A/N: After *finally* getting around to watching Marvel's Daredevil on Netflix, it inspired this glorious little piece of crazy. In 'homage' to Netflix's style of dropping an entire season at once, this story has been posted in its entirety. Have fun binge-reading!

"Watchmen" is dedicated to the awesome FDWojo, who is in the process of creating cover images not just for this story, but for "Age of Miracles" and my shiny new profile pic. We originally started talking after he expressed his disappointment that there wasn't nearly enough Beckett in "Age of Miracles". He was right - in a story that big it's really hard to give anyone more than a moment or two in the sun. Combine that comment with a giant binge-watch of Daredevil...

Universe context: This story is, technically, post-"Age of Miracles", although (obviously) you don't need to know what happens in that story to enjoy this one. By now, most of you are probably well aware that the "Guardians" universe is a massively multi-verse AU crossover that includes Castle, Forever, Sentinel, and most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Avengers, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and now Daredevil. So this story is primarily a Daredevil/Castle/Sentinel crossover, although our other peeps might put in a couple of cameos here and there. It's largely from the Daredevil POV, alhough once Beckett shows up she will be the primary Guardian in the story, I promise. :-)

DISCLAIMER: Since Marvel hasn't sued me off the Internet by now, I'm hoping they haven't noticed, or at least are enjoying what they've read. ;-) I don't own anything else on television either. The Guardian concept and any original characters are mine, though. Please don't use them without my permission. I promise, though, I'll probably give it if you ask nicely!

And now, let the adventure begin...

#

ADA Bai Lu shut down his computer with a weary sigh. Most days, he loved his job. The idea of getting justice for the helpless and putting away the bad guys...it was everything he had ever wanted since he first stood up to the bully that had been tormenting his best friend in the third grade. But the late nights...the long hours...occasionally, the daily grind kept his love for the job at arm's length. Sometimes, he just wanted to go home, crack open a beer, and thank his lucky stars that he had made it through another day.

Unfortunately for Bai Lu, his day was not quite over.

A man stood in the doorway to Bai's office, his muscular bulk blocking most of the light streaming in from the well-lit hallway. "Our Lady has found favor with you," the man spoke in a deep, growling Mandarin. "She has come to request your assistance."

Bai swallowed hard, terrified tremors shooting through his body at the sound of the name he had hoped to never, ever hear again. When he finally found his voice to speak, it was with the greatest of difficulty. "W-w-w-w-wha...what does she wa...want me to do?"

A child emerged from the giant man's shadow and approached Bai's desk. Bai scrambled back from the child almost instinctively, feeling panic to the very core of his being. The child dropped a manila envelope on the desk and returned to the shelter of the larger man's shadow. "What...what the hell is THAT?!" Bai exclaimed, almost screaming.

"A murder charge filing," the man replied. "Everything you need is in the envelope. All you will need to do is sign the forms."

Bai crept back to his desk and reached a trembling hand out to take the envelope. When he flipped through the tops of the papers, Bai discovered that all the paperwork was, indeed, in order. "I-i-i-if thhhhh..this is a m-m-m-m-murder case," Bai stammered, "Then w-w-w-w-where's the body?"

"That is not your concern," the man declared.

"B-b-b-but," Bai protested, feeling a sudden, inexplicable surge of desperate boldness, "without a body it's going to be next to impossible to convince a judge to file charges..."

"Go to Judge Li," the man replied calmly. "He will sign."

His hopes dashed, Bai dropped the envelope back down on his desk. The lawyer, though, couldn't resist asking one last question. "The boy. Who is he?"

"Someone that you never want to see again," said the man, his voice tinged with sadness. "I can promise you that."

Bai slumped down in his chair, his eyes never leaving the file as the man closed the office door behind him.

#

The man turned to the boy as they waited for the building's slow elevator, his voice trembling for the first time that evening. "I-I-I have done as my lady asked," the man begged the boy, "please..."

The boy's head tilted up at an unnatural angle. Tendrils of smoke erupted from the boy's nose and mouth, wrapping around the man's arms, legs, torso and head. The man started to convulse as the smoke closed in around him, eventually pouring into his nose and mouth...

The boy entered the elevator alone.

#

The 15th Precinct was its usual cacophony of angry protests, active conversations, clacking keyboards and shrill phones that seemed to want to jump off the hook at the slightest provocation. Sgt. Brett Mahoney's phone was one of those to ring, and he picked it up on the second ring. "Good morning. 15th Precinct."

"Brett? It's LT at the 12th."

Mahoney smiled for the first time that evening. "Hey, LT. How are things downtown?"

The moment of silence on the other end of the line wiped the smile off of Brett's face. "There's somethin' goin' on down here, man," LT replied. "I'm hopin' you might be able to help me with it."

Mahoney swallowed nervously, not wanting to get involved in another precinct's 'somethin' after everything that had occurred at his own precinct. I swear to God, he thought, if you weren't family... "How can I help?" he asked with a sigh, resigned to his fate.

"We got this blind woman down here they're holdin' on suspicion she killed her husband. She's asked for a lawyer, but the public defender's office ain't pickin' up."

Mahoney looked at his watch. 6 am. "That's not a big surprise, LT. Don't they open at 9?"

"Thing is," LT countered, "they don't have a body yet. Just four witness statments sayin' she confessed."

"Four?" Mahoney exclaimed, eyes widening.

LT nodded, even though his friend couldn't see it. "Something stinks about this'un, Brett, and we *all* feelin' it o'er here. But DA's insistin' they hold her. Then I 'membered about that blind lawyer friend o'yours you was tellin' me about..."

Mahoney sighed, instantly recognizing who LT was talking about. "They're not friends...exactly. But I know who you're talking about and you're right. He can help her. Let me get you their number."

#

"Foggy...Foggy...Foggy..."

Matt Murdock slammed the snooze button on his talking alarm clock before he realized that it was the talking ring of his cell phone that was nagging him to a waking state and not his alarm. His arm flopped around until he found the offending object and put it to his ear. "Please tell me there's a very good reason you're calling me after I've only gotten two hours of sleep."

"And whose fault is that?" Foggy teased back. "I mean come on, it's not like you have a hot girl there, despite all of my wishful thinking..."

A smile crept across Matt's face. "Nice to not wake up to you giving me grief about the mask, for once."

On the other end of the line, Foggy's smile matched his friend's. "Look, you know I'm not a fan of the whole 'Daredevil' thing. And I'm never going to stop worrying about you out there. But if that's really the way you want to spend your evenings, that's your call."

Matt held the phone in front of his 'unseeing' eyes, gawking at the phone in disbelief before returning it back to his ear. "Did you and Karen go out 'drinking the eel' again last night?!"

Foggy chuckled. "Nope. Only had one beer. But when I was sitting at that bar I got to thinking. And as much as I hate to admit it, we would never have gotten Fisk without your 'particular set of skills'. So I've finally given in and decided I'll support you as much as I can possibly stomach it."

The smile on Matt's face grew. "Thanks, Foggy."

"Don't thank me yet," Foggy countered. "I need you to get dressed and get your super-powered ass down to the 12th precinct. Right now."

Matt frowned. "The 12th? That's a little out of the Kitchen, Foggy."

"It's a hot tip from Brett on a potential client," Foggy countered. "Brett recommended us to a friend of his over there. It's a murder case. Brett thinks this could end up big. Real high-profile stuff. The kind of stuff that gets our name in the paper and clients in the door. Clients with actual money."

"So how could we possibly be the right lawyers for the job?" Matt argued skeptically.

"The suspect is a blind woman," Foggy replied emphatically. "She's accused of murdering her husband. Just think about the headlines we could get! 'The blind leading the blind...'"

Matt rolled his eyes. "That's a terrible expression, Foggy. Not to mention wrong. And exploitive."

"Whatever. Just get to the 12th in 30 minutes or less, or I'll find some freaky supervillain to come after you and make you wish I wasn't being nearly so 'supportive'..."

#

Captain Victoria Gates sipped at her coffee, watching the blind woman waiting patiently on the other side of the glass. I've seen cases pushed through on some damn sketchy evidence before, she thought, but this one...something about this whole case is more rotten than last month's fish. She turned away from the box, looking out at the sparsely populated bullpen. Let's see...who can I trust this one to...

The gentle tapping of a bouncing cane caught Gates' attention. Those must be Ms. Wong's lawyers, thought Gates. LT said he was going to call somebody...Something about the young blind man caught her attention. Now why does he look so familiar to me...

Out of the corner of her eye, Gates spotted an old copy of the New York Bulletin. The captain picked up the paper, comparing the blurry image against the build of the man who was slowly making his way across the room. A blind guy? No way...The words Richard Castle, wizard floated through Gates' mind, forcing her, as always, to suspend her disbelief until all the evidence was in. She might not have enough evidence to convict the man of being the vigilante known as 'Daredevil'. But it wouldn't hurt to follow the lead...

The 12th's technical specialist was at Karpowski's desk, dropping off a folder of forensic evidence reports. "Miss Ellis," Gates called across the bullpen, "may I see you for a moment, please?"

Tory crossed the bullpen, her voice lowering as she entered the box's observation room. "Yes, captain?" she asked quietly. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Gates tilted her head in the direction of the bullpen. "Can you run facial recognition against only the lower half of someone's face?"

Tory frowned as she considered the three people that her boss was pointing to. "The suspect, sir? Isn't she the victim's wife?"

"Not the suspect," Gates corrected Tory. "Her lawyer. The blind one."

Tory's eyes widened. "You want me to run facial recognition on him? Why?"

Gates handed Tory the newspaper. Tory compared the face of the admittedly attractive blind man with the image on the newspaper's front page. "He does have one of those kind of faces, Captain..."

Gates sighed, no longer wanting to argue what should have been a direct order in the first place. "Use the footage from when he got off the elevator. And let me know as soon as you have something."

"Yes, sir," Tory replied, recognizing the order as soon as she heard it. "Although with fewer data points to work from, it may take considerably longer than usual."

Gates thought about the question that was certain to nag at the back of her mind until it was answered. This is probably just a wild goose chase from spending too much time around superheroes, Gates thought, but if he really is who I think he is..."I'm willing to wait, Miss Ellis. Thank you."