January 26th, 2018

7:48 AM

Matt Murdock opened the door to his law office, Nelson, Murdock & Page. He had arrived to work on time for the 55th consecutive time that day (save for a couple days off for Christmas). That hadn't happened since.. Well since he had first put on the black suit. It was also one of the first times his knuckles had healed since then, not to mention his laundry list of other injuries.

There was no Daredevil suit in the trunk at home today, but Matthew Murdock was still Daredevil. Before he opened the door he knew that Foggy hadn't beaten him to work for once today, and that his best friend wasn't close behind either. Karen had put on some coffee several minutes earlier but now was on the other side of the office, typing away on her laptop instead of the decrepit desktop computer that she hadn't turned on in a week.

"Any idea where Foggy is?" Matt asked, folding up his cane and setting it on a table before leaning against the doorway of Karen's office. It had taken him some re-training, but finally he wasn't pretending to feel his way around when he was alone with Karen. There were no secrets anymore.

"Hopefully not picking up breakfast. Our clients have got that covered already." Karen smiled. Matt chuckled, well familiar with the menagerie of scents that came off their clientele's preferred method of payment- food. In this situation Matt would usually commit his hands to clutching his white cane, but in front of Karen he just sort of clasped them nervously together, massaging one of his palms with the thumb of his other hand. They were calloused but healing.

"Just like the good old days I guess." Matt said, and then started unwrapping a homemade pie to prepare a slice for himself. Karen got up and sidled toward him.

"What flavor is that?" She asked. Matt stopped for a moment with a smile, taking in the pastry's smell more carefully. Under the crust, that was.. Peach- not his favorite. He looked to Karen so she could see his face and called the flavor. Then he cut into the pie, releasing a wave of peach aroma powerful enough for Karen to take in with ease.

"I can cut you a piece." Matt offered, and Karen obliged. They stood together in silence then, eating pie for breakfast like a couple of adults living their best lives.

"Y'know I grew up working at a diner and.. Kevin and I used to try and get away with making pie for ourselves for breakfast. My dad would never let it happen but one time my mom sent him away on an errand and the rest of us all had pie together." Karen reminisced.

Matt could tell when the memory hit her- her heart rate had spiked after she took a bite. But as she told Matt her story she became relaxed. Despite his senses, however, Matt wasn't sure he could identify the warm feeling that flooded him as he observed Karen speak to him. Karen had trusted Daredevil with her life before, but somehow this was something more. She was talking to Matt Murdock, and she trusted him completely.

"My dad would get ice cream for dinner sometimes. He would say something like, 'you're in luck Matty, your old man's made dinner tonight', and he'd help me put together an ice cream sundae."

"Did you have sundaes on Sunday?" Karen smirked.

"Oh yeah." Matt said, and they laughed quietly together. "It was always on Sunday."

"I'm hoo-oome!" cried Foggy Nelson as he entered the practice as his usual, non-subtle self. He took the coffee off and poured some for himself as his partners sauntered in with their confectionaries.

"Anyways," Foggy continued, "I got stopped by a police officer on the way here."

"What'd you do this time?" Matt asked, his face wrinkling with worry as if he were really concerned his friend had a run in with the law. How ironic that would be. Foggy treated him to perhaps the most sarcastic laugh he had ever heard.

"Believe it or not, after 3 years of working with Matt Murdock and Karen Page, I am still not a wanted criminal." Foggy stated. Matt smiled and Karen rolled her eyes. "Nah, he wanted to tell me about someone they've got at the precinct. They picked him up last night fleeing a shootout."

"Why's he want us involved?" Karen asked.

"The guy says Wilson Fisk was the one who wanted him dead. He was sure of it. The officer, rightfully so, suspected we'd want in on anything to do with Fisk."

"Did you get a name?"

"Yeah, Melvin Potter." Foggy offered. Matt sighed heavily. "Why doesn't it surprise me that you know him?"

"Melvin created the Daredevil suit." Matt explained. "The fake one too. He was being coerced into working for Fisk and he's.. Not the fastest guy around. He would think anyone trying to get to him was Fisk. Still, I owe him a favor."

"Great, then let's go talk to him!" Foggy declared.

8:09 AM

"Hello Mr. Potter, I am Matthew Murdock and these are my partners Karen Page and Foggy Nelson. Foggy and I are defense attorneys, and we're here to represent you." Matt said politely, closing the police department door behind him to protect his attorney-client privilege. Foggy offered his hand to Melvin and the bald man shook it vigorously. He looked confused and scared- not uncommon for the folks Matt and Foggy typically represented but this guy was absolutely dumbfounded and mortified.

"I would say it's nice to meet you, but given the circumstances I'm sure you would've rather not needed a lawyer in the first place." Foggy joked as the three partners took their seats across from Melvin.

"I don't know what you're on about Mr. Foggy, I sure am glad to see you! Everybody else.. Everybody else is pretty mad at me."

"I know this is a scary time for you Melvin, but you can trust us. If you'd like us to help you through this just say so and we won't let anybody else know what you say to us here." Foggy explained. He had taken on a softer tone after taking a moment to gauge the situation.

"Okay." was all Melvin had to say.

"Can you tell us what happened this morning?"

"They went after me and they hurt Betsy, and the police saved me but they locked me up, and they wouldn't let me see Betsy." Melvin went through his explanation quickly, barely getting it out before breaking into tears.

"Do you have any idea who attacked you?" Karen asked.

"Fisk...It's Mr. Fisk." Melvin sobbed. "He said he would hurt Betsy, and Daredevil said he wouldn't let that happen, but then they did hurt her, I think they killed her… Daredevil lied to me!"

Foggy's face wilted into the all-too-common "come on Matt" expression. Matt's perception of the emotion coming off his best friend was a lot less straightforward but he had sensed it often enough to know at this point.

"I'm sorry, Melvin. He tried the best he could." Matt said. It wasn't really true though, was it? Melvin Potter had been just a stepping stone on Daredevil's one-track path to killing the Kingpin.

Melvin's eyes grew wide, and angry. Matt knew the tailor idolized gladiators- he had posters of them in his old workshop- but in the moment he felt like a toreador and this client was one very angry bull.

"How do you know?" Melvin spat. He grabbed Matt's tie and slammed the lawyer's face into the table, leaning in to hiss into his ear. "How do you know!?"

"Melvin." Karen said gently. Foggy looked nervous, deliberating whether his literal superhero of a friend needed help getting this madman off of him. Karen just brushed some hair out of her face, called Melvin's name and met his angry eyes with unflinching intensity.

"Matthew is Daredevil." she said, "and he messed up. But he's trying to make things right and he needs your help again to do that."

Melvin released his vicegrip on Murdock's tie and settled down. Matt sat back up, looking embarrassed. He looked particularly ridiculous as one of his circular glass lenses had popped out in the brief altercation.

"The police are charging you with escaping from prison," Karen continued. "Can you tell us about what happened there?"

"Yeah well Chris, there was this nice man named Chris who was the bus driver, and he said we were going on a field trip."

Foggy set his chin in his hands at this point, and his elbows on his knees as if this unbelievable counseling session was winding him up like some kind of stress-powered jack-in-the-box dying to spring out. Except instead startling laughter it would probably just be tears.

"I thought it was weird cause they weren't very nice, not nice enough to do a field trip, and it was already dark out." Melvin continued. "And it turns out it wasn't a field trip. They pulled into a building and tied us up and shot at us."

"Oh god, I'm sorry you had to experience that." Karen said. She spoke for all of them, especially Matt.

"What happened next?" Foggy followed up.

"I broke the chair I was in and then I ran away.. I didn't know what to do, so I went to Betsy's house. We got in the car together and the bad guys followed us, and they had guns and they shot at us. Betsy was distracted so she hit something, and then the police showed up."

"Is there anything else you can tell us that might help us find the bad guys?" Matt asked. Melvin responded with a dejected "no", which was obviously genuine.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Melvin." Matt smiled as best as he could manage. "You'll be safe here in the police department. In the meantime my partners and I will put together a case and get you the justice you deserve."

"You've made a lot of promises." Melvin muttered. "I hope you keep one for once."

8:35 AM

"What the hell, Karen?"

"Really?"

"That's sensitive information! You can't just go around telling people!"

"He's bound by law to keep it a secret. And do you really think that guy would snitch on you anyways? Not to mention you owe him, and we weren't going to get shit out of him otherwise."

"It's still not your call, you can't tell anyone."

"Your call was to lie about it to me for two years and nearly tear us apart, so maybe it should be my call."

"Karen.." Matt threw his arms up slightly in a defeated gesture. The blind lawyer had a great amount of success in the courtroom but definitely had a losing ratio against Karen Page.

She put her arms underneath his, wrapping him in a quick hug. As she pulled away she held something up in her hand- a circular, rose-tinted lens that was still missing from his glasses.

"You need to trust me, okay?" Karen insisted. Matt didn't respond but held still as she popped the lens back into its frame.

"If the lovebirds are done with their conversation, there's something I'd like to add." Foggy said as he stepped into the moment. He had somehow legitimately surprised Matt- how long ago had he stepped out of the police building?

"I managed to get some more info about Potter's situation from the cops. Apparently two other inmates from Ryker's Island were found dead in an abandoned building this morning. Tammy Hatwell and Felix Manning."

"Oh shit. He's getting revenge." Karen whispered. Matt shook his head.

"That's impossible. They put Wilson Fisk in the Raft after what he did. He doesn't even get a right to counsel anymore, there's no way he's pulling strings from in there." Matt insisted.

"Well buddy," Foggy sighed. "We better make sure there's no way. Come on, we've got a case to make."