Chapter 9: Daredevil
The silence in the quinjet was broken about halfway through when Mack finally addressed the "elephant on the plane" as Ward once put it. "You know I'm on your side, right?"
This was a crucial moment, one that would determine the course of their partnership, and while Skye wasn't completely sure of his intentions, she didn't want to get off on the wrong foot. Even if he had called her dangerous and said SHIELD needed to be protected from her. Even if he'd infiltrated and then attacked the base, injuring some people and kidnapping others. "You saved Coulson's life," she replied, "and you're still here. That's what counts." She really didn't want to risk liking him, though, or getting attached again, in case he ended up turning on her again.
His leg bounced up and down on the floor of the plane with rarely-seen nervous energy. "So, uh, what's with the Cheez-Its?"
Rather than explaining how she couldn't find any actual cheese on the base and didn't want to be bothered shopping, she said, "Sort of an inside joke. Don't worry; I don't think Matt will give us any trouble."
"Yeah? What about whatever gave him his still-undefined superpowers? Think we'll get any trouble from that?"
"I guess we could," Skye admitted.
The rest of the trip stayed mostly silent, punctuated by a few weak attempts at conversation. Both of them were trying, and as long as they both kept trying, Skye hoped they could make this work. The crux of the matter really was whether or not she could trust him. So many people had lied to her in the past few years. Miles, Ward, the rest of the Hydra agents within SHIELD, the "Real SHIELD," her mother. Even Matt.
Skye's fist clenched around the Cheez-It box as they made their cloaked landing in a park, and she took a cab down to Matt's place. He didn't answer when she knocked, and she realized they'd never set an exact time. She dialed his phone and listened to the ringing coming from inside the apartment.
Frowning, she knocked on the door again. "Matt!" she called. Still nothing. She hated to bust down a second door within the span of two days, so she picked the lock and called his name again just to make sure she didn't get hit in the face when she entered.
When she made it through the front hallway to the main living area, she found a deserted room bathed in changing shades of neon. A bright billboard outside lit the interior and allowed her to explore the rest of the small space without bumping into anything. Once she'd assured herself that the bedroom and bathroom were devoid of life as well, and that the door at the top of the steps that lead to the roof was locked, she risked turning on the lights. (Why would he even have lights if he was blind? she asked herself. Or that art on the wall? Karen mentioned that, back when we were shopping.)
Then she called Matt again and followed the sound to his cell phone. It lay abandoned on his bed alongside a suit and dress shirt, with a pair of work shoes kicked underneath the bed. Finding no answers here, she returned to the main room and immediately went to investigate a battered green trunk that sat open against one wall.
A tray that looked like it fit into the trunk lay beside it, and Skye started there, picking through an old boxing robe and other memorabilia belonging to Matt's father, the locally famous Battlin' Jack Murdock, who'd been murdered when Matt was young. The bottom portion of the trunk was a little more interesting. There was a Braille book with a cross on the cover (presumably a Bible or prayer book) and a little rosary tucked in a corner, and the rest was full of worn black clothing and light padding.
A voice from overhead answered her thoughts on the subject. "That was the early model." When Skye whipped her head up, she saw Daredevil standing at the top of the staircase, in full red and black regalia, just as she'd seen him last. This time he wasn't hiding, though.
"I didn't hear you come in."
"I keep the door oiled." He limped down the stairs, wincing as he descended to her level. He waved one gloved hand to the kitchen portion of the room. "Beer's in the fridge. Help yourself."
"I brought Cheez-Its. Does that mean we're ready to talk about philosophy?"
"Or whatever."
Skye snorted and stood up. "Okay, let's start with why you've been pretending to be blind."
As Daredevil drew closer, she could see his lower features more clearly, including the swollen cheekbone highlighted by a thick red line from his scabbed-over injury. He removed his mask and tousled the hair that it had flattened. "I'm not pretending to be blind. I'm pretending I don't have... other abilities."
"And what would those be?"
"The short version: my other senses are enhanced. Make yourself comfortable for a minute. I have to change."
Skye regarded the mind-boggling image of blind Matt Murdock's head on top of a vigilante's costume. "You don't have to do that on my account."
"I'm not. Ice packs don't work well through the suit."
He slipped into his room and slid the door shut again, and Skye asked through the thin barrier, "If you're blind, how come you have these old newspaper articles about your dad?"
There was a long pause. "It helps me to know they're there. Like a talisman, I guess you could say. Besides, other people still want to see them, and sometimes I let them."
So the lights and art were probably for other people, too. She did grab a beer from the fridge, break into the Cheez-Its, and settle into a black armchair. The chair faced away from the bedroom, but Skye tried not to think of him as the enemy, or someone who'd sneak up and assassinate her given half the chance.
Well, he wouldn't assassinate her if what he said about his no-killing rule was true. "Hey, Matt? What you were saying about SHIELD back at Foggy's place..."
"Yes, I still expect you to pay for the door."
"I mean the rest of it," she clarified unnecessarily. He was teasing her again. "Would you have said it if you weren't in the mask?"
The door opened. "Yes, although I would've used a different voice."
He shuffled past her and made his way to the kitchen. Skye studied his back as he continued to limp along, checking out the trim torso outline visible beneath his tight t-shirt, along with his muscular arms. His lower half was more ambiguous, shrouded in a pair of baggy sweatpants, the ankles of which were tucked into his tube socks.
It was an oddly humanizing detail, and Skye found herself smiling a little as Matt washed his hands and returned from the kitchen with his ice pack and beer. He lowered himself onto the couch opposite from her, propped his left foot up on his coffee table, and applied the ice. As he arranged himself accordingly, Skye worked on her drink, and when he was done, she asked, "So, how did you get your powers?"
"It was the accident that blinded me."
Her spine went rigid. "Wait, all this time? You've had superpowers all this time?"
"All the time you've known me," Matt confirmed, "and a little more. What about you? I'm sure you didn't have vibration powers back then. Those are loud and annoying, by the way."
"Recent transformation. I'm what you would call an Inhuman. That means I..." A smile flitted across his face, which he masked by raising his beer to his lips. "You already knew that, didn't you? You were listening to me and Simmons talk the other night. That's how you knew we were lying and that we were SHIELD agents."
"I knew something was up since I met you at the orphanage the other day. First you and Simmons were lying left and right about what you did, and then after I left you two, you started talking about how you were going to draw out Daredevil. It sort of worked, by the way. I watched over you that night, and I had to scare off a couple guys headed your way with knives. Eventually, I decided it'd be simpler to have Foggy drag you into Josie's." He huffed at the memory. "If I hadn't been walking Karen home afterwards, maybe I would've heard your plans for Night #2, and we would've been spared that confrontation. Yes, I followed you to your hotel after that and heard the part about SHIELD."
"Were you there when I went to the window?" She was disappointed when he shook his head, though not surprised. She'd been hoping she'd at least caught him in the act, but apparently not. "Never mind. Why didn't you ever say anything back in the day?"
"It was the first instinct of a nine-year-old boy to keep his mouth shut and not draw attention to himself."
"Being blind, you still got noticed. When kids picked on you, you could've set them straight."
Matt took another swig from the glass bottle. "Better that than the alternative. I didn't know about agencies like SHIELD at the time; I just had a vague sense that it would be bad for me to say anything. For the most part, I'm glad I went with that instinct. It's safer for me and for the people I care about if others underestimate me."
"Don't you hate that?"
He considered his answer. "For the most part, it's empowering to know something they don't. When people talk down to me – intentionally or unintentionally – that's what I can't stand."
At least he was talking more freely now that he didn't have his big secret to protect. "You must eavesdrop on people a lot."
"More than I should, less than I could. Unless there's crime afoot, I block out what I can."
That seemed a fair enough answer, so Skye let it go at that. "So, would you mind if I asked you some questions while I'm here?"
"I figured that's why you came, but first, I have some questions for you, namely: How many people are going to know about me, and what do you plan to do about it?"
"People will only learn your secret identity if there's a reason they need to know – basically the Director and his inner circle, plus anyone who's involved in a related case."
His fingers drummed against his bottle. "And you're 100% positive that no one can leak your secrets all over the web like Black Widow did? And that you do not have and will not have any spies in the ranks like your Hydra friends?"
Boy, was Skye tired of people throwing that word around. "They're not my friends."
"Really? None of them were your friends? None of them were people you trusted? And are you really arrogant enough to believe that it could never happen again?"
The truth of the words hit her in the gut. Matt didn't pull his punches verbally any more than he did physically. "Yes, Daredevil, I know not everyone is what they seem. Even if you've known them for a long time and even if you think they're your friends."
Matt spread his hands wide, pausing to punctuate his point. "Then you know why it's so important for me to keep my identity hidden."
After her mouth opened and closed uselessly a couple times, Skye finally said, "See, this is why no one likes lawyers. I do get it, Matt; I really do, but it's not up to me. I'll talk to the Director. He's reviewing our powered index policies anyway."
"Why? Recent security breach?"
Her uncomfortable silence provided his confirmation. In fact it was Skye's own father who recently used SHIELD's index to form a bad guy squad. "I'll talk to him," she repeated. "He's a reasonable guy."
"I'll accept that for now, but I want a follow-up."
"Absolutely. Maybe he'd even talk to you himself if that would set your mind at ease." If his mind was ever at ease, which was a state she'd never noticed from him before.
"What about the other matter? What do you all intend to do about Daredevil right now?"
"We'll keep an eye on the news and on police reports, and as long as it looks like you're not taking things too far, there's no need to interfere." In the old days, SHIELD would've taken no chances, but they didn't have the resources to hold onto too many prisoners at once, and giving him to Talbot would've been a drastic step. "But personally, I'd appreciate you taking things down a notch. As Simmons pointed out to me recently, when one superhero acts out like that, it looks bad for the rest of us."
"I'm not a superhero."
"Fine. 'Powered person,' then." She thought back to the victims she'd been interviewing earlier. "Simmons and I were talking with a Mr. Dixon recently. You left him pretty badly off." Another brief smile from Matt, as quickly suppressed as the others. This time, though, the light in his eyes was different. He wasn't poking fun at her, he was relishing a memory. "Do you know who I'm talking about?" she asked although she knew the answer to the question.
"Stanley Dixon. B&E gone wrong. He woke up a kid who didn't want apartment to be robbed, and the decided to be a hero. He confronted Mr. Dixson with a baseball bat and got three broken bones for his trouble."
"Dixon had more than that when you were through with him. He said he even when he was down, you didn't stop beating on him." She tried to keep it non-confrontational and non-accusatory by eating some of her Cheez-Its. It didn't help.
Matt took a handful, too, and munched slowly. "That wasn't a question. Didn't you say you had some questions you wanted me to answer?"
"Yeah, here's the first one: Why do you hurt people that badly?"
"It's not because I like hurting people, or because I can't control myself. Aren't those your two biggest worries? I do it because I need to. Fear and the threat of violence can keep some people in check. You saw the bikers the other night. They would've gotten into a pointless scuffle, and innocent people could've gotten hurt, but they thought twice and decided it wasn't worth it."
Skye sincerely hoped that was the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. She would let it go for now, but she'd definitely keep an eye on the level of violence when keeping tabs on Daredevil. "And you really didn't kill that ninja archer at St. Agnes?" He shook his head, and she backed off that line of questioning. "Okay, good enough. Now my big question of the night: what can you tell me about the stuff that gave you your powers?"
"It was a radioactive isotope in a few containers of hazardous chemicals made by Rand Oil & Chemicals. That's part of an international corporation called Rand Enterprises, which is based here in the city. They swept the incident under the rug as much as they could, but I did some digging when I got older, and I found that the chemicals were part of a batch that went bad, and that's why Rand was in a hurry to get it out of the city. It's not something that's actually in production, and it would be nearly impossible to reproduce, given that the project managers weren't sure what went wrong in the first place."
"Those project managers sound awfully chatty. I suppose some 'fear and threats of violence' from Daredevil was enough to loosen their tongues."
"Only after they refused to talk to Matt Murdock."
"Does Matt Murdock often talk about himself in the third person?"
Matt flushed, finally caught off-guard. "Only for the purposes of distinction. I know that Matt and Daredevil are the same person." That didn't sound better, so he tried again. "That they're both a part of me. There's really no good way to say that, is there?" He laughed off the misspoken words. "So, Skye, did SHIELD want anything else from me?"
"Well, Simmons wants to study you."
"That's a flat no."
"Figured. She's already gone."
"Replaced by the man outside?"
The comment took Skye aback for a second. She hadn't specifically asked Mack to stay in the quinjet, but she assumed he would. He might've assumed he was supposed to follow her from a safe distance, but they didn't actually talk about it. That's what they got for spending most of the ride in awkward silence. "Hang on a sec." She put in her earpiece and switched it on. "Hey, Mack, is that you outside?"
"Yeah. Need me?"
"No. Just making sure. I'm going back to radio silence." She popped it out again and switched it off before tucking it back in her pocket. "Sorry 'bout that."
Matt was deep in thought by this point. "I don't know if it means anything, Skye, but I wouldn't have lied to you if it wasn't important. I know I've lied to a lot of people over the years, and I know it hurts to be lied to, but..." He shook his head. "Actually, there's no 'but.' I just hope you can understand."
The sad brown eyes took a lot of the anger out of whatever he was going to say next. (Had she ever seen his eyes before? She didn't think so.) Skye deflated in her chair, tension draining from her and giving way to exhaustion. "I'm a spy. Of course I understand. I lie to people all the time. I just don't like it when people lie to me. For the record, I'm also sorry I lied to you when I first came back to the city. I really just wanted to use St. Agnes, and then you, to accomplish my mission."
"I know, and I'm not going to judge you for that. That's just the reality of the world we live in."
It was entirely possible that Skye had finally met someone as cynical as Agent May. "That's a terrible way of looking at things, Matt. There are good, honest people out there, too."
He shrugged. "Most people would lie for one reason or another, even if it is only to protect themselves or their loved ones. Just like most people would hurt someone under the right set of circumstances, and it doesn't necessarily mean they're bad people. For me, intentions are important, and I trust yours."
Okay, fine. He was less cynical than May. Just like most of Earth's population. "Likewise. You know, it's funny, but before I joined SHIELD, I was part of a hacktivist group dedicated to exposing truth. At the time, I thought the public had the right to know everything about everything, but now..." She shook her head.
"Now it's a little more complicated than that."
"Yeah." Skye stood slowly, thinking that was a good note to end on. "I think I should be getting back, but I'll let you know what the Director says."
"Thank you, Skye. And after you get that sorted one way or another, maybe we could catch up for real."
Skye hesitated, tried to think what angles he might be working, and then made a firm effort to accept his offer at face value. " I'd like that," she said. She exited, pondering the Matt Murdock philosophy of "everyone lies but it doesn't necessarily mean they're bad people." It was good that he thought that, seeing what he did to those he considered to be "bad people." As for her... Well, everyone she worked with was a liar by trade, and they were some of the best people she'd ever known.
She took her time exiting the building, but Mack wasted no time in joining her once she was out. "What did you learn?" he asked anxiously, eyes on the looming apartment above.
"He thinks the chemical that changed him was all destroyed, but we can check to make sure."
"Yeah, and what about him?"
Skye smiled, knowing Matt was probably listening, and said, "I think he's one of the good guys." She paused, cleared her throat, and then ventured, "Hey, Mack, do you want to grab pizza before we go back to the base? There's this place I used to go as I kid, and I've been craving a slice."
Mack tilted his head, surprised by the sudden request. "Uh, sure," he stuttered out. "I mean, we probably shouldn't take too long in case Murdock was wrong and we really do have dangerous substances to secure."
"Well then, partner, we'd better get moving."
