This is a lot harder to write than I thought it would be…yikes!
Please read and review :)
…..
Brett's eyes widened as they approached the courthouse. The old one was a crumbling wreck when he left, but this one…well, this one looked like criminals were more likely to wet themselves and then die of fear outside it, than actually get prosecuted.
He was led up to a separate office where a large, bald man was waiting for him. The man waved the two cops away before holding out his hands for Brett to shake. "Wilson Fisk. It's a pleasure to meet you Captain."
Brett nodded as Fisk introduced his main assistant, Wesley and then he gestured to the dark corner, where a blind man was waiting. "This is my…advisor. You'll be seeing him a lot, so don't worry. Now Captain, I expect only the best from a man of your reputation."
"And the best you will get Sir."
They headed out of the office and out onto the balcony. Fisk sighed wearily "You've come back to Hell's Kitchen in its darkest hour. Your task will involve helping us save the people of this hell-hole from being misled."
"Misled Sir?"
"Look…" Fisk gestured down onto the streets where Brett could just about see the heads of people wandering around, even that of Foggy who seemed to be back on his rounds, "…gypsies. They live outside of the normal order and their heathen ways do nothing but bring out the worst in people. They must be stopped!"
Brett frowned, "I was called back into action because of a few fortune tellers and palm readers?"
"The real war is out there…." Brett flinched and span around at the other voice. The old blind man had followed them and was gazing in the general direction of the streets, "…for twenty years, my team and I have taking care of the gypsies, one…by…one."
The man was squishing ants on the wall of the balcony, before lifting one of the stones to reveal a whole colony of ants, "And yet, with all my efforts, they have thrived! We believe they have a safe haven somewhere in Hell's Kitchen…a nest if you will. They call it the Court of Miracles…"
Brett frowned again, "So what should we do about it?"
The man slammed the stone back onto the wall and moved it about, effectively killing the colony.
"You make your point…vividly Sir."
Fisk laughed. A big booming noise that made Brett's bones rattle, "You know, I like you Captain. Shall we?"
Fisk moved to place a hand on Brett's back, but before they could head back into the office the sounds of cheering rose up from the streets. Fisk sighed, "Duty calls...how long has it been since you went to this festival?"
"A few years Sir…"
"Then this should be an educational experience. Come along."
…
Matt grinned as he slid down the posts of the cathedral, clad in his red mask and suit as a disguise. He could hear the cheers of the crowds of people and the music down below him. He grabbed a rope that had been tied to a column and contained flags, leaning in so that he could listen to the songs.
"Come one! Come all!
Leave your books and milking stools!
Coop the hens and pen the mules!
Come on! Come all
Close the churches and the schools!
It's the day for breaking rules!
Come and join the feast of…."
The rope that Matt had grabbed onto unravelled and he found himself swinging down onto the streets just as two young men called out the ending of the verse.
"FOOLS!"
The voices had faint Russian accents to them and when each grabbed one of Matt's arms, he found himself being danced around in a circle.
"Once a year, we throw a party here in town!" sang out one voice.
"Once a year, we throw Hell's Kitchen upside down!" sang the other, sounding younger than the other. Siblings perhaps? Whatever they were, they had let Matt go and he was grateful for that.
"Every man's a king and every King's a clown!
Once again, it's Topsy Turvy day!"
Matt tried to push past the crowds in order to get to a quieter place, but the two voices kept following him.
"It's the day the devil in us gets released!" A rogue hand prodded the horns on top of Matt's mask.
"It's the day we mock the prig and shock the police!
Everything is Topsy Turvy at the Feast of Fools!"
Matt began to panic as the sounds and smells of the festival overwhelmed him.
"Topsy Turvy! Everything is upsy daysy!
Topsy Turvy! Everyone is acting crazy!
Dross is gold and weeds are a bouquet!
That's the way on Topsy Turvy Day!"
Matt fell backwards as a group of giggling girls barrelled into him, his hands frantically grabbing onto whatever he could get a hold of. He felt himself fall into a passing body and grab onto, what seemed to be, an apron.
"WOAH! Hey dude!" yelled the voice as they both fell to the ground, with Matt letting go as soon as he could. There was silence for a few seconds before, "Hey, are you alright?"
"I'm s-sorry, I didn't mean to fall on you!"
"Well, you're not hurt are you? Here, let me see?!"
Matt panicked as he felt the man grab a hold of his shoulder and gently turn him around, before easing his mask up over his head. "N-no! Wait!" he cried, preparing himself for the pity and the possible attack.
However…nothing happened except for the man's heartbeat to speed up. "Okay…" began the man, "…it doesn't look as if any harm's been done." He helped Matt to his feet and pulled the mask back over his head. "There we go…" Matt felt his stick handed back to him, "…everything okay now?"
Matt nodded shakily, smiling slightly as he heard the man smile. "That is a great costume by the way…" complimented the man, "…Devil of Hell's Kitchen, right?"
"Y-yeah…"
"That's so awesome! Oh, I just threw my hand up in the air by the way…"
Matt grinned at the casual way the man described his actions. He would have liked to continue talking, but the sounds of the crowd seemed to get closer and the man must have noticed the panicked look on his face. "Hey, if you let me grab my meat…no innuendo intended, I can show you a quiet place away from the crowd?"
Matt shook his head, "Thank you, but I think I can manage. I'll just head away from the noise."
"Fair enough…I just nodded by the way. I'm Foggy, in case you want to know?"
Matt smiled, "Matt…"
He heard Foggy's heartbeat skip a beat as if he recalled the name, so in haste, Matt held out his hand. "It's been very nice to meet you Foggy. Maybe I'll see you again?" he asked hopefully.
"Yeah definitely!"
Matt grinned as he walked away, the song's volume increasing once again.
"Topsy Turvy!
Beat the drums and blow the trumpets!
Topsy Turvy!
Join the bums and thieves and strumpets!
Streaming in from Texas to DC!
Scurvy boys are extra scurvy
On the sixth of 'Januervy'!
All because it's Topy Turvy Day!"
It was at this moment that Brett led his team of officers into the streets, protecting Fisk and his advisor. The pair got settled into a stand where they could watch the festival in safety. The Russian brothers sidled up to the stand, leapt in and threw their arms around both Fisk and Stick.
"Come one, come all!
Hurry, hurry, here's your chance!
See the mystery and romance
Come one, come all
See the finest girl around
Make an entrance to entrance
Dance Madame Elektra
Dance!"
A beautiful young lady appeared from out of nowhere just as Matt appeared from around the corner. He flinched slightly as he heard Foggy's voice from beside him, "Trust me when I say this…that girl is seriously hot. Wait, no Elektra no!"
Matt reached out for Foggy in panic but he soon heard the man laughing. The quick footsteps coming from a few metres in front of him seemed to indicate that Foggy and this Madame Elektra were dancing. The quick music soon came to close though and Matt heard Foggy run back to him. "Thank God she's friends with my parents or I would have been in so much trouble for saying that. I don't know what was worse, the dancing or the fact that the old guy next to Fisk seemed to be staring right at me!"
Matt's hands clenched around his cane, "How weird…"
"Here it is, the moment you've been waiting for
Here it is, you know exactly what's in store
Now's the time we laugh until our sides get sore
Now's the time we crown the King of Fools!
So make a face that's horrible and frightening
Make a face as gruesome as a gargoyle's wing
For the face that's ugliest will be the King of Fools!
Why?"
"Topsy Turvy!" yelled the crowd.
"Ugly folks, forget your shyness!"
"Topsy Turvy!"
"You could soon be called your highness!
Put your foulest features on display!
Be the king of Topsy Turvy day!"
Foggy chuckled besides Matt, "They're pulling people on stage and making them pull the ugliest faces. Some of these are really awful…this one guy's just rose an eyebrow and snarled! Hey, no Elektra, trust me when I say that this guy is not the one you're looking for!"
Matt fought briefly against the hand that pulled him into an empty space, but soon resigned to it. He did, however, fight against the hand that tried to take his mask off.
"Wait!" called out the older Russian male, "Don't take the mask off…I believe we have the Devil of Hell's Kitchen in our presence!"
"And he's blind!" yelled out an unknown voice
"Impossible!"
"What the hell! But I've seen him leap across the cathedral roof!"
"Yeah, a blind man couldn't do that!"
"Yeah, don't pull a blind man up there! That's not fair!"
"Hey, Mister! You want help back to your house?!"
Matt flushed with embarrassment as he listened to person after person pitying him or denying how a blind man could do anything for himself…just like Stick always told him. Speaking of Stick, Matt flinched when he heard the man's heartbeat speed up with recognition…he knew…
"Maybe he's not really blind?"
"Yeah, come on Daredevil, show us what you can do!"
Due to the number of heartbeats within the area and the fact that he was focusing on Stick's heartbeat, Matt completely missed that fact that the man was preparing to throw something at him. The tomato hit him straight in the face, causing him to stumble back a few steps.
This one piece of fruit seemed to inspire everyone else and soon Matt found himself being overwhelmed by the amount of fruit being thrown at him, so much that he slipped in the juices and fell to the ground. A ripple of laughter echoed throughout the crowd and Matt fought as ropes were thrown over the top of him and then tying him down. He could vaguely hear Foggy and the Russian brother trying to get through but the crowd was too thick.
"Stick! Please help me!" cried out Matt desperately as he struggled to get free. "Stick, please!"
….
Brett glanced frantically between the horrific scene and the two seated in the box. "Sir! Permission to stop this cruelty?!"
Fisk was about to say something when the blind man interrupted, "Not just yet…a lesson needs to be learnt here."
Suddenly, a hush fell over the crowd, prompting the three men to look back at the scene. The butcher's boy had finally broken through.
…..
Matt couldn't hear anything over the sound of his own heartbeat and the blood pounding through his veins
"Hey…"
He couldn't help but flinch at the gentle voice and the soothing hand that was placed on his shoulder.
"Hey, it's just me Matty…focus on my breathing okay?"
Matt nodded weakly as Foggy used his apron to wipe Matt's face, focusing intently on the man's heartbeat as he tried to calm down.
"I'm going to kill Elektra…" muttered Foggy, "…but after I kill whoever threw that piece of fruit, I mean, what a jerk!"
Nobody moved to help the butcher's boy and Foggy didn't even bother to ask for any. Matt flinched as the voice of his guardian pierced through the silence. "You boy! Get away from him at once!"
Foggy sighed, "I will…as soon as I've finished cleaning him up and then getting him out of these ropes!"
"Get away from him now!"
Matt heard Foggy's heartbeat speed up as he heard the sound of something being removed from the apron pocket…and then suddenly, he was free. The ropes fell apart and Matt was helped to his feet.
"How dare you disobey us!?"
Foggy's heart sped up in anger, "Why are you letting them do this?! This is cruelty of the highest order and you lot are morons for even starting it!"
Matt guessed that Foggy was talking to the crowd at this point.
"You wouldn't have bothered to help if the brat wasn't blind, so don't pretend to act all self-righteous you little gypsy brat!"
"I would have helped because I'm actually a decent human being! It doesn't matter that he was blind or not, you still let these morons torture him! This is unfair and unjust, your asses should be sued to high hell!"
"Silence!"
"Justice!"
There was silence for a few seconds before Fisk spoke this time, "Mark my words gypsy, you will pay for this sheer insolence and disobedience!"
Matt heard Foggy grin, "Well then, I think we've found the new King of Fools…YOU!"
Something was tossed in the direction of Stick and Fisk, causing the crowd to gasp in shock.
…
Brett winced as the festival crown landed in front of Fisk…things were about to get ugly. Fisk glanced over at Brett, "Captain, arrest him!"
Brett sighed and clicked his fingers, gesturing at Foggy in a signal for his officers to arrest him. 'Oh, Foggy. What have you got yourself into now?'
…..
Foggy muttered to himself as he watched the officers get closer and closer, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine….so there's ten of you and one of me. Fuck, what the hell am I going to do?!"
He mock sniffled and wiped his eyes with a clean part of his apron, before blowing his nose into it and vanishing in a cloud of red smoke. Fisk took a step back, "Witchcraft!"
Stick shook his head, "Smoke bombs…very clever of him."
"Oh boys, over here!" Everyone's head span around to stare at another part of the street where Foggy was waving at the officers from the first landing of a fire escape.
"Get him!" yelled Fisk.
Foggy jumped off the fire escape and was crowd-surfed away from the officers…who weren't quite as lucky in regards to the crowd-surfing aspect. With quite a lot of help from Elektra and the Russian brothers, Foggy was able to dodge every attempt at capture made by the officers until he was helped up onto another fire escape where Elektra popped another couple of smoke bombs and the pair disappeared.
Matt almost went to help when he could no longer hear Foggy's heartbeat, but yelped when he felt Stick's cane smack him on the back of his legs. "I suggest you get back to the tower brat…" whispered Stick as Fisk ordered Captain Brett to find Foggy and bring him to Fisk alive.
Matt nodded weakly, "Yes sir…I'm sorry. I won't disobey you again…"
Stick pushed him in the direction of the cathedral and Matt stumbled past the crowds of people, flinching every time someone reached out to either help him or try and reach in his back pocket. He could hear the pity as he desperately listened out for anything sounding familiar.
A bell.
Father Lantom's voice or heartbeat!
Anything!
Eventually, after climbing up a fire escape and following the sounds of people praying, Matt was able to make his way into the cathedral…where he would stay.
