I do not own anything from the MCU.
"Sometimes you never get started
No one will give you a wake up call
Sometimes the hours are wasted
No one will give you a wake up call."
—Wake Up Call by Nothing But Thieves
Matt Murdock knew his new neighbor was lying.
Her name was Rose Murphy, and even that was a lie. Her heart sped up like everyone else when they lied, but the increase with her was minute, and he had to really listen to even notice it.
He and Foggy met her when they were in their last year of law school, and she was just starting her first year of college, going after a Bachelor's in education. When Foggy asked her why she was starting out so late (she was only a year or two younger than them, and they had already gone through college and law school), she said she used to be in the military. Another lie.
The only things Rose didn't lie about, Matt noticed, were that she did really need hearing aids after an explosion (she was lying about it happening in Afghanistan, though), that her son, Spencer, was adopted after his parents passed away during the battle of New York, and that she loved Spencer more than anything. Other than those simple facts, he knew nothing about Rose Murphy, and that irritated him. Because, that made him wonder—what exactly was she hiding, and why?
He shook it off, knowing that if she was doing something illegal, he'd know. She lived right next to him, after all. He heard everything that went on there. He could hear her telling Spencer good night, and that she might be working a little late that night, but that she'd try to get off early, and if she couldn't, that Spencer was to go and stay with Mrs. Greene who lived on the floor below.
But that night, Matt found out more about Rose than he ever thought he would.
It was late, and he was coming back from his new nightly duties. He couldn't see the extent of his injuries, but he could tell he had been whaled on pretty bad. Luckily, there was nothing on his face, so it would be easy to hide it from Foggy. He was slipping into his bed, when he heard knocking on Rose's apartment door, followed by her shooting straight up in bed, her heart beating wildly.
"Shit," she muttered. Then, something clicking sharply could be heard. With a start, Matt realized Rose was cocking a gun.
"Long time no see," A man's voice said when the door was swung open. Matt could hear the smile in his voice.
Something rustled; Rose let the arm holding the gun fall to her side, and her heart began to beat faster out of shock. "No," she murmured. She took a few steps back, shaking her head wildly. "You—you were dead. I saw you die; I, I went to your funeral!" She kept her voice quiet despite her anger and surprise. Likely to keep Spencer from waking up.
"Hey, hey," the man said, and the rustling of fabric told Matt he was holding out his hands in front of him. "Agent Ha—"
"No," Rose said sharply, "don't call me that. My name is Rose Murphy now, and I'd prefer that you use it, Coulson."
Coulson cleared his throat. "Right."
The two stood there awkwardly, until Rose demanded, "How are you even alive, Phil? Why didn't I know about this?"
"Only agents with Level Seven clearance were able to know everything that happened with the Battle of New York," Coulson replied, sighing.
"I was Level Eight," Rose said, bitterly. "Same as you were."
Coulson sighed again. "I know. Fury decided that it would be best if you didn't know for a while. We were planning on telling you, but..."
"But SHIELD fell, I ditched, and now I live a happy, secret spy-free life," Rose finished with mock cheerfulness. She began to shut the door. "Good morning, Agent Coulson."
Matt could hear a thud, the sound of wood hitting leather. Coulson had stuck his shoe in the way of the closing door, keeping it open just a fraction. "Pi—Rose. please." He sounded desperate.
Gritting her teeth, Rose swung the door back open. "You have four and a half minutes," she said. "Make it snappy."
"We need you to come back in," Coulson replied, coming into the apartment.
Rose laughed mirthlessly. "Are you kidding me?" She demanded. "I'm out, Phil! I've got Spencer to take care of, I've got a job—one that I can actually talk about with other people—and I've actually gone to college! I'm gonna be a teacher. Besides, I thought SHIELD was gone after Agent Romanoff exposed all the files and Captain Rogers sent the Helicarriers crashing."
Matt faintly recalled something like that being on the news a while back. SHIELD had been corrupted by terrorists, and Captain America and Black Widow brought down both organizations.
"We've rebuilt SHIELD," Coulson replied. "I'm the Director now. We're trying to recruit people. Please, Rose."
"Jesus Christ," Rose ran her hands through her hair, pacing a little. "Phil, I can't," she said quietly, her voice empty.
Phil sighed, as if he knew she would say that. "Fine. Just, hold onto this, will you?" He handed her a small metallic object.
"What is it?" Rose asked, turning it in her hands.
"It'll alert you if there's a code red," Phil replied. "If we really, truly need you."
Rose nodded once. "Okay," she said. There was fabric rustling, and Matt assumed she put it in her pocket. "Is that all?"
"We could at least use some help with the things going on here," Phil replied slowly.
Rose sounded as shocked as Matt felt. "Is Hydra in Hell's Kitchen?" She demanded. Matt sat up, silently wondering the same thing.
"Not Hydra," Phil shook his head. "Haven't you noticed yet, Rose? The crime here is getting worse, and you and I both know something's not right. Here," he dug out some papers from what Matt assumed was Coulson's briefcase. "These are copies of the files of everything we have about the crime going on in Hell's Kitchen. Maybe you can figure out something we can't."
"You know how illegal this is?" Rose asked, taking the files. Her heart began to speed up. "Holy shit, Phil! These are, what, Level Ten?"
"Actually, it's Level Omega," Phil replied wryly. "But I've been considering doing away with the number system anyway."
Rose cleared her throat. "Yeah, you, uh, you do that," she murmured, distracted. She was studying the files, probably. "Jesus, Phil, this is so illegal. If someone catches me with these—"
Phil cut her off with a small chuckle. "I think the only person who would even stand a chance of catching you would be that masked guy I've been hearing about recently."
Matt stiffened. How had this man heard about him? He wasn't even on the news yet. Perhaps SHIELD knew more than he anticipated. This wasn't good, but if he could get his hands on those files, maybe some good could come out of this situation.
"Who now?" Rose asked skeptically. "That vigilante dude? I've heard a little bit about him, but I'm willing to bet you guys already know who he is." She laughed a little, but stopped when Phil didn't laugh with her. "Oh, my God, you do, don't you?"
Matt was out of bed now, pacing, and listening intensely to the conversation, no longer feeling guilty now that they were talking about him.
In Rose's apartment, Phil sighed. "Of course we do, Rose. It's our job to know stuff."
"Who is he?" Rose asked, before shaking her head. "No, don't tell me. The less secret identities I know, the better." She lifted her arm, looking down at something. "Shit, it's two in the friggin' morning! Why couldn't you come in the daytime, like a normal human being?"
Coulson laughed. "We both know that neither of us do 'normal.'"
Pippa laughed with him. "Yeah, yeah. See you later Phil."
The door opened, the man walked out, and the door shut. That was that.
The next day, Matt was on edge. SHIELD knew who he was, what he did. How should he deal with that? Should he confront someone? Rose, perhaps? But, she didn't know who he was. Just SHIELD. He left his apartment that morning, his mind full of unanswered questions.
"'Scuse me," A man said, brushing past Matt, who froze on the spot, nearly dropping his cane.
"You," He said without realizing, turning towards the man. Towards Phil Coulson of SHIELD.
Phil stopped walking. "Me," he agreed. "Can I help you, Mr. Murdock?"
Matt clenched his jaw. "Can we talk about this... privately?" He asked.
"Sure," Phil shrugged. "Wherever you'd like."
Saying nothing, Matt nodded shortly and walked off, assuming Phil would follow as he tapped his cane on the sidewalk with barely contained anger. This man knew who he was, and he had the gal to act so... so calm about this all. It made him frustrated, and incredibly irritated.
"Alright," Phil said once they reached a stop. "I assume you have questions?"
Matt snorted. "Yeah. How the hell do you know who I am?"
"It's SHIELD's business to know, Mr. Murdock," Phil replied coolly. "Especially due to your... nightly activities."
"Why haven't you tried anything?" Matt demanded, clenching his cane so tightly his knuckles were about to split.
Phil shrugged again. "You haven't done anything that requires our intervention," he answered. "If we came after every vigilante out there, we'd never stop arresting people."
Matt nodded shortly. "And Rose?"
"What about her?" Phil asked, but something in his tone told Matt that he already knew what he meant.
"Last night," Matt continued, "You almost called her something else, but she said that her new name was Rose Murphy. That's not even her real name?"
Phil shook his head. "It's Pippa Rose Hart, and she's not who you think she is."
Matt said nothing for a moment. "Who is she really?"
"She was an experiment for a Neo-Nazi group called Hydra," Phil responded, his voice somewhat tight. "They wanted to turn her into the perfect weapon, and they nearly succeeded. She defected, and we recruited her to SHIELD, gave her the codename Ghost."
Matt cocked his head to the side. "Why Ghost?"
"She can become anyone and disappear before you ever knew she was there," he said. "You don't catch her unless she wants to be found." He turned to Matt, seeming to stare into his soul. "So, Mr. Murdock, that begs the question: what exactly is your plan?"
Matt furrowed his eyebrows. "Pardon?"
Chuckling, Phil responded, "I know you heard me last night. You know about the files. And if I know anything, you're going to want those files. Am I wrong?" He turned on his heel and walked away. "I hope we meet again, Mr. Murdock."
Clenching his jaw, Matt didn't say anything. Phil was right. He wanted those files, and he needed a plan. Fast.
A/N
Wow, do you hate me? Because I do. I wish I could stick with the stories I've got, but this idea has been bugging me for a few weeks now, so I just had to write it! I'm sorry!
I'll try to update this regularly, but no promises!
If you have any criticism or ideas, feel free to let me know! Also, if you liked this chapter, be sure to follow, favorite, and/or review!
Love,
Nell