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Chapter 7: Mr. Murdock is out right now
One month.
One damn month had passed since that damn day.
Foggy could count every second of that period, in which he had to keep doing his job and fake with Karen that everything was all right, that Matt was regularly calling him and that he was fine instead of doing what his soul was screaming at him to; he wanted to rent (or maybe even buy) a car and get away from Hell's Kitchen, traveling through the Unites States until he found his best friend.
Then what, smartass? Wonderful, now his brain sounded like Matt Murdock (the good student version).
I'm gonna kick your ass until we come back to Hell's Kitchen, and I will probably keep on doing that even afterwards! He responded to himself in anger due to how worried he was for Matt.
Dammit, Murdock.
The truth was that the blond lawyer had tried everything to get some news about his friend, without any results of any kind (if he had, he really would have rented that car).
He was checking every morning the lists of people who had been arrested in every State of the USA, hoping,or maybe not, he wasn't really sure, to find Matt's name or some fake ID that would ring a bell, because he was sure that if he'd needed some legal help, Matt would have found a way to let him know.
He was also reading the newspaper every day, as well as trawling the internet but still, nothing.
No news? good news! His grandfather used to say. It was the translation of an Italian motto that a friend of his used to say and its meaning was that not having news was still better than bad news. It could even be true, when your best friend was not a crazy blind vigilante with the bad habit of turning up half dead in the strangest and darkest places on Earth.
When the phone rang, Foggy was working on a new case, that he hadn't still decided whether to take or not, because he couldn't really tell if she was telling the truth or if she was hiding something.
Even if Matt was missing, he was trying to do his best to follow the line they drew when they had opened the firm, as he'd wanted. The only problem was that without his best friend's superpower things it had become a fair bit harder.
Not that he was really paying attention to his job, but he had to pretend everything was all right, and focusing on something real was still better than focusing on maintaining a pretence.
Karen was in the nearest room to the door, the one they used as a reception, when the call came in. She picked up, and for a second Foggy hoped to hear her greeting Matt.
He realized only in that moment that he had taken this attitude every time the firm's phone rang, and that when was his personal phone ringing, he always hoped to see an unknown number on the screen.
So far, it hadn't happened yet, and that was the worst thing.
Foggy would had given anything for a message, a call, an e-mail, a smoke signal, a flare, a carrier pigeon, something that would tell him his best friend was still alive. He didn't care if and how badly he might be hurt. Alive was more than enough.
-Nelson & Murdock- he heard her speak. -Yes. Just a minute.-
A second later, his secretary entered his office. -Can you take a call, Foggy?-
-Sure. Who is it?-
-She didn't tell me, but it seems quite serious-
-Ok. I'll take that from here. Thank you, Karen-
The girl smiled at him and went back to her desk. On her way, she went by Matt's office. Foggy saw the sad look in her eyes and his heart sank, even if he was relieved she didn't know the truth. She would be destroyed.
Let's hope she never discovers us, Matty, or we will be the ones who get destroyed. By her.
He sighed, then picked up the phone.
-Franklin Nelson-
-Foggy... It's Claire-
Foggy froze for a moment, fearing she was making that call to tell him his friend was dying, or worse, already dead, then remembered that she hadn't been in New York lately, she was probably just looking for Matt.
-Yes. It's just me right now.- he answered, pretending she was just someone calling for information -Mr. Murdock is out right now, but you can ask me anything you want, or you can fix an appointment with our secretary-
-Can't you talk?-
-Exactly... yes-
-Matt is with me- now Foggy had really frozen, a shiver ran down his spine. Please, don't be dead, not even close to that, please, Matty.
-Can you explain me what happened?- he inquired, pretending he wasn't panicking inside.
-I don't know. I met him by chance. He was completely tired out and he had an emotional collapse. He's having lucidity problems, and for the most of time he doesn't even recognize me. Now he's sleeping on my couch, and he seems quiet.-
-Where do you live?-
-Boston, near to the West Campus of Boston University.-
Boston? What the hell were they doing in Boston?
-Ok, Mrs...- he was trying to find a fake last name for her, but all he could think was those two words: emotional collapse. He hadn't even known that Matt could have one, and in all those years, his mind had made up for him number of accidents involving his blind friend he could almost write a medical TV show based on them.
-Oh...ehm... Carter.- she helped him, and he tried to find some good news from her quiet and calm tone. She didn't seem upset, not so much, anyway, so Daredevil was probably not going to die.
-Ok, Mrs. Carter, I'll do some research and I'll call you later, ok?-
-Ok, Foggy. See you later-
-Stay calm and try to pick up all the information we need. Agreed?-
-Thanks. Bye-
He had to find a way to be alone. Now.
That was the first thing Foggy thought after hanging up the phone, but he soon realized that if Matt was out cold, maybe she wouldn't have other information beside what she'd already told him, so he forced himself to stay focused on his job.
Clients come first.
Shut up, Murdock! You are sleeping on a fucking couch in Boston!
But the Matt in his head was fully right. Being in his office, waiting without saying anything was useless. He had to do that, to find out if this guy was innocent and do all he could to free him from all the charges.
For Matt.
Move your ass, Foggy-Bear.
Shut up, Little Horn!(1) I'm really pissed off with you right now.
She had to admit that; she had been amazed by Foggy's reaction.
When he'd called her, that night he'd found Matt almost dead in his apartment, she had the impression he was a fully emotive person, without any shred of self control (at least when his best friend was involved), but not today.
Actually, he'd been quite smart, pretending she was a client and making her talk without raising the suspicions of anyone listening.
She had decided to call him when she saw Matt's condition getting worse hour after hour. For all the time, she didn't stop checking him in a way that could be called paranoid, but that was the first time she had seen him like that. From what she could distinguish from a safe distance, he was running a temperature, but what it was caused by, she couldn't find out.
She was thinking about some inflammation due to the large amount of bruises on his body, still waiting their turn to be treated, and that was the best of the myriad possibilities. Claire also thought about some internal damage, but until he stopped trying to hit her every time she came close to him, she couldn't check him over better.
The nurse had already made an attempt to calm him down, but everything she tried was useless, and also speaking to him didn't seem to work either. Matt wasn't so much aware of what he was doing to her, he didn't even recognize her voice, so she couldn't really blame him for that, but at the moment her best shot was to restrain him with something, not that she really wanted to. Actually, only thinking of doing something like that to him, now that he was so scared (because every time she felt nothing but fear in him), made her feel physically sick, but she also knew he needed medical help as soon as possible, one way or another. No doubt on that.
Before making that quite extreme step, she had decided to give him one last chance, and for that reason she picked up the phone and called his best friend. If even Foggy's voice wouldn't calm him, then she would be forced to tie him down.
Anyway, she didn't wake him up during the call with Foggy. Every minute of consciousness was precious because of his weakness, besides, she didn't want to scare Foggy more than was inevitable. She wanted to prepare Matt's partner for that before putting him on the phone with a half conscious Daredevil. He deserved to know, and she wasn't sure he would recognize him otherwise.
It's not so easy being your friend, Matt, is it? She thought, not only thinking about the blond lawyer, but also about herself.
She had promised herself that she wouldn't fall in love with that blind guy who ran around beating people up dressed in a mask. She had thought he was without scruples, a mad guy without a soul who wanted to play God, and from the lack of reaction when she'd told him that, she had convinced herself he genuinely didn't care about anyone else.
But now, after seeing him that way, the desperation in his tears, the way he'd clasped her tight while she was hugging him in that church and how much her single touch was able to calm him down almost instantaneously (when he was lucid enough to pay attention), all those things had revealed her how much he cared about people he'd loved. How much he cared about her.
She smiled at him, even if he couldn't see her.
Matt woke up while she was cooking some pasta for dinner, after he'd slept the whole afternoon. The way he moved, as if he was confused about what had happened some hours before made her stop doing that to reach for him on the couch, or at least try to do exactly that.
-Matt- she called, touching him slightly on his arm, but still ready to jump as far away as possible from his dangerous hands. -It's ok. It's ok. It's me. It's Claire-
-Claire?- he repeated, the first spark of reason after hours of pure delirium -Why are you here? How did he find you?- he was starting to get upset, again, but she tried to resist, using the fact that this time, at least, he had recognized her; she took his hands firmly, struggling to hold him tight despite his bids to free himself from her grab.
-Calm down, Matt. It's me. It's me. It's ok.- She kept repeating those words through all her battle against his terror and confusion.
Matt managed to hit her once or twice, but he was so frail that he couldn't hurt her, luckily; if he were at the best of his shape, she would probably be against the wall right now. Eventually, his strengths ran out, and he stopped fighting her. When he finally surrendered, she couldn't avoid sighing with relief.
-Nobody's found me- she said near to his ear, her lips almost touching it, her voice low to force him to focus only on her. -We met at the church. Do you remember?-
And hour had passed, slowly, definitely too slowly, and Foggy found himself looking at the clock more or less every thirty seconds, his mind stuck on his best friend, somewhere in Boston, afflicted with only God knew what.
Fog, I'm ok. I'm safe. Wonderful, now his brain was Matt Murdock - again.
My ass you are!
-Foggy?- he suddenly came back to reality. Karen was on the door, her right shoulder and head resting on the jamb.
-Yes?-
-It's everything ok?- she looked so concerned he felt queasy at the idea of lying to her one more time.
-Yeah.- he forced himself to speak normally -I'm only a little tired. Don't worry-
-Are you sure?- she didn't seem convinced. He nodded.
-Too much work. It's not so easy without Matt. He is damn good-
Karen smiled and entered in his office.
-You are as good as him. Your only problem is you don't believe in yourself-
-I'm not like him-
-Yes, you are. Remember how scary you were when we went to see Marci for Mrs. Cardenas? And you kicked her ass-
Foggy smiled. It was a total different life. A life in which his best friend was a regular blind guy, and his worst fear was to find him fallen down in an open manhole.
-Yeah... I did...-
The office main door opening interrupted their chat, giving him the chance to avoid finishing the line (because actually he had absolutely no idea on how to finish it). Karen smiled one last time then went back to welcome the new guest.
-Good morning, sir.-
-Good morning- that voice was enough to scare Foggy. For a moment he was paralyzed with terror. That man could cause Matt to have a panic attack. Without him, if he decided to kill them, they would be dead for sure.
Foggy. Think. Ok, his brain was starting to be annoying with this "Matt-voice" thing. But it was right. He had to think, to stay calm.
Good. What is your priority?
Save your ass, Little Horn.
Come on. You can be better than this. Try again.
Try to not get killed by that crazy man?
Better. Try again.
What? Wait... Karen!
That's my Foggy-Bear!
He had to keep Karen safe, and that made him able to walk again. He wasn't Matt, but he knew he had to do his best to not put her in danger.
-Is Mr. Murdock here?- Stick was asking her. Of course he was looking for Matt.
-I'm afraid Mr. Murdock is not here at the moment.-
-When can I find him?-
-I'm... actually, we don't know. He has taken some personal time and we don't know when he is coming back yet-
-Oh, I see.- that Stick was a good actor, Foggy had to admit that, trying not to think that he was probably listening to her heart to detect lies. It was lucky she didn't know the truth. -I heard he is blind... and I hoped he could help me with a case-
-We can take care of you, if you like- The blond lawyer picked up some courage and step into the room from his office. -I'm Franklin Nelson and if you have a problem we'll be glad to help you-
Stick smiled at him and rose an hand to let him and Karen shake it.
-You are my only hope, I think- the old man answered
-Why don't you join me Mr...-
-Stick-
-Mr. Stick, why don't you join me for lunch? There is a nice place not far away from here. The food is good and they have separated tables, so we can speak privately-
Foggy can feel a trickle of cold sweat run down his back. He didn't know exactly how many superpowers the man had, but he knew he could be unbelievably dangerous. He was quite sure he could smell his fear and he hoped at least to be able to keep Karen out of this.
If not, Matt's secret identity would be secret no more -Lunch is on our firm, of course- added when the blind man didn't respond.
-Well... ok- And for the love of theater, Foggy offered him his arm as he was used to doing with Matt, and Stick took it, letting him lead the way. Everything went off as soon as Foggy was sure Karen wouldn't be able to see them from the windows.
He threw away his arm. -Wow. You really are a smart one, aren't you, Mr. Nelson?-
-What do you want?- stupid question, but the important thing was to take time.
-The kid-
-Sorry. I don't have children-
-I'll take back the "you are smart" part. Where is Matt?-
-You are suppose to tell me. He is with you.-
Foggy knew he was out of time. This time he could avoid the question, but how long could that last? Sooner or later he would have to lie, and in that moment, Stick would knew, and all of them would be screwed.
An ordinary lunch-break for the Devil of Hell's Kitchen's best friend.
-He escaped-
-You should pay more attention to your puppy then-
The old man right hand turned into a fist. The lawyer was pushing his luck, he was aware of that, but they were in a crowded street, walking along and talking in low voices, and he knew (hoped, more likely) he wouldn't dare to attack him.
Suddenly his left foot stumbled into something and he needed some steps and a lot of luck to not find his face against the asphalt of the sidewalk. He saw Stick's grin and cursed. He had used that damn cane to make him fall.
How many times Matt done the same prank to him while they were drunk?
-Screw you- he snarled regaining his balance.
-Where is he?- Stick's voice was a whisper, but his tone was starting to be harsh. He was getting angry, Foggy didn't need superpowers to see that, but anyway, he would try to resist for as long as possible.
What the hell had happened?
What was Claire doing?
Calm down, Matty. Calm down.
Foggy's voice echoed in his head, as many other times in the last month. He tried to take some deep breath to clear his mind, but there was something that was preventing him fully doing that. It was like there was a sort of fog covering his brain building some kind of wall between him and the rest of the world.
He could barely feel Claire's hand squeezing his forearms, gentle but strong at the same time. She was holding him down, probably to prevent him from trying to escape.
He didn't remember anything of the past few hours, his memories stopped at the moment in which the nurse had put that sweatshirt on him. Had he fallen asleep? Did he hurt her?
He tried to recall even the smallest image, but whatever was shrouding his brain didn't allow him to do even that.
Panic grew inside him. Had he hurt her? He tried to listen to her body, if there was anything that could give him at least that little answer, but nothing came to his ears.
He tried to shake his head to free himself... and a sudden spin made him almost vomit.
If dizziness were annoying for normal people, for a sightless person it was simply terrible. His body couldn't help himself without the eyes to regain stability, and for him was like being on a roller coaster in the night.
Luckily, he was lying on the couch, and the surface on his back helped him.
-Matt? What's going on? Are you ok?-
-Yes... - he began, then corrected himself. The world on fire was not as raging as it usually was. Everything was hidden by the same fog he was feeling in his head. His ears were receiving too much input at the same time, and he wasn't really able to control them. He turned toward the direction of her voice, but he didn't find her familiar shape. All was a confusing mixture of mist and nothing seemed to be at his place. His heartbeat began to speed up with fear. He was blind, for real this time, well. Not exactly. Blinder than usual were the words that best fit the situation.
Matty. Calm down. Talk to her. Foggy was right. He made a few long deep breaths before speaking again. -Maybe not-
-What is it? Your memories? Do you remember the church?-
Clearly she was thinking he couldn't remember how they met and why he was with her because he'd never answered her question.
-No. I remember... I feel.. It's strange... -
He didn't know how to explain it to her because he hadn't no idea of what was happening to him. Panic rose again in his chest and by instinct he started moving his hand looking desperately for hers. She understood and took it, and he focused on her warm squeeze to try to stop a beginnings of a tremor.
-Matt. Calm down, please- her voice came to help him, something clear between all the noises in his head, while her fresh fingers were caressing his forehead. -I can help you, but you have to talk to me... How do you feel?-
-Foggy- His best friend's nickname was also the word that best described what was happening.
-I've already called him. He is going to call me back. He seemed really worried about you-
-No... I mean. I feel... like...there is a fog...around me... in my head... and...all these noises...- Matt tried to explain himself.
-Can't you...I don't know...shut them out? With... I don't know...meditation?-
-Can't...focus-
-Matt... I think you're running a temperature. Maybe there are some inflammations in your bruisers, or maybe it's due to your panic... can I check?-
He simply nodded. Fever could be a good explanation for everything, and he had to admit that he had spent the last few nights in less than ideal conditions for maintaining health.
It would explain the cold and the soreness he was feeling in his bones, the fog and his lack of concentration.
Wait.
Did she said he had called Foggy?
Shit.
In that moment someone knocked on the door.
Matt got tense, trying and failing to feel the visitor's heartbeat.
There was only one person able to hide it so well.
-Claire- he whispered -Don't open the door-
He tried to sit, clinging to the backrest of the couch to support the position. He had to figure out something to protect Claire.
-Who is it, Matt?- He was scaring her, and he was sorry about that, but he was too weak to face him and all he wanted was for her to be safe.
-It's him- he answered
(1)Little Horn is the English translation of the Italian translation of one of DD's nickname in comic books, Horn-Head. It Italy has been translated with "cornetto" (yes, like the ice-cream), I think because the real translation, "cornuto", it's something really bad to say to someone. Reading "cornetto" makes me smile every time, and little horn sounds really cute in English too... so... that's where it comes from.
Thanks for reading so far!
