Hello lovely readers! I have fallen into a hole of Netflix Marvel and I cannot get out, which is most definitely why this resulted in my two week binge watching and this fanfiction is the end product! I haven't seen a TON of Matt fics around (there's definitely some, don't get me wrong) but I thought I'd like to put my own spin on a Matt Murdock fanfiction. I hope you all enjoy it, and without further ado, here is Devil You Know! Let me know what you think about the first chapter!
If Devin Hayward's life could be summed up in about three words, those words would unequivocally be a goddamn mess.
A half-eaten bagel spread with a hearty amount of cream cheese innocently graced the space next to a keyboard that was so old, it clicked with each press of a key. Papers were littered across the rest of the space the bagel and keyboard weren't taking up. Some could call Devin Hayward's workspace messy, but Devin preferred to think of it as an organized mess. She knew exactly where everything was. Except for the one statement from a tenant in her apartment building on forty-third street, which happened to be the one statement she needed to finish up the article Ellison was on her ass about. Naturally, she could find the half-assed article she had written about tensions between the newly deconstructed S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Hydra agents that still seemed to be lingering around the United States, but that wasn't what Ellison wanted from her. He wanted the fluffy Home and Style article he had assigned, the critical debate over hardwood floors and "wood-looking" tile. He wanted statements and opinions on the two finishes. Opinions that Devin had gathered from her own apartment building that had seemed to go missing in the time span she had eaten half her bagel and gotten a refill of coffee from the shitty machine in the break room.
Devin's life hadn't always been a goddamn mess. But that was Before Devin. Looking through her life chronologically, most things could be categorized into Before Devin and After Devin. Before Devin had possessed the stereotypical Manhattan childhood, with a mother and father and their fancy apartment in the Upper East Side. She'd gone to a prep school, had French lessons every Friday at one o'clock on the dot, and had plans to go to follow in her father's footsteps and attend Cornell University for a doctorate in Liberal Studies. After Devin had been dirt poor after the scandalizing divorce between her mother and father in which he won everything except for custody. After Devin had to cope with the fact that her mother had developed tumors in her inner ears (a condition called Neurofibromatosis 2 which After Devin had searched on several medical websites) and had gone nearly eighty percent deaf. And After Devin had refused any financial help from her father when the time for college did roll around, which left her with a Masters in Communications from Brooklyn College and a job at New York Bulletin fresh out of college.
And instead of writing the cutting-edge news she thought she would be reporting and was so eager to report in college, she was writing about the case for real hardwood floors versus tile that looked like wood.
Angrily ripping off another piece of her bagel, Devin shoved it in her mouth and frustratingly ran her fingers through her hair, which was already past the point of falling out of the careful ponytail she had constructed that morning and had half of it hanging around her chin. The article technically wasn't due for another two days, but Devin was determined to prove herself as a valued journalist for the Bulletin and prove to Ellison that he could trust her with more substantial stories like he did with people like Ben Urich and Jennifer Many. And that was something she couldn't prove if she didn't find the goddamned statements from her neighbors. Huffing out another breath, Devin flung herself back into her chair at her desk and angrily clicked out couple of keys on her keyboard, listening to the little clicking that accompanied. The sound of clicking keys always calmed her down. This time was no different. Devin sighed and clicked a couple more random keys, watching as they constructed words of gibberish on her computer screen before she backspaced all of them and watched them disappear.
The small chiming of her phone distracted her from the blank screen in front of her. She moved the pile of papers she knew were currently resting on her phone and picked up the small device, looking at the words painted across the screen.
Mom: I'm heading to those lawyers Brett referred me to
Devin let out a curse and quickly typed back a reply consisting of phrases like "why didn't you tell me you were going" and "I'll be right there" before she clicked the monitor of her computer off, pushing back on her chair and grabbing her jacket from the back of it. Her purse had been discarded somewhere on the floor by her desk, so she blindly felt around until she had the strap gripped in her hand and swung it over her shoulder. When she stood up from her seat, her feet groaned at the thought of having to try and catch a taxi in her heels, but she ignored them and pushed on. "Ellison, I'm heading out for the day," she called out, waving a goodbye. He sputtered something unintelligible that she didn't pay attention to before she was making her way out of the Bulletin and towards the street, arm already outstretched to try and get a taxi. She hated when her mother did things like this. While her mother claimed that being deaf didn't make things difficult, Devin knew that going to meet a lawyer with no actual way of being able to hear them properly and not having someone to translate with sign language was a little more difficult than her mother was making it out to be. And this meeting wasn't something to take lightly. Devin huffed annoyingly when a taxi pulled up next to her, four precious minutes already having been wasted trying to wait for one.
"You know where Nelson and Murdock Law Offices are?" Devin asked exasperatedly once she had flung herself into the taxi and slammed the door shut behind her. The taxi driver simply turned and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, didn't think so. The deli on forty-ninth and tenth?" To that, the driver nodded and turned back around in his seat, checking his surroundings before pulling out into the busy New York street. Devin took the silence of the seven-minute drive to text her mother, adding in phrases like "what were you going to do when you walked in" and "this is something we need to take seriously" to her previous texts. Her messages got no response. Devin wasn't exactly surprised, since her mother liked to do things independently and would find Devin's texts babying, but she still would have appreciated a response. Momentarily shoving her phone in her purse, Devin got her cash ready for when the taxi driver pulled up to the deli, reaching forward and handing it to him. The New York air was cool but not freezing when she got out of the cab and adjusted her annoying pencil skirt, moving towards the crosswalk button next to the deli she'd been dropped off at. She could see the tiny building across the street, the dingy little place her mother had sent her the address to.
It didn't look like much as Devin approached it, and they didn't even have a sign hanging outside of the building to let people know this was their law office. She briefly wondered just who Brett had recommended to her mother, but she felt her body going through the motions of opening the door and walking up the set of stairs that led to the law offices of Nelson and Murdock. Her feet were cramping in her heels by the time she made it all the way up the stairs, tempting her to take the damned shoes off and throw them out the window of Nelson and Murdock's window, but before she could even fully consider the idea the door to the law office was opening and a pretty blonde woman was stepping out, what looked like a lunch order in her hands. She stopped at the sight of Devin, letting a confused but polite smile grace her mouth. "Hi. Nelson and Murdock are actually with a client right now, but you can go inside and wait if you'd like."
"Yeah, they're in there with my mother," Devin muttered. "Thanks for the help," she managed to say, remembering the simplest of manners as she pushed the door open and walked into the office space. It wasn't much. Her first impression of the law office hadn't been incorrect in that sense. There was a desk in the front that Devin assumed belonged to the woman on the other side of the door Devin had just closed. There was a copier and fax machine that looked ancient pressed against a small corner of the room that a table occupied. Devin looked to her left and saw her mother beginning to sit down with what must have been Nelson and Murdock; losing all sense of diplomacy and polite mannerisms, Devin marched into the office and angrily glared at her mother, unbothered by the shocked looks on the two lawyers' faces.
"Um, excuse me, but we're with a client and you'll have to wait outside." Devin surveyed the one who had spoken. He had dirty blonde hair down to almost his shoulders, which skirted on too long for his profession. Not that Devin particularly cared. As long as he could help her mother, she was fine with however he wanted to present himself (which was a lie if she admitted it to herself, because she'd expect a lawyer to have a certain degree of professionalism, but that didn't matter at the moment). However, in order to help her mother, he had to be able to communicate with her mother, which would be hard considering she wouldn't be able to hear anything Nelson and Murdock told her and wouldn't understand without a proper translator.
"Yeah, you won't get very far into conversation with her," Devin mumbled, yanking out a chair at the desk and turning angrily to her mother. Raising her hands so her mother could see clearly, she signed out "what were you thinking," her hand angrily pointing to her head when she got to the "think" in the statement. When she looked back at the dirty blonde man, he seemed to understand, uncomfortably shifting in his seat. "She has a condition and has eighty percent hearing loss. She was supposed to wait for me so I could sign out what you guys were saying, but she got impatient."
"And you are?" The other man in the office asked. It was then that Devin actually took a good look at him. He had hair that was to be expected of a lawyer, significantly shorter and darker than his companion. While his counterpart's hair was long enough to have Devin questioning whether it was work appropriate, this man had the subtle beginnings of a beard that had her questioning the same thing. The most noticeable difference between the two was, however, the red-tinted glasses that sat on the bridge of his nose. She was able to deduce from the walking stick resting in the corner of the room that he was blind and instantly felt a small relaxation in her shoulders. So, he'd understand where her mother was coming from. Good. That might be able to help them. It was when he cleared his throat expectantly that Devin even realized he's asked her a question.
"Oh, sorry," she said, setting her back on the ground and throwing her jacket on the back of the chair. "I'm Devin Hayward, her daughter." She was about to stick her hand out to shake his, a habit her father had made sure to instill in her when she was younger, but hesitated and decided against it. She'd only feel like a fool if she did. "And you would be... Nelson or Murdock?" she questioned, gesturing back and forth between the two lawyers. She caught the corner of the brunet's lip lifting in a smirk and narrowed her eyes.
"Murdock," he replied, "Matthew Murdock." He held out his hand, and Devin was thankful that he'd been the one to initiate the contact so she wouldn't have to. She shook his hand firmly, probably surprising him with her strong grip before reaching out to the dirty blonde— Nelson, she mentally recited— and shaking his hand as well. "This is my partner, Foggy Nelson." Devin raised a brow at the name but didn't say much of anything else. "Your mother mentioned Brett Mahoney from NYPD. He referred you to us?"
Devin was quick to sign out the question to her mother, who nodded. Her mother opened her mouth and spoke in a shaky voice that was quieter than the two lawyers were expecting. Devin was used to hearing the small voice. Her mother liked to use her voice as much as possible, even if she couldn't hear much of it anymore. But Alice Hayward didn't seem to realize just how low it was when she actually spoke, which usually led to Devin signing at her to speak up. Since it was such a small office space, Devin didn't have to. "He did. I mentioned what was happening and he suggested I visit you two," Alice said in her small voice.
"And what is happening, Ms. Hayward?" Nelson asked. Devin signed out the question to her mother, listening to her answer. It was mostly the same. Ex-husband who had not only cheated on her but had also cheated her out of nearly everything except custody of Devin was trying to get back into their lives, figuring he could threaten his way back in. Alice was leaving out bits and pieces, but Devin filed the explanation in the back of her head. She'd add in whatever Nelson and Murdock needed to know later. "Why do you think he wants back into your life, Ms. Hayward?" Nelson questioned after the explanation Alice had given him. Devin didn't need to sign this question to her mother, scoffing and crossing her arms over her chest.
"Long story short," she begun, watching as Nelson looked over at her and Murdock's head tilted in her direction, "I was engaged last spring." Nelson's eyes flickered to her left hand, where a ring was noticeably missing. "Needless to say, the wedding didn't happen. But the news made my father have an epiphany and suddenly he wants to be back in my life. He knows my mother won't have it unless I tell her it's what I want, and what I want is for him to stay as far away from me as he can physically get. Antarctica, if he has to. So, he's taken it upon himself to threaten my mother that if she doesn't let him see me, there will be consequences. Didn't go into specifics of said consequences, but apparently it was enough to frighten my mother into asking Mahoney for a lawyer recommendation so we can try and get a restraining order."
"That's not fair," Alice suddenly mumbled from beside Devin, narrowing her eyes at her daughter. "Sign out the words so I know you aren't embellishing. She's so dramatic." Murdock let out a slight chuckle at Alice's words. Devin rolled her eyes and relayed the story through sign language, watching as her mother's eyes followed her hand movements. At the end of the signing, Alice didn't correct Devin's explanation. "She told it right," Alice admitted, nodding her head in satisfaction.
"Well," Nelson said after a few moments, "what we can go ahead and do is get you the paperwork for a temporary restraining order for civil harassment. We can meet as soon as you'd like once the paperwork is filled out and we'll go from there. For the threats he's making, we could probably get a temporary for about 200 feet and then try and up it when we file for the long term restraining order." Devin signed to her mother what Nelson was offering, and Alice nodded as he searched through the manila folder for the correct paperwork. Devin reached for it before her mother could when he offered it, eyes drinking in the words on the page to make sure it would actually do what he said it would. "Did you want to make an appointment for when the paperwork's done?"
Before Devin could answer him, Matthew Murdock was reaching out a hand to gesture for Nelson to stop moving, as the latter had been about to stand from his seat. "Hold on just a moment," Murdock said quietly before his head turned in the general direction Devin was sitting. "We should print out another set of paperwork for a second temporary restraining order."
"Why?" Devin questioned, crossing her arms over her chest again. "He isn't coming after anyone else but my mother." Alice was looking back and forth between Devin and Murdock with a confused look on her face, so Devin was quick to sign out what was happening so she could get caught up. But instead of the confused expression Devin expected, her mother eagerly nodded her head in Murdock's direction. She heard Nelson mumble something under his breath, something along the lines of "Ms. Hayward's nodding her head" so Murdock could understand what was going on.
"You mentioned that you were the one he was trying to get to, Ms. Hayward," Murdock mentioned, gesturing to where he assumed Devin was sitting. He ended up gesturing between herself and her mother, but Devin knew the attempt was meant for her direction. "I think it would be a good idea to get you a temporary restraining order, just in case your father's threats reach you. After all, you're the reason that he got back into contact with your mother after hearing about your engagement."
Devin knew it was irrational and that he didn't mean it in the way she took it, but she wanted to jump across the table and sock Matthew Murdock in the face. She was probably going to Hell for thinking about punching the shit out of a blind guy, but his words burned inside her. She was the reason her mother was having to go through this. She was the reason her slimy, disgusting, despicable father was back in her mother's life, reminding Alice of everything she'd lost when the divorce had been finalized. Devin's jaw twitched once, twice, a sure sign that she was trying to hold back the scream she wanted to let out. When she responded, her voice was cold as ice. "I really don't think that's necessary, Mister Murdock," she said. She noticed him sit up straighter at her tone, the trace of a smirk gone from his mouth. "And please," she added, "call me Devin. Ms. Hayward is my mother."
He smiled, but it was forced. The kind of smile that told Devin he didn't appreciate the tone. "Forgive me, I'm simply in the habit of calling my clients by their surnames."
"And that would be fine," Devin mentioned, "if I were a client. I see no reason for me to file a restraining order. I'd just like to make sure my mother gets one."
The finality and frostiness of her tone had Murdock nodding. "Alright. It was just a suggestion. Foggy can go ahead and schedule that appointment for when you get the paperwork filled out." Devin glared at him, angry that he couldn't even see the withering look she was giving him as he reached behind him for his walking stick and stood from his chair. The glare melted slightly when he felt around the office with his cane before walking out of the room, but the anger and hurt was still there. Nelson was looking anywhere but the two of them sitting in the room, trying to stay out of the obvious awkward tension residing there.
It was broken when her mother was suddenly turning to her. "What's happening, baby?" she asked, and Devin felt the rest of the tension in her shoulders deflate. She just wanted her mother to be safe. She was sick and tired of her father ruining the good things in her life. Since Devin had a clear shot of her mother, she didn't bother signing the next words, knowing that her mother would read her lips well enough if she enunciated clearly.
"We're going to get him out of your life, Mom. I promise," Devin said, reaching out and grabbing her mother's hand.
"You'd better have gotten the temporary restraining order papers, Devin Sierra Hayward," Alice whispered in a stern voice. Devin just laughed, shaking her head. "I don't care if he's out of my life. I want him out of yours until you decide otherwise." Devin reached forward with her other hand and grasped her mother's hands in her own, squeezing them tightly in a comforting notion. Alice's eyes were frozen on Devin's face, trying to gauge her expression. "Don't be stubborn, baby," Alice said, reaching up a hand to lovingly pat Devin's cheek before she was pulling away and reaching for her purse, which she had discarded onto the floor at the beginning of the meeting. "Now, let your mother buy you coffee while you go an apologize to the nice lawyers helping us out." Devin opened her mouth to protest, but Alice shook her head. "Just because I can't hear what you're saying doesn't mean I can't see that mean streak across your face." Devin scoffed but reached down for her own purse and shrugged her jacket over her shoulders. Alice was walking by Foggy Nelson, giving him an appreciative smile.
"Thank you so much Mister Nelson," Alice said in her quiet little voice. Devin watched how he reacted closely, something in her melting at the small smile he sent towards her mother. "And forgive my daughter," Alice added, not hearing the little laugh Devin let out at the statement. "I'll be outside, Sierra," she mentioned offhandedly, walking out of the small office. Devin could hear the door to Nelson and Murdock law offices and saw the small smirk Foggy Nelson was giving her.
"Sierra?" he questioned, the beginnings of a laugh on his lips.
Devin rolled her eyes. "My father thought they were having a boy and any argument my mother made was useless. She calls me by my middle name to spite him." She could see his partner on the other side of the office, with a fancy machine she wasn't quite sure the function of was. "Look, give me a price estimate and I'll handle the cost. I don't want her to have to pay a penny." The implied "this is my fault anyway" wasn't lost on Foggy Nelson, who gave her a grim smile and nodded his understanding. "Also... sorry, I guess," she mumbled bitterly. She hated apologizing. It was one of the more annoying traits she had gotten form her father. Her mother had used to say Oscar Hayward was stubborn as a mule, and Devin was three times more stubborn that that. She held out her hand to shake his, and his hand enveloped her own, his handshake less firm that hers but still respectable. Another thing her father had taught her to look out for, she supposed.
Devin stepped out of the cramped office and back into the main room. Murdock was still there, innocently pressing buttons on the machine. Devin noticed the small raised dots on each of the buttons and assumed they were Braille. "Mister Murdock," she said, watching as he turned and faced her general direction, his cane somewhere behind him. She closed the distance between them and didn't bother to hold out her hand unless he did. "Thank you for helping my mother with this." He simply nodded at her, his gaze burning through her from behind the red-tinted glasses. She wondered how it was at all possible to feel so exposed to a man who couldn't see. "I told your partner to get back to me with a price estimate. For now, should we go ahead and schedule that next appointment?"
He reached for a manila folder sitting next to him and ran his fingers across the page inside. She saw more little Braille dots littering the page, disappearing every time he ran his index finger over a cluster of dots. She'd always found Braille interesting and had even considered teaching herself how to read it when she was younger. But that had been before her mother had lost her hearing and after that, learning sign language had been a priority for the both of them. In the end, it just made it easier for them to communicate with each other. "How does Wednesday sound? Eleven-thirty?" he suggested. Devin ran the date and time through her head, committing it to memory. It was around the time she usually took her lunch, but if she put in an extra hour at the end of the day, Ellison wouldn't mind her taking a longer lunch than usual. Plus, it was Monday and two days was plenty of notice for Ellison.
"That's perfect." The apology was on the tip of her tongue but for some reason, it wasn't coming out and forming into the words she knew she needed to say. His lips curled up at the corners in an annoying little half-smirk that assured her that he knew she was struggling to follow her mother's request and apologize to him. "I... apologize for my manners. I'm just protective of my mother. I don't want her to have to deal with him any longer because he has some delusions of being a good father." She wasn't sure why that little slip of information had been easier to confess than an apology had been, but she sagged in relief when Matthew Murdock nodded his head in understanding.
"I guess I should apologize as well. I didn't mean to offend you, Ms. Hayward— Devin," he corrected just as she opened her mouth to do it for him. After his apology, the two of them stood awkwardly in silence for a few seconds before the machine behind him beeped out a signal, probably telling him that it was done with whatever it was printing. "I'll see you Wednesday, Devin."
With those words of dismissal, Devin nodded to herself and clicked her way over to the main door of Nelson and Murdock, opening it just in time to see the same blonde woman from earlier carting lunch enough for the three employees. "Oh. Hi again. Thanks," she mentioned when Devin moved out of the way and held the door open. Devin sent her a nod before moving through the open door and listening to it close behind her. Once the door was closed and she was sure none of them could hear her, she let out a deep sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose.
She hated that in her mind, this was her fault. Logically, she knew it was her father's actions were no one's but his own, but if she hadn't gotten engaged and went around letting the Bulletin print an engagement announcement, none of this would have happened. Her mother wouldn't have to be filing for a restraining order and Devin wouldn't have to be reminded of an engagement that ended in the same fashion her parents' marriage had. Her heels clicked along the floor of the building as she made her way outside, thinking about how different her life would have been if she hadn't found out Warren had been sleeping with his secretary a month before what was supposed to be their wedding. But that had been her fault too, she reminded herself. Late nights at the Bulletin and not paying attention when she should have. She wasn't under any false illusions that she was a great fiancée, but she hadn't thought she'd deserved that kind of ending to a relationship.
It hadn't saddened her so much as made her angry. But not at Warren. He didn't deserve a sliver of her anger. No, she had been furious with herself. She'd been furious with her job, furious with her choice in boyfriend, and furious that the semi-perfect little world she'd constructed for herself after her parents' divorce had come crashing down. After Devin was supposed to be composed and stylish and have her life together. Instead she was writing about things that had no importance to her, single because she'd been cheated on in the most cliché of ways and had to deal with her father after promising herself she'd never give him the light of day.
"I know that thinking face," her mother said when Devin made it outside, readjusting the strap on her shoulder from her purse. Devin signed out a quick "what face" before pointing her finger at the deli across the street. She knew they had shitty coffee, but her mother wasn't picky with her coffee and Devin wasn't picky with coffee that didn't cost much. Together they walked across the street and Alice told Devin her order while she went to go find seats. The deli wasn't busy, just a couple of couples loitering at tables and two guys with laptops in front of them, whispering back and forth between each other.
"Regular black coffee and regular peach iced tea," Devin ordered, slapping down a five on the counter and giving the barista the politest smile she could muster. It didn't take them long to make the drinks, handing them back to Devin so she could go to the bar and spice up her coffee how she liked to drink it. Her hands mechanically grabbed the sugar and creamer, pouring them into her coffee and mixing the liquids together with a stirring stick. As she stirred and readied another packet of sugar to put into her mother's iced tea, she heard the two guys with the laptops mumbling something.
"Closes at five... we've gotta be there by midnight at the latest... fortieth and eighth... Hell's Kitchen official bank."
Devin didn't turn to face the men, but her eyes widened as she stirred in the sugar packet. She wasn't stupid. It sounded like they were plotting some sort of bank robbery. Why they were stupid enough to talk about it in a crowded place like the deli on forty-ninth and tenth, she didn't know. But she didn't care. Because while they spoke, she saw a chance. She knew she should be a good citizen and call the police, but that little stab of selfishness hit her in the gut.
The Devil of Hell's Kitchen wasn't a secret anymore. He was Hell's Kitchen resident vigilante, fighting whom he declared as evil and making sure they ended up in jail. He had taken their small little corner of New York by storm. There wasn't any news outlet that hadn't tried to get decent reports about him and try and crack the mystery of his secret identity. A journalist's wet dream, basically.
Devin's big break.
These amateur bank robbers were going to lead Devin straight to Daredevil. She knew he'd find them and show up to foil their plans like a cheesy superhero from the television shows Devin had watched as a child when she believed heroes to be real. They'd help her get out of writing about home improvement and into writing what she really wanted to cover, the gritty crime of New York and the vigilante determined to right the wrongs. She'd dreamed about this moment ever since her father had walked out of them (granted, she didn't dream about a group of bank robbers, but she was taking whatever chance she had been given and grabbing it with both hands), ever since she determined that she was going to make something of herself without her father's help.
"Sierra," her mother called. It was more of a whisper-shout, but Devin was so attuned to the low register of her voice that she heard it from her place at the bar. She capped her mother's drink and made her way over to their table, by the window like her mother always liked to be. "Thank you, baby," Alice said when Devin set her iced tea in front of her. Then, Alice smiled. "Remember when I tried to make homemade peach tea?"
Devin let the smile slip onto her face. "It was awful," she signed, laughing when her mother started to. "Too bitter and too strong." But it had been fun, making the tea with her mother. She remembered that day all too well, sitting at the table in their new shitty apartment and Alice suddenly standing. It was back when she still had only twenty percent hearing loss and Devin had simply had to raise the volume of her voice for her mother to hear. Devin hadn't known how to make tea, so she'd simply propped herself up on the counter and watched her mother go through the motions, all too happy to be the taste tester. They laughed when they made it and cried when it turned out awful. Devin hadn't pinpointed it at that moment, but they had been happy tears because even if the tea was shitty, they had done something together, just the two of them and without Oscar Hayward holding their hands. It was at that moment that Devin knew she and her mother were going to be fine.
"It was fun," her mother corrected, smiling as she sipped her tea. "And you laughed so much." Alice reached over and set her hand on Devin's cheek again, this time letting it linger there. A small crease formed between her eyebrows as she stared at her daughter. "I haven't heard that laugh in a while. No pun intended." Devin rolled her eyes at the attempted joke before Alice sighed. "I just want my baby to be happy."
Devin reached up and pulled her mother's hand away from her face, holding it in her fingers and gripping it to reassure Devin that her mother was here and happy. "I am happy, Mom," she said out loud this time, making sure to mouth the words carefully so her mother could read her lips. Then, she pulled her hands away and signed, "here with you."
"I'm not going to be around forever," Alice said, and Devin looked at her with alarm. "I want to make sure you have someone around. Jasmine doesn't count," she interjected before Devin could refute her. "You haven't seen her since college and talk to her twice a month. I'm talking about someone you can really depend on."
"I can depend on Jasmine," Devin signed out with a small laugh. That wasn't what her mother wanted to hear and she knew it. She wanted someone that fit into the category Warren used to. She wanted Devin to have a boyfriend she could dump her feelings on so she wasn't bottling them up in her self-prescribed solitude. "I don't need to depend on anyone except you," Devin signed, watching her mother roll her eyes but smile all the same.
"And you always can," Alice replied. "But you rarely do. I guess I just want to know you have someone to lean on if I ever can't be there."
It was that statement, that stupid statement, that was replaying in her head hours later when she was back at her own apartment. In her excitement (she really shouldn't have been excited about a bank robbery), she had already stripped out of the uncomfortable pencil skirt and dark blouse to trade them in for dark black leggings and a dark black sweatshirt. But her mind was stuck on that stupid phrase. It was only half-past eight according to Devin's dim cell phone clock, three and a half hours from midnight and when her life was going to change for the better. She'd prove to Ellison that she could do the hardcore crime articles with hard evidence and cold facts. She took another glance at her phone. Eight thirty-four. Shit.
Somewhere, deep deep deep down, she knew this was a terrible idea. She was only counting on Daredevil to show up. She had no idea if he'd actually be there or not. Maybe there was a more important murder that was going to happen at the same time and she would be stuck the lone witness of a bank robbery. But God, she had to try. The Devin she wanted to be was supposed to be fearless and intelligent and get away with plans like the ones circulating throughout her head at that very moment. But her hands were shaking and she was starting to let the doubt seep in. What if he didn't show up? She'd be dead within seconds.
It was a life-endangering game of risk and reward. She could risk everything and she'd either end up six feet under or finally doing what she'd been wanting to do since she was little.
Determinedly, Devin shoved her feet into black sneakers and sat back down on the couch, ready to play the waiting game. She checked her phone clock again. Eight forty-five.
Figuring she had more than enough time to let her mind wander, her thoughts drifted back to her mother and father. She'd wanted the bastard out of their lives since he'd shown up at the Bulletin and demanded Ellison to see his daughter. It had been a messy display of Devin all but pushing him out of the office and slamming the door in his face, only reopening it when she was sure he'd left. That had gotten her caught between a rock and a hard place with Ellison. Either she could talk to her father and make sure he knew it was unacceptable to show up at her work and demand to see her, or she could ignore him and he'd continue to show up and embarrass her in front of her coworkers, undermining her professionalism in Ellison's eyes. That hadn't been the last straw. The last straw was when he thought he was actually entitled enough to storm into her mother's new apartment complex and try to get to Devin through his disabled ex-wife. She'd never seen red like she had in that moment, when everything was shaded in muted flames of anger and she had half a mind to break her father's nose in.
He'd never bother Alice again. He could bother Devin until he wore her down, until she was so sick and tired of refusing him that she just let him in, but Devin forbid herself to let him do the same to her mother. Not when he'd already taken so much of her and crushed it under his palms.
Nelson and Murdock had better make sure that temporary restraining order became permanent. Devin stood from her couch, grabbing a beer from her fridge and hitting the cap against the corner of her counter to pop it off. She took a swig from the bottle, holding it by the neck when she returned to the couch. Her entire body felt like it was electrocuted, nerves all lit up and thrumming with energy. She was antsy, tapping her fingers on her knee and fidgeting with a loose thread on her leggings. She was nervous, about the restraining order, about what she was stupidly about to go do, about everything. She took another drink of her beer and rubber her temple with the hands that weren't occupied by the bottle. Another glance at her phone. Nine eleven. Her knee bounced up and down as she reached for the remote, turning on the television and hoping to silence the thoughts in her head screaming at her to call the police and forget this stupid plan.
"The country is in shock and denial concerning the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the leaked information about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s evil counterpart, HYDRA, who have been infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D. since the Second World War; the war, in which Captain America defeated Johann Schmidt." The news popped up on her screen. The fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't exactly new news. It had been a full year since the fall and three since the Battle of New York. Still, Devin was mesmerized by the news reporter, eyes drinking in every detail of the screen. "However, many have considered this time period after the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. as a time of HYDRA Uprising, with many agents of HYDRA still in hiding or on the run. This news is critical as The Avengers fight overseas in Sokovia in what will be a battle for the history books. More information about the Battle of Sokovia can be found on our website."
Devin watched more of the news, taking sips from her beer bottle as the night dwindled down and stretched on to the midnight hour. When she checked her phone the next time, she was happy to see that more time had passed when she was watching television than she'd thought. The dim numbers on her phone read 11:22 when she looked down. It was about a ten minute walk to the bank from her apartment, and she wanted to make sure she had enough time to scope out the area and find a good enough hiding spot the ensured she would remain hidden but also be able to get a clear shot of Daredevil when he came to stop the robbers. Grabbing her keys, phone, and digital recorder, she turned the lights off and left the television on so the apartment wouldn't be completely pitch black when she got back home. She flipped her hood on over her hair and walked through the hallway of her apartment complex, bypassing the elevator and moving directly towards the stairs to make as little noise as possible. Her feet padded on the stairs lightly as she moved down the three flights, pushing open the door of the lobby as quietly as she could manage.
The New York night was cool on her skin, her breath coming out in little puffs of condensation when she breathed out of her mouth. Her heart was screaming at her to turn back, to return to her living room and just forget about the task she'd given herself. It was her head that was pushing her feet, thinking of the possibilities. She'd risk everything and get the reward. She was determined to see this through.
"Dear God, I hope you aren't taking a break from vigilantism tonight," she said, a silent prayer to Daredevil wherever he was in Hell's Kitchen. Her feet carried her through alleyways and down streets until she was standing at fortieth and eighth, eyes trained on the bank. It didn't look like it was about to be the victim of a robbery, but when Devin saw the glint of silver from someone's bumper, she hid behind the nearest building she could and watched from the shadows. There were four men that piled out of the car, large duffel bags in their hands for what Devin assumed the money would go into once they actually managed to get into the bank. "Please show up," she mumbled under her breath before she was trying to silently move closer, staying in the shadows so she wouldn't be seen. Devin reached her hand in her sweatshirt pocket and clicked the little button on the recorder she had hidden in there. She didn't dare say anything, however. She just continued to scoot closer and closer, hidden by darkness.
"In and out, Keats," one of the men said. They were all pretty similar in size and stature except for the one who had spoken. He was smaller in terms of height but looked like the strongest of the group, muscles straining against the black hoodie he donned. "You fuck around and get us caught, that's on you. No flair for dramatics tonight." Devin watched as the man she assumed to be Keats nodded his head at the man's demands. "Now give us the play by play."
This was apparently Keats's time to shine. He pulled out his phone and read something on it. "Layout's the same as Atlantic for the most part. Grab as much as you can, don't be stupid about it. I'll be out here waiting in the car. With the alarm system this place has, I'd say you have approximately three minutes before police start coming, which means you've got four minutes to get the job done. If you aren't back out here in four minutes, I'm leaving your ass here."
One of the men pulled out cutters that looked big enough and strong enough to cut through the chains locking the doors of the bank together. She gulped, thinking about how easily it would be to stab those cutters through someone's abdomen. For a split second, she turned her feet and started to tell herself to run away and not look back, but she forced her soles back into place and made herself stand her ground. Risk and reward, she reminded herself. If she pulled this off, it would be worth it.
Though, she'd be a lot more assured if Daredevil would get his ass away from whatever he was doing and get there. Where the hell was he?
The men sprang into action then, three of them making their way up the stairs of the bank in a silence Devin had never been able to master. The one with the cutters looked around behind him three times just to be safe before he sliced through the chains on the doors as if they were a piece of cheese. Then, the shortest of the group looked around once more before opening the door. Devin could hear the shrill shriek of the alarm from where she stood. Her hand shot for her recorder, bringing it up to her mouth as she watched the bank light up red from the flash of the alarm system.
A mistake that she hadn't known she'd made until it was too late.
"Four men, all around six feet tall except for a man about five foot two. One identified, but only by what must be a last name or nickname. Keats. Hell's Kitchen Bank. Daredevil isn't here yet." She took her finger off the button briefly and hissed out, "Jesus, why isn't he here" before returning to the recorder when she heard police sirens start up. "Police sirens starting at approximately twelve-ten, estimated arrival twelve-fourteen. Still no sign of Daredevil." Devin struggled to put her recorder back in her sweatshirt pocket, eyes trained not on the bank but on the vehicle and man parked outside the bank.
Only, he wasn't there anymore.
Then, she heard it. More so, she felt it, pressed against the back of her head and as cold as every soap opera or crime show she'd watched had made it seem. "Hands up, lady," she heard from behind her. She heard it again when it made the distinct clicking sound, letting her know that this was serious and there was a one hundred percent chance she was going to die outside of Hell's Kitchen's Bank. She tried to be brave, standing there with a gun pressed against the back of her head, but her breath was getting shorter and shallower and her hands were shaking. "Don't make me say it again," the voice ordered, and Devin jumped at the closeness of it, slowly raising her hands above her head as her heartbeat sped up in her chest, so fast that she thought it was going to pop out of her chest and start running away. "Now you're gonna answer some questions for me, and if you don't respond, there'll be a bullet in your head faster than you can blink." She could hear the police sirens in the distance, but she knew that if she didn't follow orders, she'd been dead well before they arrived.
Devin Hayward's life was most certainly a goddamn mess. And it was most certainly about to end.