Alex nearly jumped out of the bed at the sound of someone slamming their fist into her door. She grimaced as the rose, feeling her head pound in protest. Slowly, she slid her legs out of bed as quietly as she could. She couldn't help the small groan that escaped her lips as she felt her swollen and shredded knee throb as she moved. It was wrapped up sloppily in gauze that was now stained red and brown with dried blood.

Snatching up her sweatpants and pepper spray, Alex moved slowly through her bedroom. She stepped carefully over several old piles of clothes and crumpled up papers. She was certain that if the Devil of Hell's Kitchen was coming to torture her, he wasn't going to announce his presence. Still, she didn't want to risk it.

"Alex, wake your ass up!", called out a familiar voice behind the door, "We've got a shift in an hour!"

Feeling her breath nearly fall out of her chest with relief, Alex dropped the pepper spray on the counter beside her and leaned down to tug on her sweatpants to cover up her injured knee. She nearly tripped on her pant leg while still trying to keep all her weight on one foot.

"Just a second!" she called back, hopping on one leg towards the door as she pulled her pants up. Knotting the drawstring, she unbolted the door and pulled it open to reveal her friend Mandy standing on the other side with two fast food bags clutched in her hands. Her curly brown hair was pulled up in a wild ponytail and her dark skin was flushed from walking up the three flights of stairs it took to get to Alex's apartment.

"You know that shit rots your insides", Alex noted, nodding towards the greasy bags in Mandy's hands.

She shrugged, a smirk already playing at the edges of her lips. "Bring it up with the doctors we can't afford."

"Fair point."

Mandy didn't bother waiting to be invited, sauntering into the apartment like she had for the last few years like clockwork. She dropped the bags of food on the counter, plopping right down into the chair beside her and propping her legs up on the counter. Her oversized jeans were held up only by a large brown belt since Mandy almost religiously refused to wear pants her own size.

"So", she drawled, pulling out greasy hash brown from one of the bags, "What's on the agenda for today?"

"Other than work?", Alex responded, shutting and locking the door, "Nothing."

"What about your other job?"

"Nah", she responded easily, "Courtside isn't until tomorrow. I can keep all my clothes on tonight."

Mandy's face scrunched up in disgust, pretending to gag. "I still don't get why you work at that misogynistic hellhole."

The dark haired girl sighed, beginning to limp over to the counter. She absolutely hated talking about her second job at Hell's Kitchen's sleaziest sports bar. "Well, it helps with the bills, and the girls there aren't so bad-"

"Hold up", Mandy interrupted, her hand shooting out and pointing right at her leg, "What the hell happened there?"

Alex froze, her bum leg hovering an inch above the ground. She swiped her thick hair back nervously, trying to seem calm. "It's- uh, it's nothing."

She could feel Mandy glaring at her, the feeling of her gaze making Alex flush. Her friend's lip curled down into a scowl as she pulled her legs down off of the counter and stood up from the chair. "You know the deal, Moreno. You tell me everything about your other job- your other other job."

"Mandy, I know-"

"Did Brendon do this to you?", she demanded, her face softening with worry as she made her way over to Alex to help guide her over to the chair she has just been occupying, "If he did, I'll kick his ass."

Alex snorted, dropping down into the chair less than gracefully. "Brendon's all talk. I think he'd rather screw me than dismember me."

"What a glowing review." Mandy deadpanned, passing Alex a breakfast sandwich, "Isn't he the one who keeps trying to push the gang's new name? Hell's Wraiths?"

"Technically the name's not new. Just the whole, you know, notoriety thing." She quickly snatched up the food, shoving it in her mouth. She hadn't eaten since breakfast the day before and she was starving. Swiping some grease from the corner of her mouth, Alex continued. "It definitely lacks creativity, though. No, well- uh, you… you know Daredevil?"

Alex watched as Mandy's scowl morphed into an almost comically surprised face. Her jaw went slack and her eyes went wide as she took in what her friend had said. Her mouth opened and closed before she managed to sputter out a response. "He- the Daredevil? He did this to you?"

"Well…", she sighed, quickly rubbing at her forehead distractedly, "Sort of. No. Kinda. He showed up to this- this deal Brendon forced me to go to. Beat the shit out of the guys I was with. I tried to get out of there but…"

"You tripped on your own damn feet." Mandy finished, grabbing at Alex's face without any warning.

"Hey! What are you-"

"Shut it", she cut off, eyes probing all over Alex's face, scanning her hairline and jaw for any signs of injury. "Your face is fine. I'm assuming you're not hiding some broken rib under your shirt. You promise it's just your leg?"

"Yes."

"And you're still keeping tabs on everything?"

Alex's eyes flicked over to the open notebook on her counter. She'd been taking note of everything and everyone she came into contact with since she was forced to start working with the Wraith's. Dealers, bosses, what they sold. Who they sold. Everytime something major went down, Alex kept the evidence. Not like she had anyone to give it to. Half the cops in Hell's Kitchen were in someone's pocket, and she had no way of knowing who would help her and who would kill her.

Alex swatted her friend's hands off of her face, scowling up at her. "Yes. Yes, I promise. You can quit with the third degree. You're not my mother."

"And thank God for that", she sighed, snatching up her hashbrown from the counter and shoving it in her mouth, "Your mom's a piece of shit. You heard from her lately?"

The dark haired girl shrugged, feeling her face drop. She hated talking about her mother. "You know I haven't. Most I've heard about her lately is she's about five grand deeper in debt. My bet's on heroin this time."

Mandy snarled. She hated Alex's mom almost as much as Alex did, considering she was the only other person in the world who knew who Trudy Moreno really was. "Whatever. Just glad she's not still leaving you voicemails. And you're letting me check your ribs before we leave."

Feeling her lips quirk up a little, Alex nodded and took another bite of her breakfast sandwich, trying to ignore the knot in her stomach that still lingered from the night before.

No more than a few streets down, Matt Murdock was having an equally exhausting morning. And for once, it wasn't from his nighttime activities. Instead, he sat holed up in his office with Foggy poring over their latest case. After their takedown of Fisk, Nelson & Murdock had managed to garner some mild success. Karen wasn't in yet, having gone out to get coffee. That left the two men to go over their latest case.

Matt's fingers flew over his copies of the testimonies Karen and Foggy had managed to take down during their meeting with Mrs. Velasquez. The older woman's heavy perfume still lingered in the office, coating Matt's tongue and forcing him to try not to gag. Instead, he focused his attention on on the rather gruesome but confusing account of their client's sons death.

"I'm telling you, Matt", Foggy groaned, "There's not enough evidence to take this to court."

Matt shrugged, finishing off the last of the page he was on. "She said he was wrapped up in some pretty deep shit with the Wraiths. Drugs, guns. It's not a stretch to think he got in too deep."

"Yeah, but believing it's true doesn't make it that way." Foggy countered, leaning back in his chair, "She has no evidence. Maybe it was a deal gone bad. The Wraiths deal in some messed up product, not impossible for him to get hooked up with the wrong dealer."

"You really think it was a junkie?"

Matt listened as Foggy groaned, slamming his head into his hands. "No. No I do not think it was a junkie. But what the hell kind of case do we have with no evidence that the Wraiths put a hit on Ms. Velasquez's son? We don't have any evidence that they were involved at all. Also, what the hell kind of name is the Hell's Wraiths?"

Matt chuckled, leaning back in his chair at his friend's tone. "I don't think creativity is their strong suit."

Foggy scoffed, pushing the file in front of him back with disgust. "This photo begs to differ."

"Still can't see it, buddy."

"I know that", he retorted, "But you know what they did. They chopped off parts of him I didn't even know existed. Nothing this gruesome can be called anything but creative."

Matt nodded, remembering his friend describing the crime scene photos. He'd spilled his fair share of blood, but whoever did this enjoyed it way too much. Christopher Velasquez- no older than seventeen- was cut up and left for dead in a dumpster just two days prior. One hand was missing, along with several toes and a piece of his left ear. The cops had all but dismissed the case when the autopsy found large amounts of cocaine in his system.

"We'll find something concrete", Matt assured his friend, "We just have to dig deeper. There has to be something they left behind, some sort of… marker or brand. If it's really gang related, they would have left a warning to anyone who saw the body. Something we wouldn't notice right away."

"God, you sound like someone off Law and Order", Foggy grumbled, snatching the photo's out of the file.

The blind man couldn't help but crack a smile. "Please don't compare me to that show."

Foggy shrugged, barely paying attention to Matt as he looked over the photo's. "What? That show's been running for, what? Eighty years? They've gotta be doing something right."

Matt smirked, going back to his copy of the testimony and trying to get any information he could out of Mrs. Velasquez's testimony. The deeper he went, the less he came up with. There was nothing his client said that gave any specific indication of who had killed her son and why. His head began to pound as he pored over her words over and over again. Sighing, he rubbed at his temples to try and push back the throbbing in his skull.

"Yeah, you're telling me buddy", Foggy piped, dropping his papers on the table, "I mean, if we had someone who knew more about the Wraiths. Someone willing to talk, we could figure out what this kill meant. Why it went down, if it's gonna happen again."

As Foggy went on, Matt's mind went back to the dealer he'd managed to briefly interrogate the night before. The way her heart jumped, the way he'd managed to get some information from her with relatively little effort on his part. Granted, she'd been injured and had watched him take town her partners. Slowly, an idea formed in his mind. And Foggy clearly took notice.

"No", he stated bluntly, "Whatever it is, no."

"I haven't said anything", Matt argured.

"I know that look. That look means you've got-", Foggy quickly cut himself off, looking to the door to see if Karen had returned, "...you've got Daredevil related ideas. And I want no part of it."

Matt sighed, getting ready to explain himself as rationally as he could. "Look, I intercepted a deal last night with three Wraiths. They've got ties to Fisk, I figured I could get some information out of them. One of them started talking."

Foggy kept looking over at the door before groaning and glaring over at his friend. "What did he give you?"

"She didn't give me much", Matt admitted, "But the way she talked, she said she couldn't tell me anything."

"So…", Foggy drawled, "It's a dead end?"

"She didn't say she wouldn't tell me, she said she couldn't." Matt argued, leaning forward in his chair, "That means they probably have something on her."

"Most likely the threat of bodily harm" his friend pointed out exasperatedly, "I've described these photos in great detail, Murdock. Even you'd be at least a little hesitant to snitch on people who do this."

"But she gave me something."

The blind man could feel his friend getting more frustrated as he went on. Foggy kept running his hands through his hair and looking over at the door like he was scared Karen would catch them at any moment. With a groan, he dropped his hands on the table and looked back over at his friend.

"Fine", Foggy gave in, "What did this elusive, most likely heartbreakingly attractive woman give you?"

"How would- how is that the point, Foggy?"

Foggy jabbed a finger at his friend accusingly. "The point is you've somehow found another beautiful woman with a shady backstory to torture me with. It's a freaking pattern with you, Murdock."

Matt bit back any arguments he had. They'd had this argument more times than was ever necessary, and he knew his friend wasn't about to let go of his idea of Matt using beautiful women to make his life a living hell.

"She gave me a name." Matt stated calmly, "The boss's son. Someone named Brendon."

That seemed to catch Foggy's attention. He sat up straighter, seeming to listen a little closer. "She didn't give you a last name. She seems like a terrible informant."

"She'll give it to me." Matt insisted, "I just have to…"

"Torture her?"

The room suddenly went silent. Even without his senses, Matt would have been able to feel the tension that had come up with that one statement. The inside of his chest tugged painfully, unsure of what to respond with.

"I didn't say that."

"I've seen your leftovers, Matt." Foggy responded quietly, "Unfortunately, I know what you do now."

"It's not gonna be like that", he assured him, "I'll just scare her. Get what I need for this case and get out."

Foggy sighed, running his fingers through his hair again. "As a member of the legal profession, I can't condone this."

"That's noted."

"You're gonna do it anyway, aren't you?"

"I never said that."

Foggy let out a long sigh, leaning back dejectedly in his chair. "How the hell are you even gonna find this girl? Do your superpowers extend to super stalking?"

"I know where some smaller dealers are." Matt offered, trying to reassure his friend as best he could, "The guys she was with the night before clearly knew who she was. I figure some others might, too."

"This is so messed up."

Matt shrugged. "Never said it wasn't."

Leaning forward on the counter, Alex lifted her heels up off the floor to give her aching feet a break. She'd been working a double shift for almost twelve hours, dealing with drunk and handsy customers since what felt like dawn. Two fights had broken out, leaving her to clean up the broken glass and traces of blood from the already disgustingly dirty floor. Now, the whole place was empty, save herself and Mandy. They'd been stuck with the closing shift. She leaned even further over the counter that separated the dining area and the kitchen, the smell of syrup and bacon grease burning up her nose.

Alex could hear Mandy speaking beside her, no doubt throwing her hands around dramatically. But she was barely listening to her friend ramble beside her, instead spending her energy glaring ruefully up at the clock above the front door to the diner. She stared so hard her eyes felt like they might fall out, though she figured that was the exhaustion.

Out of nowhere, she could see a hand waving over her face. Without blinking, she swatted the hand away and kept sneering up at the clock.

"Earth to Moreno", Mandy insisted, chuckling as she retracted her hand, "I've been talking for, like, five minutes. What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Alex shrugged dejectedly, finally taking her eyes off the clock. "Trying to make the clock run faster."

"And how's that working out for you?"

Pointing up lazily, the dark haired woman rolled her eyes and leaned down further onto the diner counter. "Take a look for yourself. Still stuck at one forty."

"Well damn", Mandy sighed, flicking her curly brown hair back over her shoulder, "We'll have to wait to send in your application for the Avengers."

Alex couldn't help the snort that escaped her lips, running her hands through the loose dark locks of hair that fell over her eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure Tony Stark is waiting around for a waitress from Hell's Kitchen to waltz in and help him battle aliens."

"Hey, don't sell yourself short", the dark skinned girl lilted, pushing herself up off the counter, "You have the absolutely stunning superpower of making time move at an exceedingly normal pace."

"Ha ha", Alex deadpanned, following Mandy and pushing herself back up to a standing position, "You should go on tour with that bit."

"You bet I should", she responded snarkily, "I'd be the sexiest comedian in New York."

Moving around the counter, Alex snatched up the tub resting on the counter and made her way over to the nearest booth. She carefully placed all the dishes from the table inside the tub while Mandy carelessly scrubbed away at the syrup stains on the table. Alex nearly gagged at the feeling of bits of eggs and ketchup floating around in the already murky dishwater. As the two continued to clean up the empty diner, Alex could feel Mandy's eyes on her the whole time.

"You got something to say?"

Mandy opened her mouth, silent for a few moments as she tried to formulate words. "You know there's always an air mattress for you at my place."

Alex chuckled, dismissing the offer immediately. "Yeah, I don't think your girlfriend would be too thrilled about that."

"Have you met Reagan?" Mandy scoffed, rubbing away at a particularly sticky pool of syrup, "She'd probably throw you a moving in party, complete with homemade cookies and that Vietnamese food she's so fucking good at."

"Probably because she is Vietnamese", the dark haired girl pointed out snarkily.

"Okay, whatever asshole", Mandy retorted, tossing her rag into the tub at Alex's side, "You know what I'm trying to say here. You've got a safe place to land if things go sideways."

"I've been doing this for over a year", Alex reassured her, picking up the heavy tub of dishes from the table, "So far, everything has remained fairly upright."

"Upright, my ass", Mandy mumbled under her breath, following her friend into the kitchen where Alex was dumping dishes into the sink. She scrubbed hastily at the greasy plates, feeling the hot water scald her skin. The two women worked in tandem for several silent minutes, managing to get through most of the dishes before she heard Mandy hiss under her breath.

"Shit."

"What?" Alex inquired, wiping her hair off of her forehead with the back of her hand.

"Nothing", Mandy responded, glancing up at the clock above the sink, "I just promised Reagan I'd be home by now. She wanted some help on a presentation for work."

Alex shrugged, turning back to the dishes. "Go ahead. I've got the rest."

"Alex, it's not-"

"Seriously", she reassured her friend, giving her a tired smile, "I've got it. Go home to your girlfriend."

Mandy looked like she was about to protest, but slowly shut her mouth. She wiped her hands on her jeans before looking softly up at Alex. "I'll close out next time."

"You better", Alex responded with a smirk.

With a grin, Mandy quickly kissed Alex on the cheek and threw her apron on the counter. "You're the best, Moreno."

Alex chuckled as she listened to Mandy run out of the diner, the door bell jingling behind her. She turned back to the remainder of the dishes, lazily finishing up and putting everything back. She casually threw her apron back onto the hook in the kitchen and snatched her backpack off of the hook beside it. She then made her way towards the fridge, pulling out two large tupperware boxes out of her bag. She quickly snatched up several packages of frozen vegetables and what was left of what customers had sent back throughout the day. She quickly filled up her tupperware with pancakes and bacon and eggs. Throwing them back into her backpack, she shut the fridge and slung her bag over her shoulder.

Turning off the lights and snagging the keys to the front door from one of her pockets, Alex sauntered out onto the sidewalk and locked the door behind her. The late night darkness and street lights were familiar to her as she made her way back in the direction of her house.

She really should have been paying attention to what was going on around her.

As Alex absentmindedly shoved her keys in the front pocket of her backpack, she suddenly felt a hand wrap its way around her arm. Just as she started to scream, a gloved hand gripped her by the jaw and over her mouth, silencing her. She thrashed around, trying to kick and scratch at whoever was behind her, but they were strong. They dragged her back into an alley, pulling her out of the light of the streetlamps and slamming her back against the brick wall behind her. Their grip on her arm twisted it beside her, threatening and painful. With wide eyes, she finally looked into the masked face of the man she'd been terrified to ever run into again. She could feel her chest burn with the muffled, panicked breaths being blocked from entering her lungs.

"I'm going to remove my hand from your mouth", he instructed her quietly, "It's in your best interest not to scream. Do you understand?"

Without hesitating, Alex nodded her head. She felt his grip loosen on her jaw, hearing the edge pop from the pressure. True to her word, she didn't make as sound. Instead, she stared up at the vigilante, trying to hide the fact that she was shaking from the inside out.

"You're- you're him", she gasped, her voice shaking, "You're- what are you- how'd you find me?"

"I have a few questions for you", he responded, ignoring her question.

"How'd you find me?", Alex insisted, feeling her face twist into a scowl.

The vigilante didn't move, still only inches from her as he considered her. "Your other dealers aren't as loyal as you might think."

The dark haired girl couldn't help the scoff that escaped her lips. "No one's loyal when they're being tortured. That's your thing, right? Torturing junkies?"

"I said I had a few questions for you", he growled, pressing her further against the brick wall. She could feel the stone cutting into her shoulder blades, reminding her of just who she was talking to. She quickly shut her mouth, trying to put as much distance between herself and the Devil of Hell's Kitchen as possible. "Who killed Christopher Velasquez?"

Alex felt her brows knit together in confusion. "Who?"

"One of your runners", he clarified, "Dismembered and left for dead in a dumpster a few blocks down. What do you know about it?"

"I- I had nothing to do with that", she panted desperately, "I swear, I didn't."

"Then who did?", he demanded, his voice eerily even and low.

Alex's pulse jumped. She knew exactly who would dismember a kid. "I- I really can't-"

"If you're thinking about lying to me", he cut her off, "Don't."

Alex suddenly felt his grip tightening on her arm, twisting it backwards. She yelped, feeling her muscles and bone protesting against the nearly bone breaking angle he'd forced her into. Her breath started to become ragged, panic setting in again. "P-please stop. I can't- I can't help you!"

He twisted again, causing Alex to cry out. She could feel her skin burn as he twisted it around her arm. She watched at his jaw tightened, his whole body stiffening as he twisted harder and harder, her bone ready to snap at any moment. Her fingers had gone numb, blood no longer circulating beneath his fingers. "Stop! Please- please stop!"

Suddenly, his shoulders went stiff and he stopped pulling. Quickly, he let go of her arm as if she'd burned him. He didn't step back, but he'd let her go. Alex cried out again, curling in on herself as she shakily cradled her arm close to her middle. She could already feel the bruises forming under her skin. Her numb fingers began to prick painfully as blood came back into her hand. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Daredevil shake his head slowly, stepping back a fraction of an inch.

She didn't know what it was, but watching the Devil of Hell's Kitchen begin to walk away felt wrong. Like an opportunity slipping through the cracks. Her mind flashed back to the notebook sitting on her counter. The countless crimes she'd seen and heard about that would go unpunished.

"You're trying to take down the Wraith's, right?"

That caught his attention. His head turned towards her, clearly listening. She had no idea why she was talking, but her mouth just seemed to keep moving. Spite and desperation burned her throat as the words left. "You're looking in the wrong places."

"What?" he questioned, still as he took in her words.

"Y-you asked about Fisk", she continued, feeling her body begin to shake again, "He's not the one in control anymore."

The vigilante stood still, almost as if he hadn't heard her. But she knew better. She could see his head tilt to the side slowly, like he was taking in every syllable she'd stuttered out. "I thought you said you didn't know anything."

Alex took a step back, still cradling her arm which was now beginning to throb. "I- I know who reported to him. And you're wrong. They don't answer to him anymore. They're off the leash."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"That's why the kid's dead", she continued, ignoring him altogether, "I didn't know him, but everyone knows who does that shit to people. What happens when you talk."

Slowly, Daredevil took a step towards her, making her flinch. "What are you telling me?"

Alex could feel the inside of her chest begin to shake, her whole body twitching nervously. The reality of what she was considering came crashing down inside her, making her insides feel like they were knotting up and her stomach lurch. "Shit… shit, I- I shouldn't- I can't-"

"Alex, tell me." he demanded, standing over her like a shadow, "Now. What do they have on you?"

"It's not me. You don't get it." she panted, feeling her throat begin to burn as he held her head in her hands, "After Fisk… they only got worse. If- if they knew I- shit, they'd- they'd probably do something worse to…"

"I wouldn't worry about them right now. I'd worry about me."

Slowly, Alex looked up at the vigilante. She knew what he was, what he did to people like her. But she also knew she didn't want to die having done nothing. She couldn't keep living like that, and she didn't want it to consume her anymore.

"You want them gone." she said slowly, rising up to his height, "The Wraith's, everything they do. The- the drugs, the trafficking. Everything. You want it gone. I do to. I- I think I can help you."

hunterofmiracles: Thank you so much!

Donny Donowitz: You are seriously too sweet! So happy you're enjoying the story.