Matt's Apartment

I saw him lose his sight.  There's no way he's not blind, Jack thought.  I've done my research...there's no technology in existence yet that could restore his sight.  So how the hell is he Daredevil?

There's no way that he could be.  It has to be a mistake.  Jack was in denial.  Maybe they are friends and Daredevil just hides out here?  Maybe he likes to cosplay?  No, that's a stupid idea; why would a blind man cosplay?

Jack sat down on the sofa, holding the suit in his hands with disbelief.  And then everything finally started to make sense.

The shopping list.  The disappearing at night.  The mysterious conversations and phone calls.  Matt moving around with no trouble.

But how?

°•°•°•°• ó-ò •°•°•°•°

Rand Enterprises

Danny pulled up into the parking deck and eased his car into park.  Foggy, who was winded from the drive in the amazing car, was also a little frightened, due to the fact that Danny wasn't the best driver.  After all, Danny hadn't had that much experience.

They hurried to find Danny's secretary, whom they asked to find David Campbell's file.  

Turns out, Campbell worked for Ramsey Chemicals, a company that specialized in medicines.  They were able to trace his records, including where he secretly spent company money for personal projects not long before he died.  They discovered that many deliveries were sent to an apartment on 35th and 10th.  

"We have to go there!  It has to lead to something," Danny said.

"Well, if he's smart, then he'd hide or remove any evidence of these deliveries.  Especially since they were used with company money, which is so easily traceable," Foggy explained.

"You're probably right, but it wouldn't hurt to look."

"Oh, absolutely."

They hurried to the apartment after nightfall.  Danny had opted for a black hoodie that he'd pulled over his hair, and Foggy traded his usual dress clothes for a dark t-shirt, beanie, and jeans.  The address was for a room on the 4th floor.  Despite Foggy's protest, Danny mounted the fire escape.  

Foggy was hesitant to follow, because he feared getting caught and hurting his career.  And, also, he wasn't really experienced with this.  Like, at all.

But, as he watched Danny scale the fire escape and look below him to see if Foggy was following, he cursed and grabbed the railing.

"Well, shit.  Now I'm Matt Murdock."

°•°•°•°• ó-ò •°•°•°•°

Savannah, Georgia

Daredevil crept through a dark alley as he neared his target.  Since he'd left his suit at home to avoid suspicions at the airport, he was just wearing dark clothing with his old black mask.  

The juror he was after was sitting on a bench at a bus stop, sipping on a vanilla milkshake, sans the whipped cream and cherry.  The bus wouldn't arrive for a few more minutes.

Daredevil had a different approach planned as opposed to his usual one.  Instead of being violent, he just casually walked up to the bench and took a seat, but making sure he gave the man plenty of space.  The man looked over at Daredevil with confusion, straw in his mouth, then looked away.

"Hello," Daredevil said.  "How are you?"

"Uh...I'm f-fine, what about you?" he replied.  

"I'm well.  If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you a couple of questions about court."

"W-what do you mean?"  He switched his milkshake from one hand to the other, then adjusted his position on the bench.

"The trial you're witnessing, as a juror."

"I'm not s-supposed to talk about th-that."

"It's okay, you can talk to me," encouraged Daredevil.  "I just want to know if there's someone out there threatening you.  I can help you with that problem."

"I--I--I don't know what you mean.  I think I'm g-going to go n-now."  He got up and started to walk away.  Daredevil reached for him, and he jerked away.

"I want to help you."

"You c-can't help me."

"Why do you say that?"

The man clenched and unclenched his fist, throwing his cup in the trash.  

"Try me," Daredevil said.  The juror's hands shot up and covered his ears, then he lowered them back to his side, clenching them again.

"My--" he stopped, debating whether or not he should say something.  He stared at the ground.  "My m-mother went missing.  I love h-her so much...she did her b-best to help me even if my d-dad told her not to."

"Does someone have her?"

He shook his head.  "No..."  He suddenly got extremely uncomfortable, and Daredevil sensed that he was about to flee.

"It's okay, you can tell me," Daredevil reassured.  But then he realized that the juror didn't want to tell him what happened because of the trauma surrounding it, not the fact that he'd be spilling the beans.

Still, the man spoke anyway. 

"They k-killed her."  His voice shook.  "A-and they said that they'd do-do worse if I didn't side with the pr-prosecution." 

"I'm so sorry."  Daredevil swallowed hard, imagining the horror of finding the one person who cared about you dead.

So this person was the shoot-first-threaten-later type.  They already proved how serious they were before they even made a move on the juror himself.

Daredevil offered a way out.  "Then get yourself excused from the jury.  You just lost your mother; that's a personal reason."

"But then th-they'll do w-worse!"  The man shifted his weight from one foot to the other repeatedly, clasping his hands together.  He threw his hands behind his back and clasped them again.

"I won't let them."  He finally nodded at Daredevil, trusting him.

After visiting the first juror, Daredevil tracked down the other two.  He was able to convince both of them that he could protect them, but they both chose to stay in the jury and fight, ignoring the threats against them.  Daredevil was also able to retrieve information from them about their oppressor.

As it turned out, someone who worked for Mariah and Shades was behind it all.  Figures.

And, due to the oppressor's careless arrogance, Daredevil was also able to track him down and send him to the authorities for murder charges before the night ended.  Perhaps the man wasn't too good at his job after all: Just an extremely cocky guy with a serious trigger finger.  It was just a real shame that people had to die.  He was sad for the juror who'd lost his mom; it reminded him so much of his old friend Nathan, who'd lost his parents.

°•°•°•°• ó-ò •°•°•°•°

The Next Morning

"Your Honor, I'd like to inform the jury that the persecution does not have sufficient evidence to charge Mr. Lucas with the murder of Albert Rackham, which means reasonable doubt."  Matt could feel the DA's glare searing into the back of his head as he spoke.  "Also, due to the duress that my client was under, he feared for his life, so he did what was necessary to get away in one piece.  After all, the situation that he'd been forcefully placed in weren't exactly lawful, so remaining there wouldn't have helped his legal condition.  He was acting in self defense and preservation."

"Objection!  The evidence is circumstantial," shouted the DA, shooting up out of her seat.

"Overruled," said the judge.  "Mr. Murdock has already provided the evidence of illegal fighting and experimentation on inmates."

It was impossible for Matt to hide his smirk.

"It is now time for the jury to come to a verdict.  Anything else before we leave it to them?"

"I'm finished, Your Honor," said Matt, taking his seat.

The judge looked at the prosecution's side.  The DA shook her head.

"No, Your Honor."

"Very well."

The verdict didn't take long, and the decision was unanimous.

Luke Cage was a free man.

°•°•°•°• ó-ò •°•°•°•°

Later

"I thought you said that you thought the jury was tampered with," Luke told Matt.  

"We must've just gotten lucky," Matt replied.  

"Although, it seems weird that they'd push it to trial anyway if it ended up being unanimous, like what's the whole point?"

"I don't know."

"Mariah and Shades wouldn't have let it go down like this without sending someone to stop it."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, which is why we need to be careful.  She could have someone right around the corner for all we know."

They were standing outside on the street, waiting for Karen to arrive with a vehicle.

"Maybe," Matt said.

"Thanks for coming all the way down here," Luke said.  

"Thank Claire."

"I'll make sure I do.  She's really..."  Luke's voice faded away as Matt tuned him out, focusing on the air around him.  Something was off.

That's when he heard the click of the hammer of a firearm, which was indeed, right around the corner.

Matt shoved Luke out of the way (which wasn't an easy task) right as the bullet whizzed past his ear.  They both sprinted.  More bullets were flying behind them.

They slipped behind a building, panting with adrenaline.

Matt concentrated, looking for an escape route as he heard footsteps approaching.

"Sweet Christmas," Luke said.  Then he'd realized what Matt had just done.  "Wait a minute..."

"Come on, in here."  

Matt led Luke down the alley they were in, stopping by a broken fence.  They wiggled through a hole in it and found a door that was ajar.  Matt closed it behind them, and they were silent.  

Luke looked around them, finding old furniture everywhere, covered in sheets.  There was a hole in the ceiling with splintered boards hanging from it, and plenty of cobwebs to go around.  He fought the urge to sneeze.

Matt listened intently as the person chasing them (who was quite large and was carrying a hefty gun), ran past, cursing as he realized he'd lost them.

After waiting another minute, Luke finally spoke.

"Okay, man, how'd you do that?"

"You tell me," Matt replied.  "You're the one that said I was talking as if it was from personal experience."  He wasn't pleased that Luke was going to find out his secret, but he didn't exactly have a choice.

"Are you even blind, fool?" he asked.  "What did Claire do, hire me a lawyer-slash-bodyguard?  I can take care of myself.  That bullet would've just bounced off me--"

"It was a Judas," Matt said.

"How do you know?" Luke asked.

"I just do...long story.  But if you don't believe me, feel free to get yourself shot so you can go and find out."

"Okay, fine."

Matt reached for his phone and called Karen.  

"Hey, I'm almost there...just a couple more miles," she said as she answered the phone.

"Just go back to the hotel; we'll meet you there," Matt said.  "We're taking another way."

"Um, okay," Karen said.  "You sure?"

"Yeah.  Thank you."

"All right.  See you then."

Luke stared at Matt as he hung up.

"Dude, why'd you just call off our ride?" Luke said.

"I don't want Karen out here if he comes back."

"Okay, well then how are we gonna get to the hotel?"

"We'll figure it out on the way."  Matt headed back for the door.

"Man, seriously?"  Luke followed him.  "What kind of lawyer are you?"

Matt would've preferred to climb a fire escape and take the rooftops, but he sensed that, by the way Luke carried himself, he was a man who preferred to stay ground-level.  So, they stuck to the alleys and busy streets...nothing too out in the open, if they could avoid it.

"Look, man, you do realize that your hotel is several more miles away, right?" Luke said.  "Check these out."  There were two dirt bikes parked in front of a convenience store.  "Let's take these."

"You're trying to convince your blind lawyer to steal dirt bikes with you," Matt stated.

"Okay, 1) you ain't blind.  And 2) we are running for our lives.  And 3) the idiots left the keys right here, so if we don't steal them, someone else will."

Matt reluctantly agreed.  And you know what?  Matt hated dirt bikes, motorcycles, ATVs...the whole family.  They were noisy.  And excessive noise + heightened senses = not fun.  Besides, when had Matt ever driven anything?  There was no way that the two of them would fit on one bike, so he'd have to drive separately.

Luke climbed onto one, noticing Matt's hesitation.  "Well are you coming?  Have you even ridden one of these before?"

"Just give me a second."  Matt scanned the dirt bike for the proper controls.  Okay, so this leads to the gas...this leads to this...okay, so if I press this, then that will go...  It was the best way to try and teach himself to drive it.  And, well, he didn't have a choice after what happened next.

A Judas bullet flew past them, burrowing into the wall of the store in front of them.

"SHIT!"  Luke said.  "Okay, let's go!"  Luke revved the engine and sped off.  Matt followed him, trying to tune out the loudness and focus on Luke ahead.

Since they were fleeing for their lives, traffic laws were not the first things on their minds, so at least Matt didn't have to worry about the fact that he couldn't read any of the signs or see if the traffic lights were red or green; he just had to keep up with Luke and avoid the large masses that were speeding around him at fifty-five miles per hour.  Another bullet pierced the side of a florist shop.

"What's with all this racket?" a woman shouted, stomping out on the sidewalk, purse in hand as if she was ready to start swinging, muttering about the "damn commotion".  When she saw the guns, she quickly ran back into the shop she'd come out of.

These bullets are gonna kill someone else. 

Matt's ears were ringing.  It didn't help that not only were their two engines deafening, but many cars' horns were blown, as well as the bullets being fired at them.  It was a sea of loud distractions, but Matt stiffened his jaw and weaved through just as Luke did, eventually losing their pursuer.

And, finally they reached a clearing, where it was just the two of them for the next couple of miles.  It was much more pleasant this way, and the engines were much more tolerable.  Matt was finally able to take full control of the dirt bike so that he wasn't wobbling ferociously.

And, it was actually kind of nice.  The wind in his face and the energy around him reminded him a little of nights out as Daredevil, racing across rooftops and fighting criminals.  The engine noise became less and less awful, and he was considerably disappointed when those two miles of solitude ended.  

This time, they obeyed traffic laws, which Matt was able to catch on to as he replicated what Luke and the other vehicles did as they reached each intersection.  And soon, they were at the hotel.

"Well damn," Luke said as they climbed off of the bikes.

Matt was breathless, his heart beating with exhilaration.  He hoped that it wasn't the last time he'd get to ride one.