while he talking to someone else, but polite wasn't something that she cared that much about.
The dark haired woman perked up a little when she heard him ask Karen what happened, because that meant that something had happened. The conversation didn't last long, and then Matt was telling her that something was up.
She didn't say 'I told you so' because it wasn't the time for that, but the expression did slip onto Jessica's face for a moment. She knew it had been more than Matt had initially agreed was going on."You sound like you're expecting me to come,"she did say, but it was a toothless protest at best, she fully intended to come with him."I still need another drink."It could wait. When Malcolm appeared she prepped him on the plan brusquely. The man didnt initially agree, but Jessica shut them all down until eventually he gave up. She waited with him until a cab showed up and sent him off with strict instructions. And then he was gone and she had to force herself to move on to this next thing. He and Trish would both text when he got to her apartment, everything was arranged as well as it could be given how little time she had to set it up.
Matt's stress was obvious even without any kind of weird super senses. It was makingherfeel a little extra stressed out, which wasn't going to do anyone any good, but she didn't bother to bring it up. Telling him to knock it off wasn't going to any good, so until everything involving Malcolm was sorted out, Jessica pretty much just ignored him. There was no need to engage him in anything until it was time to leave, she wouldn't have been sure how to reassure him or make him feel better even if she'd taken the time to try. Reassurance wasn't something that she was good at during the best of times, and definitely not right now. Her words would probably be more harm than help.
"Let's go."She had looked into Karen a little bit, partially while hunting down information about Matt and partially because Trish had mentioned the reporter. She was still aggressively protective, that was unlikely to ever change. Every time she started to relax and become less concerned, something happened."Won't even charge you for this."They were probably the two best people who could be investigating this. Matt had the super senses, she had the... investigative sense. Common sense, maybe. She didn't run around in a costume, which was a point in her direction."Tell her to make sure to get the names of everyone who goes into her apartment." Police officers, in other words."Pictures if possible, but only if she can do it without it being a risk. And start writing down everything that might be missing or moved." If she started now, she'd have her head on straight by the time they got there so that there so hopefully there'd be less struggle talking to someone who might be hysterical.
gpt
Jessica's protests didn't get an answer from Matt, eager to sort out the Malcolm thing so they could move on. Perhaps she was right and he should go without her. No, that was just his nerves, his nature. He wasn't always that bad working on a team, Foggy and him had been a perfect team for a while. Until he messed it up, of course. Perhaps it wasn't as much as he was decent working on a team, but the people around him put up with his attitude? Maybe he wasn't so different from Jessica, or at least the perception he had of her...
Taking a second cab, it was obvious that Jessica was coming with him, need of a drink or not. Her dry remarks helped break the silence, even if in Matt's world there wasn't such a thing, just the constant noise of New York rumbling in his head, an echoing soul that was almost like the cities personality, from the smell of the subway or the hot dog stands to the screams of the angry people and blaring of sirens. "She's a tough one, been in several... situations"Matt said, partly wanting Jessica to know that Karen wasn't precisely a damsel in distress, but also trying to convince himself that she was going to be fine. The truth was that Karen had gotten herself even into more shit than even Matt himself knew, but just judging by how she had dealt with the Castle trial and all that cemented the idea of her being a tough woman in Matt's mind.
"Can you text her? It'll be faster and more discreet than me struggling with the voice to text thing"Matt offered his phone to Jessica."She'd normally do all sorts of stuff... she surprised me with that whole journalist thing, how good she's at it"he added, a small pause punctuated by a frown. "But she sounded... weird. Not exactly scared but... startled, surprised. It's hard to judge across the phone, it reminds me of how clueless we can be about each other" he rambled, showing that he wasn't exactly calm himself. It didn't take long for them to reach Karen's place, noticing a couple of police cars by the sidewalk, just two agents there in wait, so the other two should be upstairs.
There was no trouble nor questions getting into the building, but once they reached Karen's apartment things were different. The door was open and the other two agents were sorting things out with her outside, talking. Karen seemed perfectly fine, even if jumpy, and her face brightened when she noticed Matt and Jessica. Of course her expression also showed surprise at the sight of the black haired detective, but there was something else on Karen's face when looking at Matt. Worry. She was worried about something, and it was just a fleeting moment that Matt would never be able to see even if frozen in time, but Jessica quite caught it.
"Matt Murdock, Ms Page's lawyer"he said as soon as was close to the cops."Ms Jones is here to assist me"Matt added, wanting to hurry up and listen to what happened as soon as possible, disregarding everything. "I'd like to have a moment with my client"he requested, firm.
"She's not accused of anything, but of course. Don't touch anything though, lets not make the work for the lab cops even harder" one of the agents, a young one, said, gesturing his partner and getting away to the other end of the hallway.
"What happened?"Matt said."Jessica is here because I was helping her with a friend that got unfairly arrested, so she's helping me"soon added, almost sensing the question come from Karen.
"Arrested for what? It doesn't have anything to do with this, I hope"Karen commented."You won't be able to see-see it, but Jessica can"she said, taking a step to a side, allowing for a better view of the apartment."As I arrived I saw the door slightly open and I called the police, but couldn't resist to peek, I wish I didn't"she muttered. The entrance was perfectly clear, specially around the door, but as soon as you passed a couple of steps into the apartment, the floor was littered with bullets of all kinds and sizes, so many that you couldn't walk inside without leaving a trace."The cops had been inside, there is no one there, no bodies either. Only pictures"Karen added, her voice noticeably faltering at the mention.
"Pictures of dead people"she hushed, stepping closer to Matt but yet not touching him, an awkward distance built by the troubles of their relationship. If Jessica peeked inside she could see some of those pictures, some of them perhaps appearing during the investigation she did."Daniel Fisher, Ben Urich, Elena Cardenas..."she hissed, all she could do without sobbing. "All of the people that died around me..." Karen finished, covering her mouth with a hand.
human
Teamwork was overrated. Jessica could do it and she understood why it was sometimes necessary, but having to worry about other people stressed her out. Getting more tangled up in this issue with Matt wasn't her first choice, but his was a siuation where it was probably necessary. She'd started it by coming to him for help, the fact that she couldn't just immediately kick him out of the job was something she'd accepted. Especially now. It was a little annoying, but at least she knew he was functional and intelligent.
Sending the text made sense to her, and Jessica did it without complaint. He was right, it would be faster if she did it, and she could do it silently. So while he spoke her fingers moved across the screen until the instructions were typed out. She didn't say anything to his comment about Karen being a 'tough one', she didn't need to. It didn't matter that much. Wouldn't have mattered how tough she was anyway, there was always something that got to a person."I don't really care about how little you do or don't know about your girlfriend right now,"she said, pressing his phone back into his hand,"not until it becomes relevant to the work."They were in a cab so she was going to treat him like a normal blind guy, because even if it was a little annoying she wasn't about to tank his life entirely. "Of course she sounded weird, her apartment got broken into." That shook people up. Many thought of their home as their safe space, the place to go where the bad things couldn't reach them. It was hard knowing that wasn't true.
She chose to solve that problem by not having any safe spaces at all.
When they got out of the taxi she let Matt pay and then took his arm to 'help' him onto the sidewalk and into the apartment building. In reality she was letting him lead because he knew where they were going and would be able to hear if anything required them stopping, but it was a subtle little thing that she didn't think most people would notice. The police were a good sign they were going in the right direction, and she made note of names quickly and filed them away for later. She wanted to compare them to the arrest notes and the names of the officers that Malcolm might have noticed interacting with him or acting strangely. She let Matt do the introduction and just stood there silently, dark eyes scanning over everything that was in the hall like she was looking for something. She scrutinized the people standing there, both police officers and the blonde woman. She even took a quick look at Matt, just to see if there was anything worth knowing on his face.
Jessica noticed the worry, but didn't really make anything of it. It was absolutely to be expected, the woman had her apartment broken into after all. Matt could handle the emotional stuff, it wasn't one of her skills anyway. She was just here to do the detective work. When Karen commented on the other case, she shrugged."It might,"she said a little bluntly. "But that means they're not after you for you."It was hard to tell if that was supposed to be a reassurance or not, it was up to interpretation. "You're a Daredevil supporter and Matt was our lawyer, you're in the blast zone if someone's after... heroes."The word came out like it physically hurt to say. It wasn't something she really thought was accurate to her, but some people had called her that and it made Jessica want to lay on the couch and drink. Admittedly a lot of things made her want to do that, but this more than many others.
She almost asked if they were pictures of the people while they were alive or pictures of them dead. Had it not been Matt's friend and someone who she knew Trish thought was fine, that question would have come out. She wasn't dealing with a kid or playing a role, so it wasn't her immediate instinct to pull her verbal punches."I'll take a look, see what I can tell you."She noticed the awkwardness but didn't comment on it because it wasn't any of her business and now wasn't the time for it. She hadsomesemblance of good behavior. The dark haired detective didn't 'take a peek' as much as she just swung the door open and stepped inside, taking a look around. She wanted to get Matt in here, but figured she probably shouldn't interrupt the moment, Jessica had no interest in accidentally getting in the middle of whateverthatwas. His skills weren't the most useful for a bunch of pictures, but maybe he'd be able to smell something. A lingering cologne too weak for her to smell, something like that. It would probably be muddled up because there had been cops in the apartment, but whatever they could get would be good.
"You're probably not in any immediate physical danger,"Jessica announced after a few minutes of looking and thinking. She didn't need to pick anything up, she just took photos on her phone and stared at the room from her spot a few steps past the doorway with a focused, sharp expression until she was ready to talk about what she saw."Unless they made some kind of demand, anyway. This is a scare tactic and it's unlikely someone put effort into that just to come back and kill or kidnap you. They want you to know that they know."It wasn't exactly an encouraging thing to say, but it was the truth and she was pretty confident in it."For whatever that's worth to you, anyway. Still might want to get a hotel room for the night and pay in cash."Personally she would also use a different name, but she was paranoid like that. If Matt tried to offer his apartment she'd list the reasons that wasn't a good idea but they didn't seem like they were really in an apartment sharing place in their relationship (whatever it was) right now.
gpt
"If they are related and they are not coming after me for me they are really doing a great job fooling me"Karen protested, it was clear that the incident got her close, and judging for how her eyes returned to peek inside her apartment over and over it was clear that there was something in particular that bothered her.
"Is there any particular picture that bothered you?"Matt asked, having caught something strange on Karen's behavior, as she usually was stronger than that. Even then, he kept an awkward distance with Karen and she seemed to do the same. For an outsider it could be seen as people being careful around a blind guy, but it was obvious that there was something wrong with them. Matt wanted to respect Karen's choice of walking away, even if she always seemed within reach, there in the periphery of his life. Karen wanted to stay away from trouble for once, keep both Matt and the drama that floated around him away, but she seemed to have a knack to elicit trouble herself.
"Do you think that this isn't enough to be bothered?"Karen answered the question with another question, loud enough for Jessica to hear. It was clear for everyone around that she was deflecting, but that didn't stop her."All those faces. My mistakes. Our mistakes..."she argued,"they may as well be a collection of people that you couldn't save, but for me it's a collection of the people I killed"Karen fell silent after that, as if she realized that she talked too much. There was truth on her words, was she really feeling that guilty for the people that died at the hands of the foes they tried to fight?
Matt respected her silence for what felt like too long, considering what to say, how to help, and yet drawing blanks. This was no case he could argue, as he was guilty of all Karen wanted to throw on him, nor was it some thug he could punch, nor sin he could confess. In some other situation he could try to relieve her offering at least his presence, being a friendly ear and then some, but they didn't have a relationship anymore, nor like that, he knew that much."It's not your fault, those people's deaths are not your fault"Matt said, too little, too late, as Jessica returned from the inside of the apartment.
"The hotel idea is solid, get a new phone too"Matt agreed."Did you get a look at all the pictures?" he asked Jessica, not knowing that she had taken photos of the scene. "That way we can try to see if there is something that seems odd or points us in some direction" he added, something that made Karen's eyes open a little wider for a moment, something that Matt didn't notice. The pictures spread among bullets around Karen's apartment were generic ones that looked easy to obtain, be it from a newspaper or a google search of the individual, nothing that pointed in any directions. Most of them were civilians or people involved with the Fisk or the Castle case, casualties of the wars that Matt waged, including the psycho ninja girlfriend Jessica had to drag him away from before the building collapsed.
"The cops seem just as surprised as us, tired and bothered by having to deal with such a weird thing" Matt informed,"so I don't think they are involved"he added. Raising her tinted glasses a bit, he pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. He was feeling a bit lost, as he didn't believe in coincidences, but he wasn't able to guess who was doing that and why. "Karen, can you warn Foggy for me? Tell him to be wary, at least until we are sure of... whatever this is"he said, sounding tired, making Karen nod quietly.
If Jessica thought about it, there were a few pictures that felt somewhat odd, as Elektra's presence between them was somewhat off since she wasn'd directly connected with Karen, but that wasn't the only one. Among them there was one of a bespectacled man whose identity may be known to Jessica or maybe not, but it was the source of worries for Karen as it belonged to James Wesley, Wilson Fisk's right hand man."So... what now, detective?"Matt asked Jessica, not wanting to seem that lost before her but admitting that this was her area of expertise.
human
It wasn't worth arguing about. If nobody wanted to believe that Jessica knew what she was talking about, fine. Eventually something would turn up to prove her point. This was something she was certain about, and she wasn't easily deterred from what she thought.
When Karen was asked if a certain picture bothered her, the black haired detective stopped half tuning the conversation out, interested to hear the answer to it. Instead she had to listen to deflection, which was a good sign that yeah, there was definitely a picture in the bunch that bothered her more than the others. It was just going to be figuring out which ones. She kept herself out of the conversation, content to listen in and see what she could learn about Karen and Matt both. How they interacted meant a lot, and it would give her some ideas about them. Wouldn't necessarily be immediately useful, but it might be eventually. She was working with Matt and Karen was the... well, she wasn't really the 'employer' because this was a favor case and one that she was pretty sure connected to something larger but couldn't explain yet.
She didn't have anything to chime in about faults when it came to death, because she probably couldn't say the right thing. She didn't only blame herself for the person she'd killed with her own hands, after all. She doubted Matt would either, he was just... trying. And she wasn't good at that.
Matt sure was worried. She got it, but it made her more curious about the nature of their relationship. It wasn't necessarily relevant since nobody should know that he was Daredevil, but she couldn't say for certain it wasirrelevant."A burner phone for a while isn't a bad idea. Don't know yet if you need to get a whole new number, but grabbing some prepaid thing and keeping your phone off wouldn't hurt."As for getting a good look, she let out a casual"yeah."She didn't say that she'd taken picture of them, because that would distress Karen in a way that Jessica actually cared about - the way that made her less helpful and more fidgety and anxious. They were going to have to figure out which picture had reason to bother her the most, and that was, for the moment, probably going to have to happen when the reporter was't actually there. If this wasn't about Matt it was probably going to be about that, but the way Karen was acting meant that she wasn't going to reveal much unless she got dug at and getting all barb-y at Matt's friend while he was there probably wouldn't end well. She didn't think he'd let her do what she might need to do. He'd be too busy comforting his friend.
Right, Matt had two friends. It was good to have one check up on the other, she was making hers stay together, after all. There was no concern about Luke; if they were going after people important to her and Matt he was in danger of getting dragged in either because they were targeting all the people who'd try to stop the Hand or just because he had been close to her. She'd give the man a call but she wasn't exactly worried about someone trying to hurt him. They were welcome to try, they'd be pretty unhappy with the outcome. Maybe Danny should have come to mind too, but honestly Jessica hadn't left that team up with a fantastic view of him and so he didn't come to mind.
"Now I go to the bar and drink. I can't think about anything right now."Too sober. Too close to Karen, who was clearly hiding something and would probably make conversation about the case unnecessarily hard. She wanted to talk to Matt about the photos, maybe describe them to him and see if he knew who everyone was - she knew two, but not the others. She hadn't been the one to actually get Matt, because she had to be the one to haul up the elevator car, but she definitely remembered that particular ninja woman. Jessica had not been pleased with having to save him, but she understood his situation at least a little. She wasn't eager to admit that fact, but she did."I suggest you come with me, you could probably use it too."It was directed towards Matt, because while Karen could also probably use a drink she'd seriously get in the way of the brainstorming."You should get your things and go to a hotel."It was directed at Karen, and she hesitated and then offered"if you want me to get some of your shit I will."It wasn't because she was a nice person, it was because Matt was a friend and even more because she wanted to get the wheels on this cart turning and have her butt on a bar stool as soon as possible. And he probably couldn't go do it. Well he could, but between the two of them she was the better option for it.
gpt
"It seems a day for drinks"Matt voiced with resignation. He shouldn't, but he wanted to, and if Jessica could function with how much she drank perhaps Matt could indulge himself a bit. Karen opened her eyes slightly, but even if Matt drinking was nothing new, whatever that strange team up was felt odd to her. How much did she miss while holed in that police station while those two, together with Rand and Cage saved the day? She felt like their roads had parted while she wasn't looking, but wasn't that her own choice? It was for the better, with Matt keeping his Daredevil stuff as far from her as he could and Frank Castle dead*, Karen would be able to focus on her career, if stupid things like these ones could stop happening to her.
"That would be nice, just a couple essentials, there is a sports bag on the bottom of the closet"Karen accepted Jessica's offer. It was voiced rudely, as expected of her but it was still useful. Probably for both of them, as Karen couldn't help but suspect that Jessica would take yet another one of her drunk detective looks to the place, but whatever her thing was it seemed to work, so Karen didn't want to doubt her prowess."I'll call Foggy on my way to the hotel, we'll warn you if something's wrong"she added, facing Matt. Once Jessica got out of the apartment with her things, she was ready to be packed on a cab and sent away to supposed safety.
"If this is connected..."Matt mumbled. Should they warn Danny and Luke? Their memories only brought him grievance, not being in the best of terms with them. Maybe it was mean of him, but he decided that they didn't need to know unless it was proven that they were after them. And in that case, Jessica could warn Luke, or so he thought, as they had been... something in the past, although the bulletproof man was with Claire now. It was almost funny how the world turned, it didn't seem that long ago when Claire and him crossed paths-
Noticing that he was distracted, Matt returned his attention to Jessica and her loud presence. It wasn't just how she talked, of course, as having her close allowed Matt to feel her unhappy fidgeting, that complex layer of sounds, movements and smells that formed her presence. "So... do you have a favorite watering hole or do we just crash anywhere?"he asked, understanding Jessica a bit better. He did have the feel to decompress and sort out thoughts, not to mention that drowning the noise that surrounded all that case, or cases, would be more than welcome.
*Since this set before The Punisher Season 1 if I'm not mistaken.
human
Every day was a day for drinks, but that wasn't a thought that got voiced. There had been a long time where she wasn't sure that she could have functioned without drinking as much as she did, it was cheaper and more satisfying than therapy. Trish told her it wasn't nearly as effective, but all the therapist had ever given her were some stupid meditations and reciting street names so that was a point she would be pretty willing to argue. Arguing, incidentally, was something else that felt like it helped. She noticed the look on Karen's face and flapped a hand slightly dismissively. "I'll take care of him, make sure he doesn't fall down any stairs or whatever," she promised. That was almost certainly not what was concerning or surprising about the whole drinking thing, but Matt was a big boy and very few people had more reason to down a glass or three of whiskey than people like the two of them. Their lives were... unique. A huge pain in the ass, honestly. Then again hewasblind and if he was running off of his other senses that might get weird when he was drunk. Or maybe he functioned way better than everyone else, who knew.
Jessica would take offense to having her skills referred to as 'drunk detective'ing, because right now she was definitely not drunk. If she had been drunk she still would have done about the same, but the difference in sobriety was an important thing that ought to be factored in and she should be given credit for it."Right."She was going to take a look through everything again of course, it would be stupid not to, but her intention was mostly to get Karen the hell out of there so that they could talk about her. When she stood around all cute and distressed it distracted Matt, and the reporter would probably try and derail the conversations that needed to happen. Staying too long inside the apartment would have been suspicious so she narrowed things down to what she thought would be the most important. Took a peek behind the medicine cabinet while grabbing a toothbrush and toothpaste, opened her nightstand drawer but didn't move anything around, and then put some clothes in the bag and brought it back out."Here. Work clothes and comfort clothes."That way it didn't matter if Karen worked to push everything out of her head or chilled out and watched TV, she'd have what she needed. Being thoughtful would help recover points she'd lost for her normal personality, and if Karen didn't like her it would make this investigation harder.
Well, Karen wasn't going to end up liking her anyway, but that could be put off for slightly longer. Once the reporter had been put in a taxi and sent off to the hotel with some similar instructions on contact to the ones that she'd given Malcolm about contact so that they'd know she arrived safe and wasn't saying so under duress. It had probably been unnecessary but she'd done it for her person and she could do it for Matt's person.
She caught his mumble and let out a half irritated sigh, picking up where he was going with the thought. It was the one she'd rolled around her mind and then rejected for the moment, though it wasn't something that could be ignored forever. "We'll work through some of this shit and then decide if they need to know."Luke was still a soft spot and if she didn't have to call him, Jessica would prefer not to. The whole thing still stung a little, though not for the same reasons it had originally. This might be one of those things that she never got over entirely.
He asked if she had a favorite bar and she held up a finger in a 'hold on a second' moment and dug her phone out of her pocket, opened apple maps, and typed in the word 'bar'."There's one two blocks away, maybe it'll be my new favorite."She needed a new favorite, Luke's had gotten a little bit... blown up. Even if it hadn't, she wasn't entirely sure how welcome she was"And I need you to... listen to descriptions of the pictures that were in her apartment."Even if he could feel out ink bumps or something that'd be useless with pictures she'd taken on her cellphone."I recognize a few, but not all."They needed to know if the people were connected to Karen, Matt, Daredevil, or some mixture of the three."She didn't want you to know something and that means we're gonna find out what it is."She shouldn't enjoy doing that sort of thing, but it gave Jessica a tiny bit of pleasure to dig up and figure out someone else's secrets. There was a little bit of power in it and having that was still a comfort. She'd felt a whole and inescapable powerlessness before and it still crept up on her sometimes with a feeling of cold dread. Being active (and nosy) helped.
gpt
A surprised and thankful Karen was soon put into a cab, packed to what should be safety with the belongings that Jessica fished for her. She had liked the effort, that was for sure, but it wasn't the kind of situation, or even person, that could mellow for someone by just that. Specially with Matt close, his presence and all the baggage that flooded the room when they were together made even the most harmless moments stuffy, awkward, and that was far from being harmless. Not that Matt dealt well with baggage either, as he was king of weighting his shoulders with all the sins of the world, and the practice didn't made him any better, it just ate him from the inside out.
With Karen out of sight, although hardly out of mind, Matt nodded to Jessica's notion about the rest of the ill conceived team of vigilantes to be informed. It was probably unfair, but Matt didn't want any of the punch first, questions later duo close by, specially after what happened the last time they were together."I didn't thought she would be keeping secrets from me, I guess that I don't know her as well as I believed"Matt said, slightly dejected and feeling a bit terrible for being judgmental. Of course Karen was entitled to have secrets, it was foolish of him to think otherwise, but that she didn't trust him anymore to tell him what bothered her was painful. And he had only himself to blame.
It was nice that they had a bar at hand not too far away, allowing them to get a bit of a walk that served so that Matt could disconnect a bit. The city with all its noises, all its smells... it could be overwhelming, it once was when younger, but now it was similar to being embraced by his home. That was it, it was his home and his people. Sure, he may have soured his relationship with Foggy and Karen, he was in a tense relationship with the rest of the cities' vigilantes, and the rest of the people he knew were dead, but what he still had wouldn't be taken from him without a fight. It didn't mind that Foggy wanted some distance and Karen didn't trust him, he was going to protect them and the rest of the city all the same.
"Yeah, we can play 'Who's who?' in the bar"Matt said, wanting to clear his mind from self important and severe thoughts, making a joke about the old board game as they approached the place. From what he could garner of the bar, it seemed to be almost empty and had a few tables that would be private enough for a conversation, so it should suffice."Good choice, can't read the name though"he commented, waiting for her to guide him in, feeling strangely comfortable about the idea of Jessica dragging him around. It wasn't as she was delicate, but she certainly wasn't as rough as her looks or attitude implied."I'll drink whatever you are having" he said to make things simple, far away from any kind of challenge, wondering what would be her drink of choice.
human
Jessica didn't really figure that Karen would be able to relax and she didn't know or care if the other woman entirely trusted her or not, she just needed the reporter to not distrust her in any way that hindered the investigation or the way that Matt communicated with and listened to her. She wasn't sure that the hero would be as cooperative as she needed him to be if his... whatever Karen was to him told him she didn't like the detective. Whatever they were to each other it was clearly important.
"Oh please, everyone has secrets."She rolled her eyes but didn't feel the need to really continue further. He should know that, though."You'll have to get over it. Whiskey will help."Actually she needed him to not entirely get over it because they had to figure out what exactly it was being hidden. She mostly accepted that about Trish at this point, though she still did keep an eye on her friend. That was what friends did though, right? She was... pretty sure that was what they did. It was whatshedid, so whatever. People could take it or leave it. Most were willing to take it, but she tried to make so few friends that she had a pretty good track record. She wouldn't have known what to do with more friends anyway. Didn't have time to maintain that many emotional connections.
She didn't guide Matt there; people walked around him pretty regularly when he had the cane out and all she did was sort of menace anyone who seemed like they were going to try and make the supposedly blind guy go around them. When they got to the bar she took his arm though, because it was the proper thing to do if one was with a blind man who was going into a building he'd never been in before. He had secrets that she needed to be willing to help hide because she had some morals and willingness to help people who weren't paying her. Far more than Jessica pretended that she had. She found a table in a darker corner where she could keep an eye on the door - a useless decision when she had a dude with super senses, but one that made her feel safer and was enough of a habit that she didn't really think about it."I could barely read it either so I don't think it matters that much."It didn't. Jessica didn't need to know where she was drinking, and that was a pretty good indicator that she'd be able to find cheap shit there.
"Sit and wait."She went up to the bar and ordered, coming back with three shots of whiskey, quality - or more specifically lack of - obviously immediately from the smell if he had much experience in whiskey."Here."One got set down on the table in front of Matt a little noisily and then she dropped into the chair across with him with her two. She downed most of one glass immediately before dropping her phone on the table unceremoniously."I recognized that ninja gal from our.... last adventure,"they were in a public place so she had to be vague."There's also some slightly older woman with glasses and..."she lifted the phone back up and zoomed in,"looks like a cross necklace, so she was probably religious. Probably not well off, her clothes looked a little well worn in the original picture. Tanner skin."Everyone was some range of 'tanner' to her because Jessica had the skin tone of an antique porcelain doll, but she wasn't going to take a shot at ethnicity because if she guessed wrong it might cause confusion and make it harder for Matt to guess at it. Not that he probably knew about skin tone, but it might trigger a memory about accent. And he seemed to be able 'see' to some degree so she figured that face details were still useful for him to some degree."Then a guy with glasses. Serious, probably tired. He's dressed well, like professionalism matters to him. Probably in his sixties. Stubble, probably because he's got better things to do than shave and doesn't care that much, but it might be a legitimate stylistic choice. He's black, if that's a thing you can pick up or if one of your friends often mentions skintones to you."
gpt
As much as it could irk some people, there was something strangely easygoing on how Jessica handled things. She was blunt and dry, but after years and years of people tip toeing around his disability, and Matt himself having to be careful on how he dealt with people, her no bullshit approach was refreshing. Jessica bossed him around, telling him to sit and wait and handling the drinks herself, and Matt got the vibe that it wasn't just to keep the blind man charade going on, but just because she was used to be clear, expedite. Of course, he could perfectly perceive his glass after the thud it made on the table, how the sounds reflected on the full glass, the potent smell of cheap alcohol, but since she didn't hand his drink, Matt kept the charade, slowly sweeping the table with his hands until he stumbled upon it, picking it up for a sip.
It was nasty and nice, as caustic as the woman that ordered it, and it had that precise heartwarming effect on him, shaving off a tiny sliver of his worries. Jessica's mention of Elektra made Matt visibly wince, and even if it made sense her picture was among the ones in Karen's apartment, it wasn't pleasant to hear about it nor did Matt know why Jessica bothered to mention her. Perhaps she didn't think it twice or she just didn't care? Or maybe she was sizing his reaction up. Whatever it was, it didn't last, and in her professional demeanor, Jessica soon started to describe the pictures at Matt.
"Elena Cardenas"Matt said, his voice escaping between tense lips, drinking half of his glass before continuing."You should be able to confirm it on Google, as she appeared on the news. I failed her, and Karen took it particularly bad, she was very fond of that gentle woman. Whoever did this can be miserable, maybe Wilson Fisk related"he commented. If all the pictures were like that, they would need more drinks soon, or at least he would. Matt tried to relax a bit while Jessica checked it, but it didn't work and soon there was another picture to appraise.
"Serious, tired, sixties..."Matt mumbled."Can't be Stick since you knew him... or Leland Owlsley because he was more of a fancy businessman and Karen didn't care for him-"he paused as Jessica advanced on her description."Of course, how can I be so dense. She's got her actual job after meeting him... Ben Urich, from the Bulletin"Matt finally said."Those two were more or less public, so anyone can link them to Karen"Matt commented. "Foggy, Karen and I took Elena's case while Ben got Karen into investigative reporting"he explained, remembering the past few years, finishing his drink.
human
Jessica Jones did not have the time or patience to tiptoe around things for long periods of time. She could if it got shit done, but dancing around Matt didn't help either of them. It was wasted time and energy that should go into other things. In this case, that 'other thing' was getting alcohol as quickly as possible. It would have been more efficient for her drinking to sit at the bar, but that made it harder to talk about things so she was going to go ahead and accept the mild hassle of getting up or flagging the bartender and hoping he'd deliver. The only person she ever didn't sit at the bar with was Trish, so this was a little bit weird for her. Most of the time she wouldn't even bother to keep an eye on the front door because she was just there to get drunk, but she was in work mode and knew that there were stakes (plus another person who wasn't super strong and didn't heal a little faster), so this was the best place to be.
"Okay."So things could still be connected to him or to Karen. Maybe both. Matt knew her suspicions about that though, so she didn't bring it up again. Thereuld have been something comforting she could say in response to his words about Elena Cardenas, but she had nothing so she just left it for now. The dark haired detective didn't bother to check, she trusted Matt's word at least in this regard. A better way to phrase it would probably have been that she didn't distrust him, but those were clarifications that she only really needed to make in her head right now. He'd have her back and help her out, but she was still unsure if he'd lie to her. Probably, but she wouldn't feel particularly bad if he lied to her so she had to expect the same from him.
"If it was Stick I would have said asshole."It was a true descriptor, but it was also one she used for approximately 90% of the population. Basically everyone was an asshole in some way or another. "We know they know more than the easy stuff, they have your..."she didn't know what to call Elektra so she just moved on, at least having enough respect not to make jabs at that relationship,"and that's not connected to Karen."She wasn't bringing up Elektra to hurt him or to judge how he responded - though she paid attention to that - it was because the picture had been there and so he should know about it. They needed to figure out the connections, after all."She's connected to Daredevil if anything, and Karen is only connected to him by a rescue or two and the fact she openly supports him... right?"This was the point where Matt should tell her if he and Karen Page had ever been caught in some kind of compromising position while he was in costume or openly allied in a way that would draw attention from the standard Daredevil nemesis without too much research.
"Next there's a guy with black squarish glasses, styled hair. He's in a nice looking suit, probably expensive. Tie is done perfectly, collar is neat. Probably in his thirties. Professional. Controlled. Maybe weaselly. He looks like the kind of guy who could really quiet someone down with his disapproval. You or someone you know probably wanted to punch him in the face at some point, he's got that sort of expression." Like the descriptor 'asshole', this wasn't exceptionally helpful because much of the world had a face that Jessica would want to punch. While describing the man she was already getting to work trying to get her a stupid reverse image search website to work; they were a mess on her cellphone and the low cellphone reception in the bar wasn't helping. They'd hid an image that Matt couldn't figure out just based on physical description since he was blind and didn't spend all his time with Karen, or he'd lie to her. When she figured either of those were happening she'd just reverse image search her picture of a picture and see if anyone came up. If it didn't she could try again when she got back to her apartment where at least half functional wifi and the rest of her booze was.
She threw back the rest of her first glass and moved on to the second, holding it in her free hand as opposed to drinking it immediately. It took a little extra to get her drunk, so that first glass was basically just priming.
gpt
"They have met"Matt admitted, tense."Elektra and Karen. It was why... no, it was my fault"he mumbled, distracted by his own misdeeds."Elektra is not the reason for the burned bridges between Karen and me. I am responsible of each and every one of those"he confessed, taking a moment to think. The pictures, the bullets."If there is a message beyond the fear, I can't grasp it..."another pause."Everything is connected, if anyone did enough digging... after Karen was our client, she worked with Foggy and me in the whole Wilson Fisk thing, a convicted man that a certain ubiquitous vigilante stopped, then Castle... and now she's basically on Ben Urich's office..."Matt commented, slowly realizing how vulnerable they all were."The only person that is more connected to our... whole thing than Karen is Claire, but she should be safe with Cage"he said, another wince that indicated that the idea didn't fully sit well with him.
"That description fits way too many people I've stumbled upon, specially being a lawyer" Matt said, noticing that the description had caused something to stir on the back of his head, but too distracted with himself to think about it.
Even distancing himself... nothing worked, if a talented enough mind started to pull from the strings... they would come undone."We have been careless, arrogant. We are like domino pieces, a flick on any one of us would topple the rest. Even Foggy is now working for your..."Matt paused, unaware of what exactly the relationship between Jeryn Hogarth and Jessica was."For Hogarth, Chao and Benowitz. Didn't Hogarth represent Rand as well?"Matt shook his head. "You are a talented investigator, tell me. How long would it take you to unravel all our secrets, all our lies if you got your mind to it?"he said, reaching for Jessica's hand."Whoever is behind this could strike on us, but for now they are just playing"Matt said, backing off, reaching for the glass and noticing it empty."We'll need more of this"he said, dangling the empty drink in the air.
Once he had managed to calm down a bit, he returned to think about the last picture."I kind of feel that I've met someone like that as a lawyer"he said."The man of the picture"Matt sighed."It wouldn't make sense for him to be any DA assistant, wealthy lawyer or corporate stooge, but who the hell does Karen know that fits the description?"he wondered."Check Daniel Fisher, she was accused of killing him and we defended her... she was almost killed in prison"he tried, even if something inside of him told that it wasn't the case. It had to be someone else, connected to the cases."Can't be John Healy either, he doesn't match the description at all, why did I think of him?"he mumbled, noticing that Jessica's patience was running thin and maybe she would be the one that wanted to punch him, instead of the man in the picture.
Wait. A face he wanted to punch. Someone that he wanted to punch and yet he didn't.
"The one that brought us the Healy case... he was an arrogant asshole... can't remember his name, he was connected to Fisk"Matt remembered."Check the press conference Fisk gave, it should be on YouTube"Matt urged Jessica."Maybe he was there"he tried to remember the name."Something Wesley? Once Fisk became public he had to be on his paperwork somewhere"Matt insisted."But... what happened to that man? And why send a picture of him to Karen?" he wondered.
human
Burning bridges was just a thing that happened. She was so entirely used to it that his concern over it didn't really get to her, and Jessica chose to ignore that bit. There was nothing she could say to comfort him over that. The fact that people still saw some amount of value in friendship with her was something she didn't understand and had mostly stopped questioning. Trish was her sister though, she basically had to stick with her. Malcolm knew better but hung around anyway and while she would never admit it, she did occasionally appreciate that fact.
"Damn, calm down."Seemed like Matt was getting wound up and she wasn't exactly the best at calming people down when they got stressed. Usually Jessica made them more stressed out, unless she was really trying. He knew her too well for that to work, she figured."I'd have to tail you to figure out the Daredevil thing. Did tail you and figure out the Daredevil thing,"she amended after a moment because she'd seen him being all acrobatic."It's possible. But you're the one who decided on secrets and lies in the first place." She didn't hide herself at all. Everyone who looked her up knew what she did, what she could do. It was a selling point when it came to her work these days."If I hadn't been trying to find out more about you for other reasons I probably wouldn't have connected you to Daredevil,"she did say a moment later, offering what as what she hoped was a piece of comfort. It might not have been much, but she was one of the best at what she did so it should mean something.
His lawyer comment got a lazy 'hah' from Jessica, who made quick work of googling Daniel Fisher."Nope."But that guy was dead and connected to Karen so she filed the face away in her memory to see if it was one of the others in the pictures."Prosecutors wouldn't really fit the theme I'm seeing here,"she confirmed,"unless they died while helping you our or while you were helping them."That seemed to be the general pattern going on here. It did definitely seem like these were targeting Karen specifically, but that didn't mean it was actually about her, not at the end of wherever this mystery was going.
She raised a hand and the bartender glanced over at her."Can we just get a whole bottle?"He considered for a second and then pulled one off the shelf and brought it over. Jessica didn't say 'thank you', she was busy looking at her phone and probably wouldn't have thanked him even if she wasn't distracted. The video played quietly and she confirmed to herself that it was the man that Matt was talking about before googling 'Wesley Fisk' together to see what happened."James Wesley." Back to reading from the bright screen and scrolling through information."Looks like the guy got shot."That didn't give them a whole lot."I assume you didn't shoot him."She made it sound like a blind thing, but it was far more about who he was as a person. If he could do all the things she'd seen him do while they fought ninja together she assumed he could probably at least take a swing at shooting someone. Taking his glass, she filled it and then slid it back across the table to Matt, only after a moment sort of tapping next to it so that he'd be able to pretend that he needed to know where it was.
"I wouldn't suggest asking her about it until we have more information. I mean, I would, but the relationship still seems important to you." Jessica would do it, but that would still probably damage the relationship. She might pretend she didn't care but she did, at least a tiny bit."So someone connect to Fisk is possible."There was no reason for them to be hassling her though, and she was still so attached to the idea that this was connected that she didn't know quite what to make of that idea. Maybe they wanted her to be willing to back off when something happened. Which was stupid, she was pretty sure that anyone who dug into her would realize now that she didn't back off of things.
gpt
"But you were trying to, and you did succeed"Matt groaned, realizing how transparent he could be. It was still true that his blindness gave him a shield against suspicions of him being a vigilante that others didn't have, but with stranger and stranger events happening in the city, even an alibi like that started to run thin. "I need the secret if I want to keep being both a lawyer and... him"he said, wary. While Jessica looked for the press conference, Matt kept his blind man theatrics to find and reach the whiskey bottle the bartender brought and served himself another glass. It was fine, there was nothing wrong with that. If Jessica could drink and work, so could he, after all they were still gathering clues and wondering if both the Malcolm thing and the Karen one were related, right? There was no harm on that.
"Of course!- No, I didn't shoot him"Matt answered too loud at first, then lowering his voice. The mere notion had bothered him, as always did, so he overreacted. "Sorry. No, I didn't. I would never"he insisted, although it was true that he was saying so for himself than for Jessica, specially taking into account that she already did so, at least according to the news. It wasn't that Matt considered her a murderer, specially given the situation she seemed to be in, but he had to repeat that notion to himself so he didn't cross that line as well. The world may be better if Fisk was dead instead of in a prison that he controlled more and more of each passing day, maybe Castle had the right idea, but everyone knew where that had taken him.
"Asking her?" Matt wondered, realizing what Jessica meant, or what he thought she meant."Do you think that this is what made her to act-"he paused."You can't really think she has anything to do with this, right?"he continued."She wouldn't. She couldn't" Matt mumbled, having to think that he wasn't so sure, taking a sip from his glass."Maybe she knows something about it, but she has nothing more to do with that" he sentenced,"sending her a picture of a Fisk henchman don't make much sense, the other pictures have in common that they would make her feel bad I guess..." he sighed, trying to make some sense about what was going on.
"I guess it is possible"Matt admitted."But Fisk was also into deals with Gao, and she was Hand"another whiskey sip."But all our leads are dead, buried"he lamented."We can't wait until another of our friends gets into trouble"Matt affirmed."Although... is this a threat about bigger things to come? Or a warning for us to get away from what we usually do?" as much as he tried wrapping his mind about the mystery, he had no clue. "Whoever he is, they seem to know a lot about us, or maybe not so much if they think this will go well for them" he finished, clearly not in a good mood.
human
Ugh, he was really doing this now."Yeah, because that's what I do. We'd be talking someone with talent or resources,"she said it like it was a case of one or the other, not like there were people with both though they definitely existed,"who had some reason to be looking into Matthew Murdock. If you going to have a crisis, I'm leaving." Jessica wouldn't, but it was a threat she basically had to make. She would one hundred percent believe it too, at least until she tried to get up and couldn't bring herself to leave."I don't have time for that. And I won't be able to make you feel better." Even when she wanted to have the right words, the wrong ones seemed to come out.
It was hard to imagine Matt killing someone, but she would have said that about herself as well. A gun didn't seem like how he'd do it even if he was going to, though. Seemed more like the sort of person who'd beat someone to death."I didn't think so."And his response confirmed it. Maybe he was a fantastic liar and he and Karen had killed the dude together, but Jessica didn't think so. She knew about his enemies, and the fact that pretty much all of the ones people knew had fought Daredevil were alive - and those that weren't were dead because of non-Daredevil reasons - was decent proof of how he operated. It didn't mean he wasn't capable of it, it just meant that as far as she could tell it hadn't happened yet.
She shrugged."I don't know the connection. Maybe he got shot for a reason she blames herself for, maybe he got shot by someone she knows, maybe they met on Tinder, maybe he once dated her mom. There's a million reasons. But I think we can agree there's something she didn't want you to know and if it's not related to her apartment or her social life, it's related to one of the pictures in her apartment." Maybe she just had a new boyfriend and didn't want to tell Matt, but that didn't seem right to her."If everything else seems intended to make her feel bad, then either they made a mistake or it's meant to make her feel bad too."One of these two options seemed much more likely than the other. It seemed more likely that there were competent criminals and someone was keeping a secret than incompetent criminals and no secrets. There were always secrets.
There were always more leads somewhere. It could take a while to find them, but any plot that had multiple people involved had one who could be the loose end. Just had to shake them into it. And find them, which was the hard part. Finding was what she did though.
"I'm not hiding anything. So they know. Clients have offered me extra money to kill someone I got dirt on when they didn't like the results, it's all out in the open." Matt needed to stop including her in his little angst crisis. "And I don't know what it is you think "we" usually do, but what I usually do is drink and work."She wasn't a hero. She'd done two things that some people might think was heroic, and while society only really knew about one of them, responses were mixed. He could be a hero if he wanted, it wasn't a title Jessica wanted. It was a burden, a lot of promises that she didn't know if she could keep. Didn't know if she wanted to have to keep them. Almost as though punctuating the sentiment, the dark haired detective lifted her drink to her lips and tilted it back, letting the liquid burn the back of her throat in a way that was more comforting than painful.
gpt
Maybe Jessica wasn't able to make him feel better as she had just said, but just being herself and despite her character and warnings allowing him to vent a little bit was fine. He could talk with Karen about what disturbed her another day, if he even ended up doing so or wasn't something that popped up along the investigation. He should respect her privacy though, so maybe it wasn't a good idea. She was scared enough to call him despite how awkward things were, so pressuring Karen wouldn't be his smartest idea. Not that he had a lot of smart ideas as of late, to be honest. Taking another sip that was close to threaten his second glass into emptiness, Matt leaned over the table comfortably.
"Work got us troubles too. Work is how we met after all" he just said, feeling way more at ease after venting and drinking. Work was what made him meet Karen as well. It wasn't like Matt wanted to think of her, or as he thought of Jessica as he once did of Karen. Because it wasn't like that, right? No, Jessica for sure was attractive, that was undeniable, but so was fire and no one would advise getting too close to it. They had worked together in the past and they had done it well, but now, that day... it didn't feel the same. Both had been reluctant about how they approached the whole Hand issue, but despite their differences they had managed to work together better than anyone would have expected.
Maybe it was due to how things had ended, but even Matt didn't think so. It could be a pain to admit, but it wasn't her fault. And after all, after the distance the four of them pursued between themselves, or at least as far as he knew, she had come to him. Maybe it was just a case of having no other to resort to, maybe things were weird with Foggy's boss, Hogarth, but even then Jessica could have turned to a perfect stranger to solve the Malcolm thing. Yet she didn't. She could disguise it as she wanted, but Matt chose to read is as trust, trust that he also felt towards her in a sense. Yeah, that was it, trust and nothing more, right?
Matt finished his second drink without ceremony, not exactly a stranger to drinking."We are out of work to do right now so then we drink"he said, picking up the bottle and serving both himself and Jessica."Unless we want to pay a crooked cop a visit"he shrugged, undecided about how should they approach the cop that unlawfully arrested Malcolm.
human
"I never said it didn't."That hadn't even been the first time she'd been arrested. Jessica viewed work differently than Matt did, and she didn't factor in the whole... helping people thing. That was something that she would treat as though it was a huge bother and waste of her time even when she was dedicated to the cause. Most of what she did got her in trouble, and she was caught in a weird position where she both accepted that this was what her life was and tried her best to avoid it whenever possible. She didn't want to get caught up in problems, she just wanted to be left alone to live her life."I don't count that as work."The whole Hand thing had been something else. Community service, maybe.
Matt was hot, he probably had a smile that made women want to take their shirts off. Jessica had noticed, of course she had noticed. But he'd been her lawyer and then things had gotten weird and now she was one of the people who had helped force him to leave his... whatever Elektra was to him - girlfriend or ex he still felt very strongly for - to die. Sure he hadn't been the one who'd actually hit him and carried him out, but she'd been part of it. Had a hand in the death of another person's loved one. She wasn't meant to be around other people with powers, seemed like. She was three for four on things turning out terribly. Four for five if Simpson counted, but Simpson was a jackass.
There was trust, she supposed. That if he'd accepted he would do everything he could to help her and Malcolm. The question had been about whether he'd do it in the first place. There were still concerns to be sorted out about styles when it came to investigating, but he wouldn't be as hard to work with as Danny had been. She couldn't work with Luke anymore - he probably wouldn't turn her down, but it would hurt too much. Even if she could drink and ignore that away, it would be awkward enough she wasn't sure it'd be useful. Matt had all the skills he needed, what with the whole being an actual lawyer thing. And being sneaky.
"There's always work to do, but drinking helps."She had a case she was supposed to be working on right now, but it was going to have to fall behind this, since Malcolm and Karen were more important."Can't shake him down without a reason."She would have had no problem with it usually, but this was a cop and beyond the whole getting arrested thing there was the concern about the repercussions against Malcolm."I want to follow him."Maybe see if she could find anything in his house. Perhaps let Daredevil drop in to have a few words but not take any swings at the man.
Finding out where a cop lived wasn't the hardest thing to do. It was easy to look up if the guy owned or was on the lease for a house or apartment, and if he did they'd have a place to stake out. If he didn't she might have to start the facebook hunt. Find someone in his life who'd taken a picture with an identifying piece of information and work from there. Her phone was still on the table and Jessica picked it back up to get started, figuring that Matt wasn't about to try and call her on rudeness for using her phone. This was why they were together, after all."Got it."There was his address, front and center and entirely to easy for her to find. Safety was dead, people could find out anything about anyone these days."Should probably be concerned about how easy that was."But she didn't sound concerned at all."If you end up drunk enough to fall off a roof later I'll leave you behind."
If he needed her to throw him over her shoulder at pretty much any point to carry his drunk ass out she'd do it, and they both probably knew it.
gpt
"I can drink" Matt said monotone. He wasn't bragging on how much alcohol he could ingest nor has he taken offense about yet another of Jessica's remarks. It was just a fact, he had plenty of training either in Josie's or somewhere else. That said, he couldn't compare himself to Jessica, as he suspected she could probably drink him under the table even if she didn't have powers."So we can follow him or visit his house"Matt commented."Maybe he made the mistake of having a place too nice for a cop"he added,"such a goon doesn't tend to lay low or play smart"he shrugged."We can discard the classic stakeout, as neither of us has a car. Maybe you could borrow a friend's, I don't have a license for fairly obvious reasons"he commented, although he could drive given the need.
"Is it a lets do it now thing?"Matt asked, genuinely curious. "I know that private investigators sleep at odd hours, but I was wondering" he smiled, as he didn't had a decent conversation with anyone he cared for in weeks and weeks. Matt would be the first in acknowledging that he hadn't been stellar company since Elektra died, not to mention that his bonds with Foggy and Karen were already damaged beforehand. He hadn't say it, but the thought had crossed his mind. Straight out thought that Elektra died. No euphemisms at all. Maybe it was time he moved on from her for the third time in his life, as Elektra had been like a bad addiction, as toxic as the withdrawal her absence caused. They broke one time, then she died twice. Third time was the charm it seemed, although Matt felt bad about thinking of her like that, he could at least move on.
The matter was to move on towards what, as he had been feeling aimless for a while.
"I'll defer to your expertise"Matt conceded, as she was the investigator after all and too many of his investigative routines required punching the people until he got the answers."Feel free to call the shots, this is no courthouse" he added."I must confess I'm aching for some action" Matt said with another of his smiles. He really did mean nothing more that what he said, there was no double meaning in that one as he did want to fix things the soonest as possible and in an expedite way, but what he had commented could be easily misunderstood, as once he felt comfortable Matt was a naturally charming man. Jessica was smarter than to read beyond what he had said, that was for sure.
human
Even if it hadn't been for her powers causing it to take more for her to get where she wanted to be Jessica would probably have been a professional alcoholic. "If he does he's either newly paid off or it's not Kingpin related though, the police purged pretty hard after his arrest."Anyone still in on Kingpin's bankroll was either incredibly smart and adept at hiding both their money and their crimes or new. The other group that could have someone bankrolled was the Hand, and she was hoping it wasn't that. Well was and wasn't. If it was they had a quick answer but had to fight a bunch of ninja and probably some political figure or rich person would turn out to be connected, neither which were her favorite thing in the world. If it wasn't there'd be a lot more work though, which she didn't like either.
"I don't have a license either." For reasons that were obvious to the people who knew her. Plus it was New York, who actually had the money for a car?"I sit on a lot of fire escapes."It was easiest when people were in apartments, houses were harder to stake out. But if she could get on a roof to hide and watch in the dark she would. Following the man would be hard without his schedule, police hours weren't as predictable as office employees. And they'd have to do the whole 'follow that car' thing in a cab or tail him on the subway. That, at least, wouldn't be hard."We can see if we can follow him tonight. Otherwise we meet up somewhere and then keep an eye on him." Break into his house if they had to.
Was it a 'do it now' thing?"Depends on the plan. I don't have any police contacts so I have no idea when the guy gets off work. That means that if we want to follow him we have to hang around the police department for possibly hours waiting." If he was working the average shift though, there could only be a few hours left on it."We can head back and see if the guy drives home, but if he does we're screwed."It made the most sense to state out his place - an apartment it looked like from her casual research, good - and see what they could find out like that. Opening things subtly wasn't one of her strong suits though, so if they had to go through the guy's stuff they'd probably want... well, either Matt would have to do it or there'd be a broken doorknob. In theory she could pick a lock but she was a pretty solid door opener on her own so it was a skill rarely needed.
She didn't call him on his phrasing, but it was definitely all over Jessica's face."Take care of it ahead of time, there's a lot of sitting involved in what I do. And drinking."And then more sitting. Matt wasn't going to be able to help in the picture taking, but his super hearing would come in real handy if they needed to catch a conversation the man was having.
Grabbing the bottle she poured herself another drink, filling the glass higher than any bartender would have."We'll follow him if possible," she decided after a few moments and draining half her little glass."You need to get your uniform? Seems like it'd be a little suspicious if we have to get on the subway but if you prefer to be hidden I can wait while you pack it up and meet me at the precinct. I have your number in case he leaves."Or if it turned out the man had already left, so they didn't waste a ton of their time standing around or sitting on benches or whatever. She desperately wanted her camera, but there was nobody to deliver it to her. Malcolm was with Trish and the only other person in the building she knew at all was Robyn and she was crazy.
gpt
"I do know someone"Matt commented, thinking about Brett Mahoney. He wouldn't give information to Matt Murdock, probably neither to Daredevil, although that depended in a wide number of factors. If he was honest, detective Mahoney was more of a Foggy's acquaintance than his, but at least he knew he was a clean cop. His utility was more to dump information to him than the other way around though, specially if the whole thing concerned their suspicions about a fellow cop. "But he probably won't share information like that. He can be useful to share whatever we find with him, as he wants a clean department more than anyone else" Matt added.
"Unless we foresee some punching I won't be needing my work uniform" he said, slightly amused by how Jessica was not exactly worried, but took into account all sorts of things and possibilities, so it was interesting to see her mind at work."A tailing job should be easy enough unless he gets in a car. Once I have his heartbeat and/or his smell... its easy to keep a safe distance"he commented, giving his gifts no importance, although he had the feeling that Jessica wasn't entirely comfortable with how much he could perceive, probably due to how she always kept her distance with people. Matt knew that how he could unilaterally breach that distance was unfair, so he tried to keep his intrusions to a minimum, but there was only so much he could do in that department.
"And if things get heated up, I can always borrow your scarf one more time..."Matt said, remembering how he had masked his identity once in an emergency. Maybe it was the alcohol, but it was true that he was feeling more and more comfortable with Jessica. Sure, she could be abrasive as hell, and it wasn't like that would change over time, but as the time advanced one tended to fall into her pace, her way of doing things. That didn't mean to be oblivious to neither her better or worse parts, but it was true that after being with Jessica a few times he understood better how Foggy and Karen had to feel when dealing with his own peculiarities. Maybe Jessica was a bit right about certain things, maybe she did well at keeping just a few people close, but yet not too close.
"Lets get going, grab the bottle"Matt said, perhaps aching for action in a way that wasn't entirely healthy or tried to patch up certain wounds too soon, but he couldn't just be idle. Their friends were at risk, endangered by some kind of invisible threat, and he wanted for once to do something before it got worse, instead of running damage control all the time.
human
"So you don't know someone useful." At least not now. Having a trustworthy cop was a good thing, but they weren't near the point of involving the police in the situation. There was too much that needed to get figured out before the passed the guy off to the cops. Once that happened they wouldn't be able to get the information they needed, after all. Maybe some of it, but there wouldn't be a way to ask questions and demand answers the way she would almost certainly end up wanting to. She wasn't letting the cops handle all that, even if they got an answer they might not believe it or know how to handle it. What if the answer was something the the Hand or... or someone like Killgrave? That was for people like her and Matt. They could give it a shot, but that was going to end in more death. They didn't need that. She... she didn't need that. Couldn't handle it, maybe. Not htat she would admit it to anyone ever.
Oh, she foresaw some punching. Well actually she didn't, but she had learned better."I used to assume not everything would end in a fight, and then... everything started ending in a fight."She shrugged dismissively, though it did actually bother her a little bit. Jessica just wanted to be left alone to stalk cheating spouses and whatever, but nothing ended up that simple anymore. It was more her than she was willing to admit, so mostly she blamed it on other people. If people weren't such assholes this wouldn't be a problem that she had to deal with. That was just true enough that she could excuse it at least sometimes.
"Smelled weird when you gave it back last time,"she complained, but it wasn't a 'no'. There had been the slightly cling of aftershave or shaving cream or something kinda masculine like that and sweat that wasn't hers, which wasn't an actual issue. She couldn't not complain about it though, that would be out of character and she wasn't about tonotmake fun of him. Now it probably just smelled like alcohol again and he was going to mess it up."And you look like an asshole either way."His skills would make things easier, they could probably put more distance between them and the guy when tailing, which would be good in case the cop was actually observant. "I know where he lives now."So between his advanced stalking abilities and her different advanced stalking abilities, they should be able to keep an eye on this guy without too much problem.
Well she thought that, but nothing ever turned out as easy as she wanted it.
"That's tacky,"she informed him in response to him saying that they should grab the bottle, but she was filling up her slightly dented flask at the same time she said it, which may or may not have been worse than just taking the bottle with them. It was filled the the point that there was concern that it might spill before she screwed the lid on. If she was going to have to share, she was going to make sure that the bottle was holding as much as was physically possible for it."You got the money to split this, or is feeling like a good person your usual payment?"She was willing to not split the cost of the bottle with him apparently, but only if he was willing to admit he was too broke to pay for it. Either way she would feel like she'd won in some way. Once money was sorted out she stood up, prepared now for the work ahead. The alcohol had lightened the weight a little bit, though her shoulders still felt heavy."Let's go stalk a guy."Jessica made it sound so normal.
gpt
"Nobody is ever honest about how I look, thank you"Matt joked, knowing that Jessica was, at least in part, just being playful."Next thing will be to tell me that the suit is red and has devil horns, I would hate such an outfit..."he added, smirking. Of course, she wasn't fond of costumes and heroics, but that didn't mean that she really thought he looked like an asshole. Because he didn't, right? Damn, he wasn't paying attention out of respecting her privacy and now he wasn't sure how much of what she said was true."Once we got a full bottle I thought that worrying about looking tacky was out of the equation"he said with a shrug,"Not to mention that... are you filling up the flask? Well, that's... more useful"he said, not wanting to chase the issue nor being in a position to judge anyone's drinking habits.
"I have the money yet"Matt answered, unsure once more of how much of Jessica's act was a play, but he was enjoying it all the same."Although feeling like a good person is heartwarming and the Christian thing to do"he added, normally not one to joke about religion but he felt lighthearted after shedding a bit of his weight, his fear for his friends and yes, the alcohol sure helped too."I don't think you'd dare to try the good person thing, not sure if it suits you" he said, of course not being specially serious, but if she approached the issue the other way around Jessica could think that he was saying what or how she should be, and that wasn't on his mind."Lets go"Matt said, following her after getting out some wrinkled bills to pay his part of the drinks.
Now focused on their prey, Matt's instincts and senses where sharpened, sensible to any change like a feather in the wind. The precinct was almost a living thing, an ant farm where he was aware of every individual movement there and yet, unable to tell one ant from the other or guess the purpose of each one. He would depend on Jessica to tell their mark apart once he left the building, and then he would be able to start trying to latch unto him, get acquainted with every telltale signs that could make him easier to follow."So... how do we face the stalking?"Matt asked, making time."Just walking around together normally could be enough, but I need to keep the blind act just in case unless it's an emergency"he commented. "Of course, you guiding me around like before it's too flashy for the task at hand so..." Matt thought of an idea that could help with that and maybe poke some fun with Jessica, depending on her mood.
"Maybe we could hold hands or you could cling to my arm"Matt suggested, his smile reflecting both that the idea wasn't entirely serious even if it could be, but also unable to keep himself from showing his charming side when he was enjoying himself. "That way anyone who noticed I'm blind would see you guiding me around and the rest would look at us like a normal couple and pay no attention"he said. It was probably unnecessary, but even then it could be interesting to see Jessica react. That one time where they chased each other Matt moved without thinking it twice, as the average New Yorker wouldn't care about their fellow citizens so much as to check on normal looking pedestrians, but it was still an idea worth exploring, at least as a talk topic while they waited.
human
"Ears,"she corrected lazily when he said 'devil horns'. Jessica would understand the need for something a little more protective than a business suit, but she didn't understand the point of having something flashy. Even when she'd naively gotten into the idea of being a hero she hadn't understood the point of the flashy suits. At least his face cover was attached to the helmet so he couldn't be blinded with it. She'd give him points for that, though she wasn't going to say it out loud. Everyone looked like an asshole to her. They usually turned out to be, but occasionally she was proven wrong by people."At least you didn't end up with yellow."Had he picked the colors for his costume or had whoever made it handled all the creative decisions?
He asked, and the dark haired detective raised an eyebrow but didn't stop until she was sure no more could fit."You know full well that I am."There was no way he couldn't absolutely tell based on sound what she was doing. "The flask is an age old, subtle, dignified way of indulging in alcoholism."Or whatever. She tucked it into a pocket and added"if you have objections I won't share."There was a good chance she'd be willing to share otherwise, which wasn't nothing. It was a gesture that put him in at least some part of the inner circle, or meant she figured he had more reason for being drunk than she did.
"If you want people to think we're a couple we'll have to make out in public otherwise trust me, nobody gives a shit." He couldn't top her when it came to this sort of thing, Jessica was shameless. It seemed best to keep up his act, doubly so when they were around the police station; that was where his clients probably came from, after all. People who came to her sometimes came from there too, though for different reasons. They came to her when the police couldn't or wouldn't help them. She had yet to meet a client while on her way out from whatever ridiculous arrest attempt had been made, but it seemed like an inevitable thing if they kept hauling her and her friends in for stupid reasons. If law enforcement wanted to ask her questions about whatever she'd been doing they could just ask her in her office. She was just as likely to share any amount of useful information there as in a jail cell, and at least she'd be more comfortable.
To keep up the image he seemed to prefer he could use his cane or they could link arms, she didn't really... hold hands. She'd hold his wrist if he wanted, but hand holding was weird. She wasn't an affectionate person, at least not in the cuddly show off-y sort of way."The last time I clung to something I crushed it."They were going to have to takeanothercab, she was getting real sick of them. Or rather, getting sick of forking over what small amount of cash she had. Everything required being quick today and it would have been far worse to walk back to the station, but it didn't mean it wasn't starting to irk her a little.
Admittedly most everything irked her so that was a bad judge of how problematic something was. She flagged a cab and asked for a place a short block from the police station, helping Matt into the car if he seemed to want it. They could have got out right at the front steps, but Jessica didn't like showing up exactly where she intended to stake out, it was less suspicious to join the people on the sidewalk and get lost in them as opposed to appearing right at the target place.
gpt
"Considering that it's almost bulletproof I'd have taken it even if it was yellow" Matt admitted, following on the joke."Although I'd have no way of knowing, but I'm told it's dark red and black"he added, as Melvin had told him."No, no objections, please go ahead"Matt waved with his hand, not exactly worried about Jessica sharing, but mostly just letting her be, as it didn't really disturb him. Well, and maybe he could need a sip later, you never knew. Even with the slight push and pulling, that was friendly bartering with Jessica, so Matt took it as a good sign. They did trust in each other before this, or Jessica wouldn't have come for him in the first place, but it all happened so fast before they split ways again that they didn't know each other, not really.
"Taking advantage of a blind man miss Jones?" Matt said amused, a joke to hide the slight embarrassment the idea caused. It wasn't like Matt was some kind of charming womanizer, as he didn't go around hooking up with women, it was just something that happened to him when he was at his charming relaxed self. Matt had to admit that such a side of him didn't have much time to shine as of late, but he was aware that his interactions with Jessica were friendly and nothing more. Or so he thought at least. "As strange a part of this already weird day it would be, maybe it's better if we don't have to resort to that"he said, almost immediately regretting it. Matt wanted to keep it professional and he was aware that such a thing could lead to more and end with him confessing his sins the day after.
"Help with the cab I'll accept" he said, keeping appearances when they took it. Maybe he shouldn't have refused her idea so fast with a joke? Matt hardly thought that Jessica would feel harmed because he rejected a make believe making out moment as a cover up, but it wasn't like he could fix it by saying that he was interested or that Jessica was attractive or he would never hear the end of her jokes. That way Matt ended in an uncomfortable middle ground where he didn't exactly know what to do or how to act, just following Jessica and staying way more silent than he was just mere minutes ago.
human
She couldn't tell if he was joking or honestly couldn't see what what his suit's color was."That's what I figured."Even if he'd tried to bring up a complaint - not that she figured he would have - it wouldn't have stopped Jessica. She didn't care that much what he thought as long as he was still willing to help her. At this point he was invested because of his friend and the fact that he was a good person. A lot of people weren't, but she was confident in her judgment of Matt in that category. Didn't mean he couldn't be selfish and sometimes an asshole if those turned out to be traits of his, but he was, at the end of the day, good. Someone who wanted to help people.
Letting out a snort, Jessica rolled her eyes."Maybe when we're done. Don't want you getting distracted."Her self confidence was unshakable, at least in this regard. She could fake it most of the time in all others. When it came to flirting though, she was blunt and in control."You think today has been strange so far?"Cute."Annoying, yeah."Stressful? Yeah. But she'd spent so long having someone fucking with her that at this point it just seemed normal. This was just what people did to her. She assumed these people were doing it as a power play or because they knew that coming at her head on would end poorly. After Killgrave maybe she was paranoid, but everyone should be. There were people like... well, people like her out there.
By the time they got into the cab, she wasn't thinking about the jokes anymore. It had been amusing but it was over. Other 'heroes' were a bad idea. Didn't matter how hot or nice they were, it couldn't end well, Jessica was pretty sure it was impossible. Romance in general was probably impossible for her. Sex was fine, best with people she'd never met and would never meet again. No emotional connection, no need to see them ever again. And that cut Matt right out, if she ever needed to work with him again. Plus it seemed like he'd be the sort who would make it weird afterwards. He had the whole religious thing going for him, after all. She didn't have the time or energy for that, the best she could do was not be offensive.
It was his turn to pay for the cab, and Jessica helped him out once that was done. She didn't take his hand but she stuck close in a way that could be easily seen as concern, though it all for the image. Matt didn't actuallyneedher to hover, after all."Right, time for the boring part."Jessica made it sound like this was a totally normal thing that everyone did all the time, not what it was - getting ready to follow and record the actions of a police officer.
gpt
With both of them being accustomed to work alone, or at least Jessica was as Matt's vigilantism wasn't technically work, the stakeout silence was pretty awkward. Neither of them seemed to feel the need to fill the moment with idle chat, nor were they specially competent at it. Having been drinking a bit and that strange not-quite-flirting thing they just had when it came to disguising his blindness probably didn't help either, as Matt couldn't help but imagine how things would be in that regard with someone like Jessica. He also wondered if she had thought about it, in fact if she was thinking about it, but even with his powers if Jessica had some kind of encounter of a different nature with Matt in her mind, she didn't show. It was indeed the boring part, but after a while that seemed forever the dirty cop finally abandoned the precinct.
Once Jessica gave him a clue, Matt was able to focus on the cop, from the calm sound of his heartbeat to the minty smell of his shampoo, it would be now way harder to lose him in a crowd and they would be able to follow him from a distance. "Lets go, I got him"he commented, as Jessica moved with him on tow. Nothing was suspicious so far, or so it seemed, as the cop was seemingly deep into a leisurely walk, stopping here and there to do some window shopping. The stores he stopped at weren't particularly cheap, be them of masculine fashion, expensive electronics or a jewelry, so it was pretty clear that he had some kind of payday in mind.
"He's... a bit agitated, anticipation? Excitement?"Matt mumbled, unsure of what it was from the distance, as the cop went across the street to a Chinese restaurant. "At least we now know what kind of food he likes" he added, smelling the food as they crossed to be a bit closer. It seemed to be a perfectly normal place, but then a heavy sound made Matt frown."I heard something big, metallic..."he focused a bit more. The sound echoed in his senses once more, quieting as he lost track of the policeman."Wait. I lost him"Matt commented. "Maybe a heavy door? Like an industrial fridge?"he wondered, but there was no reason at all for him to enter such a place, unless...
"Jessica, what's the name of the place?"Matt asked, agitated, unable to make the painted sign apart, if only it had some bass relief. "High Golden Palace? Tall Crimson Tower? Something like that?"he pulled out his smartphone, loading an app in a hurry."Does it have around the name the symbol for high or tall?"he asked, crudely drawing the character. After receiving an affirmative answer he scowled, some of his fears and concerns starting to become true."It's one of the old Madame Gao's places then..."he sighed.
Either the cop is getting paid or the cop is getting "disappeared", maybe he works for what's left of Gao's people or for other branch of the Hand and they have lured him here, feel free to tackle the scene as you want.
human
Silence wasn't awkward for Jessica, it was nice to not have to try and hold a conversation with someone. She wasn't great at small talk and she didn't really have much interest in trying to get better at them because it was in general a huge waste of time. It wouldn't work to just sit there because that was suspicious, so she would direct Matt around to walk, though her eyes stayed focused on the precinct doors. At one point she bought a cup of coffee and used that as a reason to sit down,it and staring at those doors in a way that seemed more like somebody zoning out than a professional keeping watch. Her head was a mess of thoughts, and while some of them were related to Matt it wasn't about them potentially having sex. She'd thought about that before, but the job at hand had stakes high enough that she was mostly thinking about things related to that.
"Great, me too." Agitated, anyway. But that was basically her natural state of being, and having people fuck with her friends was a one way ticket to Stress Street. She kept a distance that she felt was appropriate and kept half an eye on the man and half an eye on Matt, trying to make sure that nothing went weird. Not that she thought that he was going to be the one who ended up doing something weird, he was just the only other gauge she had for how things were going. He was the one who could hear what was going on after all. If this was a trap he'd be the one who would probably know first. Jessica wasn't sure if the blind man was also expecting that to happen, but if he wasn't she wanted to be able to live in whatever world he was in because it wasn't reality.
When the man went into the Chinese restaurant, she glanced at Matt but didn't say anything."High Golden Palace,"she confirmed. Matt scowled and mentioned Gao and Jessica shot him a look."I told you it was connected."And now he couldn't deny that she'd been correct. Should have known better than to question her when she'd said this was all one thing. A moment later she had a realization and frowned in irritation."Oh great, more ninja."There was no way there wouldn't be more ninja in there. Which meant they were probably going to have to punch things."If there's a door we'll find it."Even if she had to fight people while he touched every inch of the wall.
Plans were for people who didn't have things to do and could feel the slight warmth of alcohol leaving their veins to be replaced with the horror that was sobriety, and Jessica had her hand on the door before she paused."You can't exactly go in and then get into a fight," she realized,"if they don't already know who you are that would probably give them an idea." And he couldn't just go in with the scarf on his face, that would be weird and ruin any chances of peaceful communication if there were civilians in there."I don't have to fight ninja until I met you,"she complained, like it was entirely Matt's fault. With a deeply reluctant sigh she peeled her scarf off and handed it to him."If I go in, will you be able to hear everything from out here?" If not she could call him before she went in and leave her phone in her pocket."I won't need backup," she might,"but it's better if you know what's going on inside. Code words are stupid, so you can assume that something went wrong if I throw something."It would be loud enough for Matt to hear and wouldn't require her yelling the word 'banana' or whatever. She'd rather be stabbed."You can case the place from the outside or wait here, but I'm thinking all the things we want are going to be inside. If you go in with your face all hidden right away you''ll look like a robber or a crazy person."He might have been the second thing, but only as much as she or any of the others were.
Which was maybe not a comforting thing, Danny Rand said he'd punched a dragon.
gpt
Matt was too busy kicking himself in his mind to answers Jessica's 'I told you so'. If instead of grieving for the loss for his murderous girlfriend he had been doing his job and followed through, that problem wouldn't be there, but instead he left the remains of the Hand to rest, festering like an ill treated injury."I don't feel anything that weird there, but then again if they are ninja..." Matt frowned, focusing but getting nothing else. Jessica was keeping a cooler head than him, so Matt tried to listen for once and didn't barge in. The plan didn't include entering kicking ass from the get go, so it was better if he stayed outside.
As mean or grumpy as Jessica could sound when she talked about all things ninja, Matt felt a bit better when she handed him her scarf, a gesture that may be mostly practical on her, but still was welcome."I could hear everything until they opened some kind of metallic door, heavy"Matt answered. "I don't know if it's a meat fridge and they are going to chop the cop or it's some kind of security door or safe room"he added, a bit surprised due to her claim. They didn't know what was in there, but in classic Jessica bravado she didn't need backup, of course. "You will have backup, even if you don't need it" Matt said, deciding that was the best way to sort it out, as he could be headstrong as well.
"I'll take a peek around while you do your private investigator magic in there"Matt said, wanting to take a look at other possible entrances to the place. "I'll hear if you get into trouble and will go in. Face covered of course"he added, a brief smile on his face as he held her scarf. Once Jessica moved in, Matt went around into the alleyway, a place way more discreet to make a break and enter. His hearing focused on Jessica's heartbeat, the steps of her boots, while his smell couldn't help but find refuge in her scarf once more, fleeing from the less appealing aromas of the street. It smelled of booze once more, of course, but that wasn't the only thing it smelled as, it never was.
Taking his mind away from where it shouldn't be, fearing for a moment if he didn't have a drink too many for his mind to wander into that territory in such a situation, Matt sharpened his focus into the situation itself. Jessica being his compass at that moment didn't help either.
human
Ugh she stillhatedthe fact that they had to use the word 'ninja'. She'd just used it, but every time the word came out of her mouth it was a tiny bit derisive. Matt said it so seriously."Chopping the cop up would be super suspicious." It was too early for that. The arrest had just happened, if the cop disappeared everything would get all muddy. The Hand was sneakier than that, right?"We can find a metallic door."Or make someone find it, whichever. She knew he'd back her up if she needed it, which was a weird feeling. She did pretty much everything on her own, having backup was something she didn't really know how to deal with. Well she did, it was a comfort, but the communication and planning part was a little bit harder.
She put a smile on her face, though for a moment it was more of a grimace until she adjusted her face appropriately. Things were quiet when she walked in, and the woman moved promptly up to the counter like she was going to place a takeout order.'Hiii!"Jessica dragged the 'I' out in the word, using the slightly higher pitched and more nasally voice she often used when she was trying to seem less threatening and... well, in general not like herself."I'd like to order--"
It didn't matter what she wanted to order, what she got was a knife thrown at her head from large gap in the wall between the counter and the kitchen where the food was set to be taken by waiters to the people sitting at tables. The only reason she didn't end up dead was because that was pretty much what she'd expected to happen and Jessica responded in what she felt was appropriate manner - she picked up the cash register and hurled it through the gap. It didn't hit whoever had thrown the knife at her but it smashed into the wall so hard that it broke through the drywall and stayed there. Well that would alert Matt that there was an issue now. Two people she'd thought were patrons stood up far faster than any normal restaurant goer had any right being, and Jessica didn't really have much of an option but to engage. The person who'd been manning the now destroyed cash register had disappeared somewhere, which wasn't great, but it meant he could be dealt with later. She and Matt would need one to... wait, no. They didn't need to keep anyone conscious, if there was a hidden door Matt would be able to find it an she'd be able to open it. That made things easier.
The knife guy (or guys) were more concerning than the dudes who didn't seem to have knives, so she vaulted through the gap and into the kitchen. Two in there made five, but there could be more somewhere. They were ninja, they could be pretty much wherever. One of the ones in the kitchen swung a pan at her, straight off the stove, and Jessica caught her sleeve in her grasp to keep it from sliding down. Metal hit leather, the fabric enough to hold the heat back briefly. She could feel the heat soaking through though, and reached out to grab the man's wrist promptly. Nice thing about super strength was that having a hand on someone was pretty much all she needed, and the moment her fingers had finished closing she immediately threw him across the room.
There was very little need to be a graceful fighter with strength like hers, and Jessica had never really bothered to streamline a style that could best be described as 'annoyed street brawler'. Why did she need to flip when she could punch like a bus? Not that she ever hit anyone that hard. It had happened once and it would never happen again.
gpt
"Bad stuff happening to a New York dirty cop would rise a few brows, but not too many" Matt noted. It was true that the department was cleaner now, but cleaner didn't mean pristine. Other than that, Matt just agreed that it was time for them to move, unable to avoid smiling when he heard Jessica's fake friendly voice. He was sure it worked to make sound harmless and shave her natural edges, specially on the phone, but for Matt that not only knew her but could pick up voice nuances more easily, it was funnier than anything else. His smile didn't last nor had he barely any time to circle the building around, as soon he noticed something odd, subtle at first. As he was deciphering that Jessica's hastened heartbeat and worked up breathing answered to what seemed to be a knife now stabbing the door frame, he got clued in by the notoriously less subtle clue of a noisy cash register being picked, thrown and lodged in a wall.
Covering his face from the nose up with Jessica's scarf once more, now looking like an asshole in her eyes, Matt went through the door assessing the situation without walls in the middle blocking sounds, heat, movement and smells. He grabbed the thrown kitchen knife with one hand, using the other to take hold of one of the wooden chairs and with a well placed kick, produce himself an impromptu club with one of its legs. As Jessica in her usual straightforward fashion was steamrolling into the kitchen, Matt grasped the attention of the two would-be-patrons, preventing them to attack her from her back as promised.
He wasn't going to stab anyone, at least not fatally, but the knife was useful to parry the small swords that soon flashed into view for everyone but him, although he could feel how they cut the air. Whoever those people were, they lacked the training that the usual Hand ninjas had, as he could easily make up their moves, heartbeats and gasps. Metal met metal as he stopped wide swoops, a kick sending one chair to delay one of the thugs as Matt stopped the assault of the other, managing to get a couple of good leg chair strikes to wrist and head that first unarmed him, then rendered him seemingly unconscious.
Sizzling pan sounds and heavy thuds of someone meeting their better on Jessica came from the kitchen, so Matt had one foe more to beat before joining her. This one goon seemed to have taken the kicked chair as a gift, using the strength that it came from his extra bulk to wield it as a shield to stop Matt's wooden club. A chair was of course far from an ideal weapon, as not only was unwieldy but blocked part of his sight, allowing Matt to further his advantage. He threw the knife low, nothing too dangerous, but enough to slash the thug's calve before clattering on the floor, injuring him and giving him pause.
Using that very moment when the pain stopped the goon, Matt let his other weapon fall, grasping the poorly held chair and turning it around on his foe, trapping him between its legs against the wall. The would be ninja was starting to lose breath, and his shorter sword had trouble reaching Matt. A quick twist of the furniture allowed Matt to bash face and ribs with the chair, sending the thug down on his fours for the count. Matt made sure he was out by breaking the ill handled chair on his back and head, ready to move through the mess towards Jessica.
No biggie, sometimes things take time, don't worry about that with me.
human
'Notoriously less subtle' was a pretty solid way to describe Jessica's fighting style and her personality in general, at least compared to how she acted while working. Subtle was tiring, and there wasn't a whole lot of point in acting in way that wasn't herself all the time. It wasn't going to get her any more friends that matter since any friends would only be there because she'd faked it. Like this she had... two whole friends. And whatever the heck Matt was. Ally, she figured. And... faking who she was wouldn't have done anything for her relationship with Luke. That had probably always been doomed and she'd just been too blind (oops was that phrasing offensive to Matt? Not that she cared) to recognize it. Or too unwilling to accept it.
She didn't like to think about it. This would have been the perfect time because she could have taken it out on the ninja, but when she lost her shit on people because of problems in her life she had to have been thinking about them before the fight started or have it brought up during. Otherwise fighting was just a thing she did. She got satisfaction out of it when the conditions were right, but times like now it was a thing she had to do like any other job, a step in the process she just needed to complete.
As the other man charged her the dark haired detective kicked the frying pan now lying on the floor at him. It skidded hard and the ninja actually moved around it, which was probably the smart move to make but was also a little bit funny. Then she kicked him in the leg and hit him with a tray, which would have been a lot funny if she was a more lighthearted person. It would be something to entertain Trish with later, for sure. The man went down, and she kicked him again for good measure before plucking at her sleeve to check and see if the hot pan from earlier had ruined it. It was a little discolored and while she didn't know if that was actually because of the guy or because of how long she'd had the jacket and Jessica let out an irritated grunt and then stepped over one of the unconscious bodies on her back towards the door that she had entirely ignored earlier.
She opened it up to the mess that Matt had made in the main room and arched an eyebrow but didn't say anything. It wasn't usual that somebody made more of a mess than her, but she supposed that she had been in an area with items that took a whole lot more to destroy. Normal fighting didn't cause enough mess to damage a stove."I remembered that you could find the door,"she said simply as an excuse for her behaviors, since even if he hadn't been able to see it Matt had definitely been able tohearher not leaving anybody conscious. It was what had been going through her mind, after all."So find it. We gotta bang on the walls?"She would, but that didn't exactly sound like a grand old time to her. It sounded like a huge hassle, really. But she'd do it, because it was her job and she needed to protect Malcolm. "I think there was a big fridge back there and a door, but I wasn't really paying attention."
"Oh. There was someone else here, but they're gone now."Which probably meant they weren't actuallygone, they were either wherever the police officer had have noticed. He was useful in that regard. And in the amount of work that he'd handled so that she didn't have to. It had made things easier, that was for sure."Wouldn't take my order, which was rude."And now she was a little bit hungry. They could eat afterwards. And drink more, she was going to need more drinks. She had her flask, but right now wasn't the right time to whip it out. One of the nice things about doing what she did was that when things got serious it was an entirely different kind of distraction and emotional soothing and she didn't necessarily need the alcohol. So apparently the only time she didn't need to drink was when she was fighting or the detective work got interesting which weren't great signs when it came to her alcohol dependence. But Jessica already knew she was an addict, the issue was that she didn't have any real reason to try and fix herself.
gpt
Jessica had of course taken care of any other foes that pretended to be her match, so before he could get to the back of the place she was already coming to the front. Matt didn't care for the excuse, she did what she had to do and they could find any secret passageway or anything similar even if they had to tear the place down, so it didn't matter. It was somewhat amusing that she even felt the need to excuse herself, but that didn't matter much. With her scarf still on place, it didn't take long for Jessica to turn from excuses to demands. "Unless there is some crazy setup, banging won't be needed"Matt mentioned, trying to focus.
"The door leads to the back" Matt announced, sensing how the street noise came from there as well, even if faintly."But the fridge is a dark spot"he frowned. "Besides humidity and some rank smells I get nothing" he said, so it had to be the place. Before moving there, Jessica warned him of a missing thug, but he didn't quite catch it during the fight, probably went into the fridge as it was doubtful he missed someone exiting the building. Another joke escaped her lips, as dry as it could be, so it seemed that being right about things and punching thugs did wonders for Jessica's mood. Matt had to admit that it felt nice to blame someone else for anything that happened and punch them, but there was of course a little Christian boy inside him that felt guilty about such a base pleasure.
"Lets see what prize awaits behind the door and then we can go eat something"Matt commented, falling into Jessica's pace, joking about it before heading to the back. The fridge seemed nothing special, maybe a tad too big for a place that size, but other than that it wouldn't make anyone bat an eye."Ready?"Matt asked, grabbing on the handle. He pulled to no avail, as it seemed to be somehow stuck. Not giving up, Matt planted a feet on the wall, pulling harder and obtaining the same result. "Must have a secret trigger..."he mumbled, trying to locate such a switch but there were none. "Or maybe somehow closed from the inside?"he wondered."You do the honors anyways"he shrugged, stepping aside to leave room for Jessica and the door in case she tore it apart.
How would it be to possess such a strength? How did one restrain themselves to not use it as a shortcut? Even with all her rough edges, Matt admired Jessica for what she was able to do, for how much restraint she showed. It wasn't telling that she killed a man, that was of course bad but forgivable given the circumstances. No, what it was attention grabbing was that for all he knew from the news and files that Killgrave had made her do, that she didn't kill him earlier. Even the altar boy in him could see the effort that may require, as he had been awfully close to the edge himself.
Inside the (fake) fridge there can be a room (perhaps with old drug stocks) or an passageway to a room with probably the missing guy and the cop. I was thinking that they probably killed the cop and wanted to dispose him in a way that made him look corrupt for drugs or something, if not just make him disappear, but sort things out as you feel appropriate.
human
She watched Matt strain against the door, hands shoved in the pockets of her jacket, and then stepped forward when he said she could do the honors."Yeah, sure."Closed from the inside didn't mean a whole lot against her. Hands came out of pockets and she grabbed the handle of the fridge door and gave it a solid yank. The door groaned and the handle came off in her hand. She stared at the metal in her hand and let out an irritated sound, tossing it noisily off to the side and giving the door a shove. It didn't open, which meant that there were other locks. She took a step back and sized the door up before lifting a foot and kicking it hard, foot pressing over the hole where the handle had been. There was the sound of metal protesting and nails (perhaps screws) pulling out of their holes and the door swung open."Door's open,"she said dryly like he might not have noticed the steps that had gone into it.
There was something to be said about being around people who already knew what she was like and were weird too. She didn't care if people judged her on her powers, she used them often enough to mess with people, but there was some piece of a wall that could be let down around Matt that she couldn't let down around anyone except friends or Danny. She didn't need the bit of herself that expected the person watching her breaking something to try and attack her. Matt, like the others, just accepted it and directed her at what needed to be broken. Being used as a breaker wasn't an unknown feeling, but it also wasn't one that she got here. If that was all he wanted her around for, he was better at hiding it than most people were.
The restaurant freezer - for that's what it really was, though Jessica had described it dismissively - was as cold as one would expect, basically a normal one. Or it would have been, except that there was a panel in the floor that could clearly be pulled up."Down we go, I suppose."Her opinion on that was obvious, and punctuated by the fact that she dug her flask out of her jacket and took a tiny sip. She wasn't a huge fan of the cold and the trip from this point on seemed like it might be chilly, though what was under the panel was unknown. Could be warmer down there. She couldn't hit the cold, and she wasn't resistant to it beyond being New York born and bred."Can you hear what's going on down there?"Maybe it was too much to hope for, but it would sure make things easier.
Why she expected anything to ever be easy, Jessica wasn't sure. She should know better by this point.
"So does this count as a crazy setup yet?"She asked, stepping reluctantly into the freezer and shoving a box out of the way with her foot even though she definitely didn't need to. It would probably make the most sense for her to go down first, but she'd prefer to know what was down there first. Getting shot or stabbed would be a little easier on her than it would be for Matt, after all."I signed up for exactly none of this." She didn't want secret passages or ninja or any of this. It was easier when it was just a shitty person who'd gotten a badge and it was possible that Matt could have just shown up in costume later to menace the dude.
gpt
"Door's broken, but it suits us the same"Matt commented after Jessica had succeeded on what she proposed, crude yet effective. It was somewhat amusing that a private investigator with so much talent for impersonation, research and subtleties had been graced with that hammer of a gift. Curiously enough, Matt's power gave him uncanny perception and insight, even if the boxer's son was way more prone to punch people and ask questions than Jessica. Well, God's ways were indeed inscrutable, so Matt hoped that they were in the right path. Once the door was broken, the room was permeable to his senses and Matt could soon feel the heat, taste the damp boxes inside and find... nothing else.
Frowning, they got inside, feeling something odd with the sound of their steps betrayed the panel Jessica noticed, opening it for them. "Stairs, a small room and another corridor, probably with an exit. An old contraband passage?"Matt wondered, not an expert on architecture at all, just going with a hunch."With the fight and all, the one that escaped and the cop are long gone, there is no one there, give me a moment..."Matt asked. Kneeling and getting his head into the gap, he lifted the mask-turned scarf to sniff a bit better away from Jessica's distracting presence so close to his face.
"None of us did, and with what we have seen this is far from crazy, at least for now"Matt mentioned, focusing longer. His nose felt the tinge of a bit of oil in metal, gunpowder, wood and paper. "No ninjas, no explosives, it should be safe"he said, hopping in before she did. Jessica could probably withstand some blows better, but if there was any surprises in there Matt should feel them coming earlier than she did. As it turned out, the room was somewhat disappointing in the impending danger department. Whoever fled from the kitchen and probably the cop had rummaged through a small room with simple furniture before leaving. Some printed pictures of known people to them were scattered on the floor, even if Matt didn't know who appeared on them they seemed similar to the ones in Karen's apartment. A table still had some bullets around from several calibers, as well as a few small packages of the old Madam Gao's drugs. A few dollar bills were around, probably a byproduct of a hastened retreat, but Matt couldn't feel much more aside from a couple of pistols left on a chair.
"They did pack up in a hurry" Matt observed, as the room finished in a corridor that as far as his senses could feel it went to another alleyway, a preferred means of escape."I'm sensing photographic paper around, are they similar to the ones in Karen's?"he asked, now noticing that there was no printer or computer in there, maybe too much for such a quick retreat so they had been printed elsewhere."Once we are done here, I'm calling the police so they get their hands in this place" Matt commented, as not only would that mean closure of that base, but also they would check for prints all around and for the serial numbers on the guns.
human
Jessica turned and raised an eyebrow at him. "Broken is open. If that wasn't what you wanted, you should have specified."There wasn't a whole lot of difference to her. She broke it and it opened, that was the end of the problem. It was faster than lock picking, and she wanted to be in and out of the area as fast as possible. They'd probably lost their chance to find whoever was down there, unless there was a dead end at the bottom of this weird little secret passage. In which case there'd be a fight underground with only one exit and that sounded like exactly zero fun.
"Old or new, who knows. There was that freaky business with the other building,"and that elevator that seemed like it had been going to do directly into hell,"so clearly they can just build whatever wherever they want."Rich and well connected criminals were so much worse. Those were the people who could make threats that might actually cause problems and they required a different approach that she liked infinitely less. She stepped back to give him room to do his thing, instead taking a moment to poke around the freezer mostly to see if there was anything that she was interested in. Food she might want to take, really. But it was all frozen, so nope.
Matt was basically a ninja himself, so she didn't really believe that he hadn't in some degree signed up to fight them. She didn't say it out loud, but it was right there on her face and she still mostly assumed that Matt could at least partially tell what kinds of faces she made."Danny signed up for this. Punched a dragon for it."All she wanted was to investigate a bunch of stupid shit, get paid for it, and then spend most of that money on alcohol and peanut butter. He said no ninja and no explosives and she moved back, ready to head down. Instead he went first and she trailed after, trusting his statement that there wasn't anyone there. Matt's senses hadn't let her down so far, though they hadn't shared enough experience for her to say for a hundred percent sure that he never messed up. If someone got shot it would probably be him since he was in the front, so it worked out.
She took a lap around the room, dark eyes scanning over everything lying around."Yeah. And money, drugs, and some bullets."But nobody had stuck around to try and shoot at her and Matt, which was weird. Maybe they'd learned that trying to fight unprepared, even with guns, wasn't a great idea."I'll take pictures." The room was dim and she hated how using the flash on her phone would change the colors and cause reflection, but she didn't want to touch anything and didn't understand what it was with nasty people either going without light or having a ton of really bright clinical light. Why couldn't they be more like her where there was usually a light bulb out because it was in a place that was a mild inconvenience to get to and wasn't really getting in the way? That was normal.
"Call the police from the phone upstairs."She'd say one of the cells of the guys they knocked out, but those dudes would have their phones locked unless they were idiots. He probably knew that, but it was better to warn someone about something they should know than smack something out of their hands because they were doing something stupid, they tended to be less mad about it.
gpt
Jessica's words about Danny signing up for that kind of stuff rang in Matt's ears as he had somehow signed in as well, and it wasn't that simple. Sure, she had learned a lot of what he knew from the late Stick, who turned out to be part of some ancient order, but he wasn't a devoted warrior, just a lost kid. Although for the little he knew, maybe Danny had been as well in such a situation after losing his parents so maybe the rich noisy kid and him had more in common that he had given him any credit for."If there is a dragon at the end of this case, I'll let you punch it" Matt joked."Don't make a face, it would be better than calling Danny to do it and then having to listen how he has punched two whole dragons"he said, nor really knowing if Jessica had indeed made a face, but just guessing so.
"This is feeling like paying a visit to the cop, although we can discuss that later" Matt commented, since he had bolted and visiting his house sounded more tempting than ever."We could also wonder where those guns came from and if someone got a lot of artillery recently, I know a guy for that" he said, thinking that Turk may know something about it, although he wasn't too sure of where to find him at that moment."This doesn't seem a skyscraper and crazy cult operation, not yet"Matt commented,"but it's clear that they aren't just some thugs that got a business out from a power vacuum, or they wouldn't be bothering our friends"he finished.
"On my way, I'll check the phones either way" Matt commented. If just one of those smartphones had a fingerprint scan active he could unlock it without needing much cooperation from the unconscious thugs, and maybe those had a clue. Location, pictures... anything, although he wasn't specially tech savy nor could see the screen, so beyond checking for fancy phones he wouldn't be able to do much. Once upstairs, leaving Jessica comfortably do her thing, Matt checked pockets left and right, but besides the usual things people got in their pockets, all their phones were cheap as hell burner ones.
"Hello? Police?" Matt said after taking the kitchen phone with his sleeve and dialing through a handkerchief to not leave any prints, as even if they didn't dust the whole place given it was a restaurant, they could do their job on the phone."A fight broke in this place, a Chinese restaurant..." he explained, giving the cops the address, although given that it was a landline they probably had the location already. They probably wouldn't be in a hurry, since it didn't sound like an emergency, but unless Jessica felt the need to overshare Matt had no intention to stay there."Done"he said, going back down."We should probably get away soon"he pointed to the other exit, to check it on the go.
human
Jessica was in the middle of rolling her eyes when Matt told her not to make a face and immediately she wrinkled her nose and then rolled her eyes again."If there's a dragon at the end of this case I'm out, you can backflip around and ninja it to death. Stab it with the horns on your helmet." At least she was calling them horns this time. Would she punch a dragon? Hard to imagine that ever being an issue in New York, even with everything that had happened up until now."Seems like that'd be an Avengers thing anyway."And if they were around she'd be out of the way. Too many heroes, too much to deal with."I like you but not enough I'd fight a dragon for you."
Oh yes, a visit to the cop would be required. She wanted to know what was up with the man, what secrets he was hiding. Or, she supposed, how good he was at hiding them. Sometimes just knowing that someone was hiding something was enough to put things in the right direction. Once you knew how someone was trying to hide secrets and who they were trying to hide them from, you could use that to get at the secrets themselves.
"....can you even see other people's phones?"What even was the point of him checking them, really? She could and probably should have been the one to go up and do that, but she'd probably get nothing. Unlock the phone and find that everything else had separate passwords on it, or they wouldn't have thumbprint enabled. She didn't, for the exact reasons that were being discussed right then. Someone would have to guess her password or beat it out of her and the former was more likely than the latter. It was a bit of a hassle but nobody got to read her emails but her.
While he was upstairs she poked around a little bit more, thinking that Matt should have been down here. Maybe he'd be able to... smell something. But he'd gone to do his civic duty and report this mess, so she kept taking pictures so that they would be able to refer to any part of the room that they wanted. Well she would, anyway. There was nothing here the she could see that answered thewhy of this weird situation. But if it was the Hand, of course they were gonna fuck with her. Less 'of course' was Karen, mostly the question she had there was if it was because of the articles she wrote or if it was because they knew who Daredevil was and that was infinitely more problematic. It was also possible that they just knew that she knew Daredevil, because that wasn't exactly a secret.
The footsteps caught her attention and Jessica moved lazily around the table. It was part investigation and part because there was the slightest chance that the person who appeared wouldn't be Matt and she wasn't going to be taken by surprise. He spoke before she saw him, which was a good choice considering it was her who was downstairs. If he was as paranoid as she was it would have been a toss up between 'the ninja could come back, should be quiet' and 'the person downstairs has super strength and a hair trigger'. When the lawyer came into view she came back around and tucked her phone into her jacket pocket."Works for me. I'm not getting anything else out of this place."
"There wasn't a back door in the kitchen which seems like some kind of safety violation,"she didn't know and she didn't really care unless someone was going to pay her to care,"so I bet they pass this off as that."It wouldn't be suspicious. Two back doors for a little restaurant might be weird but if instead of a kitchen door they had this, it wouldn't attract any attention.
gpt
Matt was still thinking that despite the puns and jabs, the easier and easier back and forth between them, he had managed to get Jessica to admit she liked him. Perhaps not enough to punch a dragon, but it was something to appreciate if they were going to work together, if they were going to solve that whole messy thing."This looks small-time, and yet there has to be more to it"Matt commented as they went out."Oh wait"he remembered, removing her scarf from around his face and returning it to Jessica."It was nice, thanks"he couldn't help but add with one of his charming smiles."Where was I... oh yeah, small-time. This doesn't look like the kind of business that moves money and men enough to get back at us like that, so there must be something more behind it"he reasoned, noticing that there wasn't much of interest in that other exit of the restaurant, soon back on the streets, even if it was a back alley.
He wanted to think that there was some elaborate plan behind that, some criminal mastermind that had to be stopped as they were trying to mess with the vigilantes that stopped the Hand. But if so, why the theatrics? Why the warning shots? The whole idea sounded more like a poorly planned revenge, a torture of sorts, but it seemed strangely armed together. It was of no use mulling it over while they knew so little, so it was better if they kept chasing what clues they had instead of making himself go crazy with wild guesses. Wanting to focus his mind on something safe before allowing it to drift away, Matt chose Jessica, close to him. With his awareness focused on her, he could hear the decision on her step, how her every muscle moved with a mission. Her heart calm but active, and that intoxicating aroma-
No. The city should suffice, always ready to overflow with stimulation. That was fine, safer, a welcomed distraction."So time to pay the cop a visit I guess" Matt commented, wanting to get hands on with the trouble."We could also try to find Turk, he probably knows something about such an amount of bullets, or maybe even the guns" he added."But that can take a while if he's particularly well hidden, so the cop is our best bet I'd say"Matt finished. Jessica was the one that knew where he lived, not to mention that she was the expert investigator for all he cared, his methods more blunt, more violent.
human
She lifted her scarf up to take a halfhearted sniff because she was trying to figure out what was 'nice', and then frowned at Matt almost suspiciously because she didn't get what he was- oh, maybe this was flirting. Not something she was entirely opposed to, as long as he wasn't the sort who needed to get married or whatever. He was religious, after all."If the smell of alcohol, coffee, and sweat are your thing, we can have a whole lot of fun."Drinking alcohol and coffee and running around fighting was what they were going to be doing, but she was leaving things vague and open because Jessica wasn't actually opposed. In a very short term way, dating didn't work out. Lots of good people out there and none of them deserved to be saddled with her. Matt was one of those, though she wasn't really considering him as any sort of partner. He was pretty high on the 'would have sex in a kinda dirty bathroom in a bar' list, though she wasn't sure that he was that sort of guy on account of the whole good person thing.
The subject was changed though, which was fine. He had started on the more important thing here."They don't need a whole lot of money or manpower to do something like that. I could gather pictures and put them in your not-girlfriend's apartment, it wouldn't be hard." She was a detective who could jump several stories if she got a running start, sneakily putting things in people's homes was not a huge deal for her. Probably wouldn't be that hard for ninja, either."All you need is a spiteful person with a printer for that."Jessica still figured that it would be easiest to get to the bottom of the 'who exactly' if they could figure out the 'why'. It could be people wanting to fuck with them just because she and Karen (or she and Matt) were on this person's shit list. It could be a 'back off' message, or it could be the beginning of a whole lot of worse things.
If Kilgrave were still here, that was what it would be.
If you want to break into a cops house without a mask or having cased the place, youre welcome to.Jessica wasnt really excited at the prospect of making the entirety of the New York police department her enemy. She wasn't usually the planning sort, though she'd done it a few times before most notably when trying to deal with Kilgrave, but there wasn't a whole lot of plan needed for her engagements. She was faster, stronger, and harder to injure than a normal person, and that itself was basically a strategy."I need my camera." That was most of it. She wanted her camera and she wanted to guy to be out of the house. And his family if he had one - she'd do a lot of things but she wasn't breaking into someone's home while their kids were there.
"Who's Turk?"She didn't really have... informants. Jessica's jobs tended towards busting cheaters and finding missing people so she didn't have much need for a criminal informant of any sort. "And shouldn't finding people be easy for you what with the super senses?"Just like, listen for the guy. How far away could he hear, anyway?
gpt
Jessica's remark caught Matt unaware, although he wasn't a stranger to playing around, specially during college, he has been entangled in all that Karen and Elektra drama for so long that he hasn't been paying attention to such things for a while, even if Jessica was growing on him."I meant the usefulness. And maybe the soft texture"he said with a playful smile, "but we can come back to the fun parts later when we aren't as busy" he said, falling into Jessica's dynamic a bit, not something new, but still able to keep a clear enough head to see that the moment was far from appropriate."Yes, you could do the pictures thing, but you aren't just a street level thug and there is still the fact that they would need to know what pictures would startle her, would unsettle her so far" Matt continued Jessica's reasoning. "It's not up to me to defend my not-girlfriend's endurance"he paused, borrowing her expression about Karen's and his relationship, "but she's not one that scares easily"Matt affirmed.
"The cop will be scared now, after thrashing that place he may know that we are after him"Matt commented, although the investigating professional was her. He didn't have much patience with anything, specially dirty cops, but if she had something in mind that required her camera so be it, he would defer to her private eye experience. "Then we can get your camera"he said, letting Jessica guide him. "I can help you with my senses and all that, but if we get some dirt on the cop, beating some answers out of him shouldn't be a problem" Matt said, as he wouldn't be able to really rely on the department if he was dirty. "Oh, Turk?" Matt was surprised, thinking that most crime fighters in the city would have heard of him, then again he should stop assuming that Jessica and her heroic reticence and him moved in the same circles.
"Turk Barrett is a surprisingly resourceful fixer, usually Harlem based but he gets anywhere if he can get profit out of it" Matt explained."He's a coward that only deals in merchandise, usually weapons, and information. If someone moves any significant amount of weapons and ammunition on the city he's probably aware of it"he continued."He's not some criminal overlord, he just seems to be aware of stuff he shouldn't be, I don't even know how, but that makes him easy and useful to pressure"he shrugged. "But even if it's not specially complicated to find him, I can't just sniff him out across the city"Matt said."I can pick up enormous lots of details in short to medium distances" he tried to explain, "but the longer the distance the more it muddles with every other thing before fading, I'm not some superhero from the comics of old that can hear an earthquake in the other corner of the earth"he said with a smile.
Oh, lovely quote! Some brambles around here also have blackberries, so even if wild they can yield sweet fruit...
human
She rolled her eyes and made a 'yeah okay whatever' gesture with her hand, though it was cut a little short when Matt said they could come back to the fun part. That was a little surprising, and Jessica wasn't entirely sure what she wanted to do with that. She'd figure it out later when there was more alcohol in her. 'Not busy' was a weird thing for her because on one hand she basically always needed to be working to feel functional, but on the other hand work wasugh."They're ninja from a weird ancient organization that came from.... wherever the hell Danny came from, that's not street level either."Even the ones who weren't a million years old or whatever had been trained by that group and that wasn't nothing."Ninja should be good all that same stuff. I mean I'm better," she couldn't know for sure but she was definitely better at hitting and jumping, "but unless they're new or they suck, we have to assume they know shit." Always assume that people knew shit. Unless you were explaining something to them, in which case it was best to assume that they were idiots."Didn't seem like she was." Jessica didn't actually know either way nor did she care that much, but it was best to agree with him here because he know Karen better and letting him talk about his ex-secretary meant that she got the chance to observe him doing so. She didn't know if it was important but she also didn't know if itwasn'timportant.
"I didn't see any cameras, so he may not have known it was us. Well he's probably pretty sure it's me."That would be the logical assumption, after all. "I can't beat a cop." She paused and then, realizing it might sound like she had weird morals, clarified"without getting arrested, since I don't have a secret identity and he knows I'm after him. We need evidence. You're a lawyer, you know what happens to people who start fights with the police."And the news headline Daredevil Beats up New York Police Officer wouldn't be a great look for him, unless they had enough evidence to prove the guy was dirty. They weren't words that came easily to Jessica, her fingers tightening in her pockets like she had to hold herself back, basically every atom of her being vibrating with distaste over the logic.
If she and Matt got killed or arrested, the Hand and the dirty cops could do whatever they wanted with the friends left over, and then move on to the others. Trish, Claire, that lawyer friend of Matt's, Danny's people, Danny, Luke....
Jessica Jones was not a hero. She was a private detective who just happened to sometimes fight crime, it wasn't what she set out to do. She'd given that a shot, and making that decision had led her right tohim. It was easier now, but the darkness wasn't all the way gone. She'd cleaned the room of her mind, but instead of actually getting things entirely off the floor, she'd just shoved in the closet and under the bed. The sooner Matt got that through his pretty head the better, though she suspected that he, like Danny, might struggle with that message a little.
That was a good person to keep in mind, useful if they needed him. Or if she needed him later, she figured. "Pressure is easy." At least it was easy to pressure people when you could lift a car."Okay. Well you're as helpful as I was hoping you'd be."It was blunt but not said with any kind of ill will. She wasn't really insulting him or his skills, it was entirely true that his skills couldn't do the things she wanted them to."But a real solid partner for a break-in." He'd know if anyone was in the house, after all."So camera and then crime."She needed some way to disguise her identity, too. A hoodie probably wouldn't cut it if she was going to break into a cop's house, at least if anyone was home.
gpt
"Whoever they are they knew that Fisk's dead minion's picture would startle her"Matt said, somewhat dry, unhappy about the whole idea. Of course, Karen being threatened and scared didn't sit well with him, that much was obvious, but there was something else he didn't want to admit. Whoever had the information, they knew something about Karen that Matt didn't. The menace angered him, but not knowing, that chasm of mistrust that had opened between Karen and him poisoned Matt. Specially since he knew it was his fault and his fault alone. The whole thing was getting the worst out of him, and of course Jessica wasn't Foggy not Karen, as she did nothing to quench that fire. She wasn't Elektra, as she didn't feed it either. She just was, and Matt felt free besides her to do whatever he judged appropriate.
"He was in the basement before we went in" Matt commented,"but I think we can assume that they know, at least part of them, who we are"he said, since his secret identity was less and less of a secret each day it passed. "They are coming for our friends after all" he said, feeding his own fire."I can beat a cop"he said, with the certainty of not only knowing that he could, but he also would, but then Jessica added some nuances to it."If it gets to that, I'll do the beating then. What is he going to do? Say that a blind lawyer kicked his ass?"Matt mocked."We'll see when we get there"he just shrugged, not exactly expecting it to get that bad, but a shameful and sinful part of him wanting it to.
"Camera then crime"Matt agreed with a smile. Jessica's no bullshit, getting things done approach was intoxicating. Matt was sure that both him and her, even if he didn't condone killing he could understand it, could clearly separate right from wrong. For all his guilty Christian conscience, Matt was sure that he could easily decide what was fine, what was foul, after all he was both a lawyer and a vigilante because he thought he could not only do the right thing, but also know, also decide what the right thing was. He may be a lawyer, but unless kept under check, he did resemble more of a jury, even a judge, and sometimes only the executioner part separated him from Frank Castle. Full of himself, Matt was blind in more ways than one.
human
"It probably came with the assumption that she didn't tell anyone about it so it would work as a 'we're watching you and we know what you did' gesture. But lots of pictures tells me either they didn't know which one would get her, were trying to overwhelm her, or they didn't want someone else to know which one was the problem."Which seemed least likely by far. She didn't correct him with any kind of malice or superiority, it was just the thought process of a professional. Jessica wasn't much good at putting out people's fires. It wasn't that she couldn't, she was perfectly capable of putting together facts and soft comforting fictions together to make people feel better, she just... didn't usually. It didn't work very well on her friends, either. Comfort from Jessica, like many other things, came in the form of forward bluntness.
As she felt like she might have to remind him and the slightly-less-secretive-but-still-secretive Danny, everyone knew who she was. She had a record, she had a license as a private investigator, her name had been in the papers after Killgrave, though not the front page thank god."It's not the first time, I've been through this before. I've made my feelings on this sort of thing clear." If this had been a movie she probably would have cracked her knuckles dramatically, but that was a weird sort of gesture that if someone did in front of her she'd have to mock, so she followed it up by taking a drink from her flask. The movement was as much a comfort as the sting of cheap alcohol.
She couldn't exactly say she didn't want to do what he was thinking about, but Jessica's hand had been kind of forced. She had to keep their enemies from turning on her friends. It wasn't like they couldn't get to Trish and Malcolm if they really wanted to. "If I tell you all the problems with your plan I'm not sure you'll listen to me, so you should think of them yourself."Because there were a bunch."Don't get Malcolm hurt."Nothing about him not hurting himself, but he was an adult and he could choose if he wanted to do things that would hurt or not. She certainly made the decision often enough.
"Investigation,"she corrected wryly,"never call it crime." Even though that's exactly what it was. Her stride, as she headed towards the door, was confident. It didn't quite match how she felt inside, but Jessica was good at the whole faking thing.
gpt
Jessica's deadpan attitude and her professional insight should have quenched the fire inside Matt, but despite her warnings they did little to help. Sure, Matt wouldn't do anything stupid, not too stupid at least and not for now, but even if he had regained some of his normalcy, whatever passed as normal in his life, he was still a broken man. His own mistakes around Elektra's twofold return had driven a wedge between him and his only friends, not to mention that he had tried to fill the whole with her and then he had lost her. Twice. Jessica's request had pushed the drinking and fighting aside, once again filling one need for another, so while she was close Matt would be able to handle himself without resorting to going into a church for confession.
"It wasn't much of a plan to begin with..."Matt said, slightly defensive when Jessica called out of his recklessness."As I have said before, and if not I'd say it now, you are the professional investigator" he conceded, smiling once more."I scare, I interrogate, I puni- I punch"Matt said, consciously avoiding to say "punish" for a small fraction of a second. "So yeah, finesse isn't my thing" he admitted, which was an amusing notion to agree with a woman that could punch concrete off the wall, but that didn't make it less true. Matt was accustomed to roam the streets, take advantage of his senses and bring the pain to the criminals, but he had overestimated how much of an investigator he had been so far, specially when angry.
Without Foggy and Karen to do the real work, to do the research, to work their brains, Matt was even blinder. Sure, he wasn't stupid, and hell, he considered himself a quite good litigator, able to work both judge and jury. But all the work that took him to court? That wasn't his forte. Without them, Matt was but a gun without bullets. Now he had Jessica, she could do what he couldn't, although this time he doubted that anything of that would reach the court, specially with him involved in a suit that wasn't black and red."Hey, you called it crime on the first place"Matt protested, even if not seriously. "I thought we didn't do self deluding. Or at least I try to" he sighed, following her.
human
Matt did flips and fancy kicks and trained punches so she was pretty sure that he did in fact, have finesse. At least compared to her. Jessica could research, but she had finesse in much the same way a bulldozer did. "Scaring, interrogating, and punching are right up my alley."A lot of stalking, too. Or... investigating. That was the more professional word for it, she supposed. It wasn't the word the people she followed would use, but they were pretty much always doing something they weren't supposed to. Jessica skipped right over the fact that he'd almost said 'punish' because she didn't really care to dig onto his brain right now and try to handle his feelings. That wasn't something that she was good at in an honest way and it wasn't something she wanted to spend time on right now.
Research was.... well she couldn't say it was easy because it wasn't always, but it was easier than some things she did. It was easier than some of the choices she made."I get to. It's weird when you do it, you're part of the law. Doesn't give me much faith in our justice system."Her tone said that she didn't have much faith in it to begin with. There was no reason for her to, the law had been entirely incapable of handling her biggest problem. And her second biggest problem. And another handful of problems that had for some reason never ended up on the radar even though somebody insomesort of position of authority should have noticed and helped."You're supposed to correct and discourage me."Somebody had to, that wasn't a role that Jessica should ever be in. She was not a fantastic voice of reason, she should never be the angel on anyone's shoulder. That would be horrifying, honestly.
She was getting tired of flagging cabs. This was a whole lot of travel and they'd had to take so many cabs. It wasn't cheap, this was her alcohol money getting burned here. Hah. Haha. No, she'd use her rent money before she used her alcohol money. The cab ride was quiet, partially because she set the tone immediately by being silent and putting herself in a very 'don't talk to me' body position. It wasn't because she was angry or unhappy with Matt, it was mostly because she was about out of people energy. Jessica could fake it, obviously, but she wasn't a super social person and she needed time to recharge. Her introversion wasn't exactly something that'd surprise anyone who'd met her for more than fifteen seconds. Honest interaction exhausted her emotionally.
Still she opened the door for Matt when they got to her crappy, slightly run-down apartment and offered her arm so that he could walk with her into the building. It was done with reluctance and an exasperated expression, though she had the intelligence to cut both those off her face by the time she turned around to face the rest of the world. "The elevator works this week, so we can take that."It was a subtle complaint about the state of her apartment because at the end of the day that crap hole was perfect for her. Nobody here would call her out for anything. For a moment she had forgotten that her doorknob worked, and when they got to the end of her hall the dark haired woman gave it an annoyed jiggle and shove before remembering, letting out an exasperated 'ugh' like having a fully functional lock was an inconvenience to her, and dug out the key to unlock the door.
Her apartment was lived in, if you counted 'days spent drinking and stewing in dark thoughts and general hatred for the world' as a 'living' thing. Sparsely decorated, the biggest draw was the desk in front of the windows. It smelled like alcohol, coffee, and maybe a little bit the leftover Thai food containers that had been tossed into the wastebin next to the desk from breakfast that morning. Food was food, she didn't really care what she ate for each meal of the day."Just gimme a minute to find it. Make yourself at home or whatever."