Hello! I've fallen in love with the Daredevil show and the possibilities it opens as being a part of the Marvel Universe. This is the first chapter of an ongoing story I have in my head. It falls kinda in line with the TV show but is also mixed with the comics, other Marvel Universe characters and my own crazy imagination! I'm not sure how often I'll update but thank you in advance for reading!

Matt heard the sound of the disturbance from 3 blocks away. It was late and he was on his way home across the rooftops. Ready for a long hot shower and his silken bed sheets. His left side throbbed with a dull ache from where the mugger landed a lucky strike when Matt had been distracted by the screams of his victim. Matt had thanked him graciously for the cracked rib by giving him several of his own along with a broken nose and two black eyes. At least he wouldn't need sewing up tonight.

He cocked his head slightly to the right, honing in on what he had heard. Focusing, breathing, listening.

Then he was running. Sprinting across the rooftops and leaping, ricocheting down the fire escape. There was a fast, too fast, sweet fluttering heartbeat in the middle of that fight. A child. A young, frightened child who smelt of ice cream and fear.

The woman stood defiantly, one arm pushing the child behind her and the other, fist clenched, in a defensive position across her body. Her stance was fierce and protective but she was backed into a corner and she knew it. This alley way was a dead end. She could vault the chain link fence behind her easily but the child on the other hand… Even if she picked her up it would take several seconds too long to get up onto the dumpster and over the fence that way. At least one of the two men had a knife in his boot. The other stank of gun oil, his gun hidden in the small of his back. Shit. She hadn't expected to be drawn into a fight this evening and was cursing the two men in front of her in every language she knew, "くたばれ!"(Kutabare! Go to hell! Drop dead!). Her eyes were a stormy grey, flecked with scar tissue and although apparently unseeing they seemed oddly fixated upon the two, tracking from one to the other as they advanced. The small girl hiding behind her had the beginnings of a black eye. Her red hair was a mess and her pale pink shirt was torn. It didn't take a genius to figure out what their intentions had been before she stepped in. Asha always found herself stepping in. The girl whimpered and Asha could feel the fear coming off her in cold, sickening waves.

"Told ya you shouldn'ta got involved, bitch!" one snarled in a heavy American accent.

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Asha retorted, flicking her black bangs out her face. Her own accent was soft and lilted, not native to the American shores but from one much further east.

"Oh, I'll show you what I do with mah mouth. And what Ima gonna do with yours and the gurls!"

"Take one step closer and I swear that you will be eating through a straw for a month!" One thing anyone that knew Asha could tell you was that if she made a promise, she would keep it. For better or worse. It was a trait she gladly inherited from her parents.

"Enougha this shit."

Both men moved forwards. Asha stepped up to meet them whilst pushing the girl back. The youngster scrambled backwards, the only way she could go and squeezed herself down the back of a stinking dumpster, crushed up against a chain link fence. She put her hands over her ears and closed her eyes tight.

Ashas gaze dropped slightly down and to the right at the sound of metal on concrete. A broken chair was discarded in the alley way, it's legs bent out of shape. One had snapped clean off, leaving a sharp sheared edge. One of the morons had kicked it towards her as they advanced. She flipped it under her booted left foot and kicked it into her waiting right hand before swinging it to crack across the closest attackers head. It made contact with his right cheekbone and eye socket with such force that he was sent on a collision course with his comrade who stumbled but kept coming whilst his wounded friend met the damp alleyway floor face first with a dull thud and what sounded to Asha like meat grinding in a butchers shop. His cheekbone was definitely broken now. The one still on his feet roared angrily and swung a right hook towards her head. She lifted the metal chair leg to meet his wrist with a bone shaking pang as he howled in pain before jabbing her left hand out under her own raised right arm to wind him with a palm thrust to his rib cage. Asha heard at least two rib bones splinter. He stumbled backwards with a winded grunt just as his friend picked himself up off the floor and made for the knife in his boot. He never reached it as the metal chair leg whistled through the air and the sharp metal end from where it had been sheared off from the frame impaled his hand. He screamed before a round house kick to the face rendered him silent and unconscious. Picking herself up quickly Asha searched the alley way for the man whose wrist she had just fractured. Her eyes flitted blankly across the alley as she breathed deeply through her nose before zoning in on the direction of the dumpster the girl had hidden behind, focusing in on the throbbing red aura. Her expression remained neutral as she heard the sound of a gun barrel being cocked.

"I'll shoot her. I swear to God. Like fish in a barrel. I'll do it!"

The young girl whimpered and the chain link fence clinked as she tried to curl up into an even tighter ball. The fear was rolling off her now and Asha had to concentrate to stop it flooding over her.

Asha licked her lips slowly. She wished she hadn't. The taste of gun oil was rancid. Not to mention the dumpster. Her expression remained neutral as the man continued to speak.

"Now I'm gonna take the girl, an-"

"No. You're not." Asha cut him off.

The safety was clicked off. His hand wobbled slightly. He was a righty, and his wrist was indeed badly fractured.

"Bitch, I'm not playing!"

"Neither am I. You either put that gun in the dumpster and pick up your friend here to crawl back into whatever hole you came out of, OR I will put your gun in that dumpster and like I said before, you'll be eating out of a straw for a month."

"What th'fuck are you gonna do? Huh? Ain't no one can dodge a bullet!" He turned his attention back to the girl, trying to reach around the back of the dumpster for her with his good hand, "Come 'ere you little brat!"

"No! No, no! Get off me! NO! Mommy! Daddy!"

The assailant was briefly aware of the sound of rushing air as something came hurtling at him. He turned, too late to react as what was left of the chair, besides the leg impaled on his friend, hurtled towards him and smacked him in the face. He rocked backwards, dropping his gun and setting of the chain link fence with its clinks and tinkles. They vibrated through the floor to Asha who was already moving forwards, scooping low to pick up the discarded gun, clicking the ammo pack out of the chamber as she spun to gain momentum before flinging it like a dart at the attackers forehead. It struck him straight between the eyes, breaking his nose. The guy groaned as both hands flew to his face but Asha had a promise to keep. She flung the gun into the dumpster with a metallic clang and connected her fist with his face, grabbing a hold of his shirt with her spare hand. The first punch staggered him. The second one broke a tooth. The third dislodged said tooth and it was swallowed in a gargled mouthful of blood. The fourth punch sent him down to the floor. His ears were ringing and vision blurred. The fifth punch fractured his jaw, the sixth one broke it. The seventh one knocked him out.

Asha was panting. There was blood on her fists and a small spattering on one her cheek. She wiped it off on the back of her already bloody hand. Taking the perpetrators shirt, she wiped the blood off onto his clothes before getting up, dusting herself down and turning towards the dumpster. Her head was cocked to the side before she took a few steps forward and bobbed down, holding out her left hand. She could hear the girl hold her breath, heart thumping hard in her chest.

"You can come out now. I'm sorry I pushed you," Asha said gently.

The young girl was trembling, "I want my mommy and daddy."

"I know you do honey, and we'll find them. You gotta come out now though okay? We need to get away from these bad people."

"Did the Devil come?" Sammy asked quietly.

Asha paused as her eyes flicked skywards briefly, "Yes, but he's gone now," a necessary lie, "Come on," she wiggled her fingers encouragingly.

Slowly, painfully slowly, the girl inched forwards towards Ashas outstretched hand. Her tiny fingers latched onto hers. She was so young. Asha cursed the two unconscious men behind her. If there wasn't a young child present Asha had half a mind to castrate them. Perhaps she would come back and see if they were still here and do it later.

"What's your name?" she asked the girl, helping her out from behind the dumpster and picking her up. The small child settled quickly on her hip.

"Sammy," came the quiet reply as the girl ran her fingers through Asha's bangs, "what's yours?"

"Oh, no one important," Asha smiled, "You can call me A. Let's find your parents shall we?"

Carefully, Asha picked her way out of the alley way and back out into the street. She had only walked about half a block when the noise on the street started to become overwhelming. Her brow furrowed as she took deep breath, past the sirens, past the smell of the streets, focusing on the distraught couple in front of her currently giving a statement to a police officer. They shone through the grubby haze of the street, a tangled mesh of panic and anxiety.

"Mommy!" Sammy cried, wriggling out of Ashas arms, "Daddy!"

Asha let the girl slip through her grasp. She was burning brightly. The glow of happiness and relief. The gift of youth, to forget the trauma so easily in the face of love. Her parents turned at the sound of her voice. Her name bursting through their sobs, etched with relief, pure and utter relief. Asha smiled quietly to herself. Sammy was scooped up into her parents embrace as they collapsed on the pavement together, a family reunited. One conjoined ball of energy and singing synapses. Asha allowed herself to bask in its glow briefly before her attention was caught by the police officer watching her closely. This night looked like it was about to get that little bit longer.

Daredevil remained crouched up on the rooftop above the alley as he watched the woman and girl leave. The womans heart rate was steady. She wasn't lying about finding the girls parents. The girl was unhurt save for the slight black eye she would have. The two men would live, although the one collapsed by the dumpster would indeed spend a considerable time eating through a straw and his friend would need surgery to fix his hand. Daredevil rolled his shoulders and breathed deeply, focusing on the woman, "A". Her heart had remained steady throughout the fight, nothing outside of what he expected of himself, but for a civilian? She moved quickly, efficiently. Probably trained in a martial art. It was the lying that had made him question. She had sworn in Japanese plus at least 3 other languages that Matt could make out. She smelt... She smelt intoxicating. Even now that she had left he could still smell her down the block as she gave her statement to the police officer. It wasn't that her smell was overpowering, it was subtle. Warm, with spices and an underlying note of vanilla. He gave a brief smile. The girl was back with her parents, they were talking, asking her if she was okay. So full of love and concern. Matt lost himself in their reunion momentarily. His head twitched and jaw strained as he heard footsteps approaching. Two people. The woman and... the police officer. He smelt of leather and sweat with a tang of cologne. He was new, his heart beat slightly erratic. This was his first time dealing with a missing child.

"Here officer, these are the men who took the girl."

She was impatient to leave. The knuckles on her right hand were swollen from punching the criminal. She was tired. And... she was hungry. Daredevil couldn't help but smirk as he heard her stomach rumble quietly.

"Did they hurt you m'am?" the officer asked, reaching for his radio.

"No."

Daredevil paid closer attention. He listened carefully for her heart beat, focusing in on her as the rest of the world was drowned out by the steady beat.

"The Devil of Hell's Kitchen, he protected me. Protected the girl."

BA-DUM... BA-DUM... BA-DUM...

Daredevil frowned. He knew she was lying but... no wait. There it was. It was slight, so slight that he almost missed it but in the few seconds the police officer waited to respond there was a small uncertain stutter in her heart beat.

"Samantha said that you helped get her away from the attackers?"

The woman did not appreciate the questioning. It was clear to Matt that she wanted to get home, wherever that was.

"I hid the girl behind the dumpster. When I turned around he'd turned up and was dealing with them. Then he left."

More lies... Only a small fluctuation.

The police officer nodded and began the process of calling it in over the radio, "You're free to go m'am. I've got your statement If we have any further questions we'll be in touch."

"Thank you."

And she was gone. Daredevil stuck around long enough to ensure that the police officer got the back up he needed and watched the two criminals be loaded up into ambulances. Taken off to the ER. Now it really was late. He needed to get home. But this woman. She intrigued him. Who was she? And why did she lie about who helped the girl? He stood up slowly and focused in on her as best he could. To his surprise he couldn't detect her anywhere nearby. She was obviously in a hurry to be home.

Home.

That was where he wanted to be right now.

Making a mental note that this might warrant further investigation Matt vaulted back up the fire escape and across the skyline of Hell's Kitchen in the direction of home.

Thank you so much for reading! Please leave me a review with your comments and I'll see you again soon for the next installment!