Hello! It's been a while, hasn't it? I apologize for my absence, I've been trying to write actual fiction lately. And there's also school. School keeps me very busy, unfortunately.

But I started watching Daredevil, along with Jessica Jones, and I just had to write something for it. I've been meaning to write with my OCs, who are also in 'A Force To Be Reckoned With', anyways so this is a good excuse. I have no idea if I'm going to finish that by the way, sorry.

I might sneak some Jessica Jones into here – I already have a reference in the first chapter. Kudos if you find it, though it's pretty obvious.

I don't own anything but my plot, Charlotte, Ellie, Astrid and Jazmine.

Chapter 1

"We should move out of here," Charlotte stated firmly, her eyes locked on the six o'clock news headline that scrolled across the television screen. "Jaz will be pissed if you run into this so called 'Devil of Hell's Kitchen'."

Ellie just shrugged. "Well, we already paid the rent for this month. We can't move out now."

"I could put a word in for you at Yale," Charlotte continued, ignoring the statement and glancing over at Ellie. She was seated at the kitchen table, face scrunched up in a rather childish matter that suited her well as she concentrated on the task at hand. A multitude of overly expensive colored pencils and markers surrounded her sketchbook as she focused on her drawing. "We could move to New England."

She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Bleck, Yale. Bunch of prissy lawyers and rich people. I'll stick to New York and its hobos and suspicious food stands, thank you very much."

"Yale has the number one fine arts program in the country," Charlotte pointed out. "You could probably transfer your grant money too."

"Nope, already used it to pay off my tuition at Royal, remember?" Ellie had gone to Royal College of Art in London for two years to get a degree in animation and visual effects, much to Astrid's (who was basically the only maternal figure in their lives at the moment) dismay. Ellie was such a promising student, starting high school at the age of eleven, and Astrid said that she hated to see it all go to waste as an artist.

"You still have to get your masters," Charlotte said, just a tiny bit condescending. "You still wanna work at Disney, right?"

"You're not my mom! And you can't be her, 'cause she's dead!" Ellie said in a sing song voice. Charlotte merely rolled her eyes.

Most people would flinch or be slightly disturbed at the fact that Ellie brought up her deceased mother, but Charlotte had gotten over it within the first week of being roommates with the younger girl. Ellie had forgotten nearly all the memories of her mother by the age of five, three years after her death, so it didn't turn her world upside down, just tilted it at about ten degrees. She could not, however, say the same about Ellie's older sister and Charlotte's best friend, Jazmine.

"Well, I'll admit we should get out of this place." Ellie made a vague gesture to the peeling wallpaper, the faulty pipes, and smashed in dry wall. "It's in awful shape. Also, we live in the same building as thugs and druggies. Great place to get jumped!" She said the last sentence with an enthusiastic smile that screamed SARCASM.

"Your sister is a bit of a thug and was very much a drug addict, and you still lived with her," Charlotte pointed out without even pausing.

"Jaz is way too skinny to be a thug, and she doesn't try to steal my wallet or piss in the hallway," Ellie scoffed. "At least we have Mrs. Cardenas, she's probably the only normal person besides us."

Charlotte turned around, body twisted so that she could look over the back of the couch and straight into Ellie's eyes. "Your mom's car was blown sky high by the mafia, with your mother in it. Your sister's a mercenary who shoots fire out of her hands. I was a mercenary, and I know how to fight better than I know the alphabet. And you're a computer hacker with freaky storm powers. I wouldn't exactly call us 'normal'."

Silence. Then, "I really hope no one bugged the apartment," Ellie commented, still cheery and unfazed by Charlotte's mini rant. "And that no one was walking by."

The older girl just sighed. "Me too Ellie, me too."

-o-

After quitting her old job (mercenary-ing), and then being fired from Hogarth, Chao, and Benowitz for 'sharing confidential information' (one of the partners bribed a juror), work was scarce for Charlotte these days. She had been without a job for nearly three months. At this point, she was thinking about picking up a waitress job to pay rent.

Though, Ellie was wonderful and sweet girl, she worked at Starbucks like most hipsters and art majors - Ellie was both – and Charlotte refused to allow her to wire money from God knows where into either of their bank accounts. After being a mercenary, being a Marine for two years, and finishing her law degree, she tended to steer away from crime these days.

So, she had resorted to wandering around in her most professional-looking lawyer attire (a ruffled blouse, a pencil skirt and stiletto pumps), going door to door at small law firms and asking about job openings, though it was more like begging. It was rather pathetic, but it was the only option she had right now. Pulling up to one of the last law firms on her list of firms in the area, she stepped out of her car - a red Audi from her mercenary days – and silently prayed that they had a job opening for her.

After a few minutes of searching, she finally found the correct office. Or what she hoped was the correct office. The door had a piece of printer paper taped onto the door's glass panel. Since 'Nelson and Murdock Attorneys at Law' was written in Sharpie on the paper, so she assumed she was in the right place.

'Take a deep breath and calm down,' she told herself, and did as her thoughts commanded. 'And knock.' And that's what she did – knock. Three quick raps on the door frame and a few seconds later, she could hear footsteps. The person wore heels, but not three inches high like hers. The door opened up to reveal a young woman with long blonde hair, and reminded her vaguely of Jaz; the two had the same willowy build and big eyes. She looked surprised to see her, as if she was expecting someone else.

"Oh, hello. Would you like to come in?" the woman asked. Charlotte gave a small nod, and the woman stepped aside to let her in. The office was small and undecorated, the hardwood floor littered with open boxes and outdated office supplies. Both the left and right walls had doors, presumably leading to private offices. "I'm Karen, by the way, I'm the secretary." Karen stretched out her hand for her to shake.

"Nice to meet you Karen," Charlotte said with a small grin and shook her hand. The woman's bones were like a bird's, and Charlotte felt as if she nearly broke the woman's hand with her firm handshake.

"Karen, who's there?" A man with shoulder length, dirty blonde hair stepped out of one of the offices. He wore a suit and tie, and was a few inches shorter than both Karen and Charlotte. "Oh, hello. I'm Foggy Nelson."

Another handshake and sugar sweet smile. "Charlotte Gold, nice to meet you."

He looked her over, and scrunched up his face like Ellie did when she was thinking. "You look familiar. Do you work at Landman and Zack?"

She shook her head. "No, but I went up against them in a case once. Their lawyers couldn't stand me, especially some of the female ones."

"Marci Stahl?"

Charlotte raised an eyebrow. "How'd you know?"

He gave her a grim smile. "She's my ex."

"Oooh, that's rather unfortunate," she replied sympathetically.

"Tell me about it. Do you have a case for us?" Nelson asked suddenly. "Not to be rude, but… we kinda have to pay the bills here."

She shook her head. "Yeah, I know how you feel. But no, but I actually want to talk to both you and Mr. Murdock about something…"

"Talk to me about what?" Charlotte turned around to see a man, also in a suit, with round, reflective sunglasses and a thin cane walk in through the doorway. Though she had to admit, he was very attractive. Too bad he wasn't able to see it, literally. The glasses and cane signaled that he was blind.

"Mr. Murdock, I assume?"

-o-

This new woman had a slight accent, French maybe? But also Southern at the same time. She definitely wasn't from New York. Her expensive perfume and the sound of stiletto heels shifting on the hardwood, along with the rattling of metal jewelry (bracelets probably, too big to be earrings) told him that this woman wasn't poor enough to be living in Hell's Kitchen either.

"Yes, I'm Matt. And you are?" He stuck out his hand blindly – quite literally – and waited for her to shake. He quickly felt a hand grasp his, and felt the calluses on her palms. Her sharp but manicured nails bit into his skin, probably on accident.

"Charlotte Gold, nice to meet you Mr. Murdock." Her voice was smooth and sweet and inviting. Almost seductive, but it wasn't as if she was trying to be. Overall, it was very nice to listen to.

"Are you from around here Ms. Gold? Correct me if I'm wrong, but you have a slight accent…"

She let out a quiet laugh. "Darn, I almost got it to go away. I've been living here for quite a while after all, though I'd lost it. Yes, I'm from New Orleans actually. Born and raised."

"What are you doing all the way up here in New York?" Foggy asked, clearly confused. "Who would trade voodoo and jazz music for rude people and quite literally Hell?"

Another laugh. This one more genuine than the first. "Well, it's a bit of a long story. But I'd like to talk to you in your office, please?"

Matt nodded in agreement. "Sure, just follow me." He led her to his office and he sat down behind his desk. Hearing Charlotte sit down in the chair in front of him, he asked, "How can I help you Ms. Gold?"

Her heart began to pump faster. Not from lying, she hadn't spoken a word so far that wasn't true, but from anxiety. She took a deep breath. "Since you just opened Mr. Murdock, I thought you might need some help. I was wondering if I could offer my services as an experienced attorney, even if it's only part time."

"And those experiences are?" he asked, though he himself had only been practicing law for a few weeks.

"I graduated law school at Yale about… I suppose it's been three years now. I worked for Hogarth, Chao, and Benowitz for a little over a year and a half, since I interned there. But I no longer work there at the moment, for… personal reasons." Her heart beat sped up again. She was lying, but he chose to ignore it at the moment.

"Do you have any other job experience?" Matt questioned.

"I worked as a personal assistant right out of college, and I currently coach competitive cheer and gymnastics." That must have been what the calluses were from - gymnastics. He had dated a gymnast in college, and she often complained about calluses and 'rips' – pieces of skin the size of quarters ripping off your palms from practicing on the bars apparatus.

"I didn't know competitive cheer was a thing," he commented, trying to keep the tone casual.

"Oh, don't worry, most people don't. I cheered for about fourteen years, and during college. Though a bunch of rich nerds aren't the best at cheerleading," she said with a chuckle. "You should come and see it sometime- oh, never mind. You're blind, sorry."

He could feel the heat coming off her cheeks from her blush. "It's okay. I'm sure Karen and Foggy would love to see it though."

"That would be great," she replied. "You can't tell, but I'm smiling right now."

"That's great too," he said, though he actually could. Her heartbeat had slowed down significantly too, signaling that she was less nervous than before. "Do you have a copy of your resume? I'll show it to Foggy and we'll discuss hiring you tonight."

"I do, actually. Hold on just a second." She picked up her bag and dug around for a few seconds. Judging from the time she took looking for it, she had a relatively large purse. Or maybe just a very messy one. "Here we go." He held out his hand and she handed him a smooth manila folder.

"Okay." He stood up and walked out from behind his desk. Charlotte stood up also, picking her bag up from the floor. "It was nice to meet you Ms. Gold."

"Likewise, Mr. Murdock."

So this story will talk about Jazmine - Ellie's sister and Charlotte's friend - quite often. You will meet her within the next five (?) chapters, I promise.

By the way, Charlotte is 28, if anyone was interested.

-MJ2001