Chapter rewritten, 2017

A/N: I'm not from an English speaking country! Apologies for the grammatical faults that may occur. Please, do not be afraid to correct me if something is very strange!

Make you feel my love, Book I

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or any of its characters or movies/series. All I own is my own OC and her story.

~ Chapter 1 ~
Prolog

What do you do when you're not good at something? Do you give up and try to find something new to do or do you fight? Some people continue on no matter what others say, fighting for what they believe in and doing what they love despite what others say. Some people find it embarrassing that there's something they cannot do, and so they keep on doing what they are doing badly anyway to keep their pride intact. And some people give up.

Maria Dalton was different. Her entire life, things had turned against her and those things had never been easy to walk past. She couldn't remember a time in her life in which she just lived and enjoyed what life had to offer. Maybe there were a few memories back in the old days, before she turned five, when her parents were still there for her; together and alive. Now, she was alone. Everyone in her family was dead or close to death, unreachable and not there for her. Not there to talk to her, make her smile and make her feel loved and as if she was a part of something. That simple comfort others in the world might have, she didn't have and although it saddened her a lot, it also drove her forwards, made her push through each and every day, hoping that there was something out there that she could find and become a part of.

Nothing in her life had been easy for her, the things she tried to do as a child such as learn to play the piano, she had failed at. Everything she had tried, she failed at. Though, she didn't stop doing the things she enjoyed doing. Although she was bad at it and everybody said that it was a waste of her time to even continue doing it – it being playing the piano, even though she lately did not have much time to do that anymore - she continued, hoping that she'd someday understand the basics so that she could actually be good in it.

It was her grandmother that had taught her the act of hope. She had told Maria that "everything in life is ugly unless there's hope for something better". Although Maria had never understood what she had meant by that as she had been too young to understand it when she first heard it, the words had still stayed with her and made her build her world up with hope. It wasn't stable of course, her world. It could break any moment and often, it did. The one thing she wanted the most in her life was to start a family, though her hope of ever having a children died when she was part of an accident in her early twenties. Her hopes of ever graduating had been crushed as well amongst many other things.

Her world was an ever changing one. Every day, every month, new hopes would arise and others would fall. It was fragile but it was strong for it never stopped existing. She tried her best to fill the emptiness with new hope, smiling whenever she could and laughing whenever she could. She didn't mind that strangers thought she was weird when she smiled at them, because it was the only thing that helped her to survive. For some times, just some times, she would get a faint smile back from a stranger and not only did she know that she might have made someone's day a little better, it also proved to her that there was still a little good left in the hearts of mankind. That goodness was what kept her awake during the nights. For she knew that there were people out there that were hindering that goodness from arising and making the world a better place. She knew this, and she wanted to stop it.

That was what had made her go outside that night. Usually, she'd use the night before an early shift to sleep fully and prepare herself for a hard day's work, but she had made the mistake to turn the news on that evening. And what she saw, she did not like.

Hell's Kitchen was a place in New York that was filled with scum and different mobs, all fighting against each other over the power of the drug commerce (amongst many things). She fought to contain the fighting and perhaps even stop the people from dealing the drugs. Those were her hopes, anyway. Of course other parts in New York weren't better, but Maria's world revolved around Hell's Kitchen… At least, it did at that moment before everything changed.

That evening, there had been a robbery at a bank not far away from where Maria had her new apartment, close to Hell's Kitchen though not quite in that area. She had heard the police sirens earlier on but she hadn't paid attention to them; until she turned the TV on. The robbers had gotten away through one of the sewer openings and were now fleeing from the police. Though, the police were nowhere in sight according to Maria. From where she was standing on one of the taller buildings in the city, she could see the police cars driving around on the other side of the city, far away from where the robbers were currently residing. The robbers were fully enjoying themselves, laughing at the police as they knew that they were far away from them. They carried large bags with money in them, most likely, while they loudly talked and laughed about the robbery. They were amateurs, she knew this. Amateurs were the only ones who openly talked about robbing a bank on the streets of Hell's Kitchen, home to her and the Devil of Hell's Kitchen, a name the media had begun to use for him.

When the robbers turned into an alley - one of those which people didn't go into late at night - Maria had heard enough of their bragging and so, she attached her rope to the gutter of the roof and started to slowly and quietly lower herself to the ground. The darkness of the night combined with her dark clothes allowed her to land unnoticed next to the robbers. She slowly took out her sword from its holster when a sound made her freeze.

"I wouldn't move if I were you," said a male voice from behind the two robbers. Both Maria and the robbers turned their heads to the source of the voice, finding a man standing there in black clothes and with a scarf over his eyes and head, covering most of his face.

"Who the hell are you?" asked the first robber, furrowing his brows at the man.

"Shut up! Don't you realize who that is?" asked the other man, his voice sounding distressed.

Maria knew exactly who the man was. She had met him before, both without and with the mask (scarf) on. She was impressed that he was still going out during the nights, especially now that he was starting his own law office together with a close friend of his.

"That's the masked man," said the second robber through gritted teeth.

"What do you want?" asked the first robber, his voice sounding daring, almost as if he was asking for the 'hero' to attack him.

"I don't want to fight you. I know this is one of your first times doing this-"

"No, it's not! We're the very best robbers this town has ever had and you had better be careful with what you do to us!" said the first robber, pointing a chubby finger at the masked man. "We have many contacts that are gonna search for you and end you if you hurt us!"

"We have?" asked the second robber before being shushed by the fatter one.

"You hear me?" asked the first robber, his grip on the money bag tightening.

"Oh… I hear you," said the masked man before smirking as he suddenly kicked out, placing a solid kick into the stomach of the fatter robber, earning a shriek from the second man.

"Please, man… we just needed some money," said the second robber, dropping his money bag and holding his hands up.

"Tell that to the cops," said the masked man before kicking out again, placing his boot against the forehead of the second robber and knocking him unconscious. He turned his head to the first one and smashed his head against the street, not too hard though as it was only meant to knock him out.

As he stood there, two unconscious men lying by his feet, he stayed put, seeming to be listening to something before he lifted his head slightly, saying: "You can come out now."

"You're getting rougher," said Maria, stepping out of the shadows, her eyes directed at the masked man.

"Had to do something to stop them. They'll only have a headache once they wake up," said the masked man. "Are the cops on their way?"

"They'll probably be here soon," replied Maria, sending a quick message to a contact of hers in the police force. "I was going to arrest them though, not knock them out." She let her gaze wander over the limp bodies of the robbers. Luckily, there was no blood. These people were simple losers, trying something new with their lives and hurting them badly was unnecessary as they could still turn their lives around, doing something better with it then this.

"I have my ways. You have yours," said the masked man before turning around and starting to walk back the way he came, meaning towards one of the buildings in order to climb up discreetly.

"Matt?" asked Maria, making him stop in his tracks. "I want to thank you for everything you've done for me."

"I was merely being a good friend, Maria," said Matt, turning his head ever so gently to the side. "How's life there?"

"Good… I enjoy it. I have a second chance now," said Maria, a soft smile playing on her lips. "Thanks to you."

Matt turned around to look at her. "May I ask something?"

"Of course."

Slowly, he walked over to her, his footsteps just as confident as they were when he didn't have the mask over his eyes. Technically, he was blind. But he could still see the world, only completely differently than anyone else. He didn't see just darkness, as most blind people do. But he saw the world as if it was on fire. Therefore, it was harder for him to see than the others, though it was not impossible. He used his other senses to make his way around in the world, pretending to be completely blind in order to fit in with the crowd. At the moment, only Maria knew his secret and they both had agreed on keeping it like that.

"What are you still doing here? I mean, you don't live here anymore, in Hell's Kitchen," said Matt, cocking his head to the side.

"You know why," said Maria, the soft smile on her lips disappearing. "I grew up here… This place is my home. And it still needs me. It needs us."

"Maria, no," said Matt. "The last time we worked together, we were nearly caught by the police."

"Yes, but we stopped those drug dealers and we saved that woman," pressed Maria, taking a step towards her friend. "We can make a difference."

"We're not superheroes. We don't have suits made out of iron like your boss. We simply have our bodies and the clothes we decide to wear. It's dangerous and to be completely fair… I don't want you doing it," said Matt, shaking his head. "But I know you can't be stopped. And I'm okay with that… but just, be careful and think before you act. That sword, it would've made them laugh not cower back."

Maria shook her head as she looked down at it, placing it back in its holster. "Maybe, maybe not. But to be completely fair, you didn't have a weapon at all."

"And I'm me," said Matt, placing his hands on her shoulders. "I know you're strong. Hell, you're the strongest woman I know but please… be careful. You're my friend."

Maria felt something bubble up inside of her when he said this. She felt as though he was telling her that she was weaker than him because she wasn't blind, didn't have the ability to hear basically everything and was a woman. Though, she bit down the anger, simply shaking her head.

"We've had this conversation before," said Maria quietly.

"And none of us won. Like I said, I don't mean because you're female… and I don't mean you're weak… I just want you to be safe because without you… the only friend I have is Foggy. And I don't know how he's going to react when I tell him… This," he said, letting go of Maria's shoulders and gesturing towards himself.

"I know," said Maria, imagining what a shock it would be for a friend Matt had had his entire life finding out that Matt was not blind and actually a sort of vigilante. Matt had lied to him about so many things and he could imagine him simply not reacting very well to those secrets. "I'll be careful if you're careful."

"I'm always careful," said Matt, placing a swift kiss on Maria's cheek before turning around and running away, climbing up the wall towards the roof with the help of the metal stairs and the pipes, disappearing quickly.

"Bye…" she mumbled, police sirens starting to echo against the walls of the buildings while flashing blue and red lights began to flicker out on the streets. Quickly, she made her way towards the rope she had used before, climbing up and disappearing as well.

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