Author's Note: Finished Luke Cage's second season today. Absolutely blown away. Enormous recommendation to anyone who hasn't gotten to it yet.
Here's to many more stories from our little Netflix corner of the MCU!
A fist hammered against the front door of the Temples' apartment, Luke hovering just outside the door with Danny's arm draped around his shoulder.
It only took a few seconds for Claire to open it for the two of them, hands on her hips. "What in the…?"
Without waiting for her to invite them in, Luke led Danny into the entrance hall, forcing Claire to take a couple of steps back. "Claire, I need some help," he grumbled.
"Uh, okay, let me just pump the brakes on this for a second." Claire crossed her arms, looking over Danny with uncertainty. "Who the hell is this guy? …And what happened to him?"
"It's a long story."
Danny flashed her a tiny smile. "I'm Danny Rand. It's good to meet you." He winced from pain as he spoke.
"Right. Sure." She sighed, glaring at Luke expectantly. "I thought the whole point of you going alone was that nobody was going to get hurt, hero."
"I know. I'm sorry, baby. I didn't plan this; Danny was just… there." Luke looked at Danny again with some distaste.
"They sprung a trap. That's the only reason they were able to get me," Danny mumbled, a little defensive.
"Alright. I've heard enough." Claire jabbed a finger in Danny's direction. "You. Living room. Lie down and try not to move. And get your shirt off."
With a tiny pout, Danny nodded and exited into the living room, leaving Claire and Luke alone.
She turned back to Luke expectantly. "Okay. So who the hell is this guy?"
"I'll explain everything in a minute, Claire," he replied, stepping to the side to brush past her. "Right now we need to-"
"Luke. No." She grabbed his forearm to stop him. "You don't get to do this. You don't get to just roll up and ask me to do shit for you without giving me any info. I'm with you, but I don't work for you." She paused for a moment to let that sink in. "Look at this from my perspective for a minute. How am I supposed to know Kilgrave didn't send this guy along with you to spy on me? Or, y'know, to kill me?"
Luke hesitated, briefly at a loss for words.
"You have to keep me in the loop," she added seriously.
"Alright. I'm sorry." He took a breath. "I don't know that much about him, either. He's a vigilante or something. I found him getting attacked at the facility at Pier 81. He's after the same thing as me. He…" Luke looked up briefly, toward the living room. "…He's got abilities. Kind of like me."
She widened her eyes briefly, then allowed herself a loud, incredulous sigh, running a hand through her hair. "You've got to be kidding me…"
"I know, I know; I thought the same thing. His… his fist lights up. I don't remember what he called it. But it's strong- really strong; even stronger than me. The way I see it, if Danny was going to attack me, he has the means to do it. And he was already injured- and in the middle of getting his ass beat- before I even found him. I'm sure he's not under Kilgrave's control."
"So… what, then? He's just some kid with a Rambo complex? Why would he be doing this?"
"I don't know. But right now, he's after Kilgrave, and that means that we're on the same side. At least for the time being." Luke's eyes flitted to the living room.
Claire looked directly into his eyes, trying to read his expression. "…And I guess going to the hospital is out of the question…?"
"This isn't exactly legal. And having to deal with police would just be another roadblock…"
Disappointed but not surprised, Claire nodded, turning away from him with a nod. "Yeah, yeah… alright. I'll get my medical bag. Uh… get him some water; looks like he's lost a lot of blood…"
"Thank you, Claire."
"You owe me one."
The two of them parted as they entered the living room, Claire heading to her bedroom to get supplies while Luke headed into the kitchen to fill a glass of water. Positioned on the couch, Danny ripped away the tatters of his hoodie and his shirt, letting the cloth fall to the floor. Two metal pins remained stuck in his shoulder, and the tear in his forearm was still tied off with a piece of his sleeve.
The bedroom door slammed shut as Claire marched back into the living room, now donning a pair of latex gloves. Luke stepped in through the kitchenette with the glass of water as she knelt by the couch, examining Danny's chest with her tongue in her cheek.
"Wow. Nice tattoo."
"It's not a tattoo," Danny mumbled.
"Sure it isn't." She scratched the back of her neck, eyeing up Danny's wound. "So what happened, exactly?"
Danny clenched his teeth. "The guy had some kind of needle gun. Stuck me with a few of these… pins… or whatever they are."
He winced as Claire gently touched one of the flechettes in his chest with a finger, staring at the wound with revulsion. "Jesus, that's medieval…"
"Can you help?" Luke asked, moving in to stand over them.
"I think so. Won't be pretty, though."
Luke set the glass down on the table beside Danny before taking a seat in the chair across from them, folding his hands on his lap. Danny gulped down water as Claire returned to her medical bag to consider her options.
"I'm surprised you didn't take these out," she mumbled, picking up a pair of tweezers.
"It's a puncture wound… I thought you were supposed to leave them in?" Danny exchanged a glance with her, and she pursed her lips.
"Good call. These pinheads could be stopping some bleeding. Probably one of the reasons you haven't gone into shock yet."
"So can you take them out?"
"I'm gonna have to eventually, aren't I? If you're not going to an operating room, we're gonna have to do it here." She leaned over Danny with a frown, pointing to the flechettes with the tweezers in her hand. "These little fins at the ends will make the cut wider on the ends. Might mean you start bleeding pretty severely. But at least it stopped them from getting embedded too deep." She took a breath. "Stay still; I'm gonna take them out. We need to keep pressure on the wound." Reaching behind her, she grabbed a small ceramic bowl from the table behind her laid it on Danny's stomach, picking at him with the tweezers in her other hand.
Blood trickled out of the puncture wounds as Claire pulled the flechettes out, dropping them both in the bowl with a clink. Setting the bowl to the side, she leaned into the wound with a gauze pad, looking back at her medical bag.
"Don't know about that tear on your arm… might be able to get away without have to stitch it up, but you're gonna have to be careful not to put too much strain on it."
"No. No, I need to get moving soon…
"No, you need to lie the hell down and stay put. Unless you want to open your wounds again and pass out from blood loss." Claire made no attempt to hide a roll of her eyes. "Come on. I do not want to have to put stitches in you. Why does everyone I patch up have to be so self-destructive?" Leaning back from Danny, she reached behind her and took hold of Luke's hand, pressing it into Danny's wound. "Keep pressure on it."
Luke nodded and knelt on the couch as he did as he was told, watching Claire over his shoulder. "She's right, Danny. You're too hurt. You need to tag out. Seriously."
"I don't see you slowing down, Luke," Danny replied sharply. "Don't act like you and I weren't in the same boat back there. I'm the one that bailed us out. Remember?" He raised a fist, earning a raised eyebrow from Claire.
Luke rolled his eyes. "Tell that to the dude in the devil costume. He would have killed you if I hadn't been there. I found you kneeling in a pool of your own blood."
"Hang on. Hang on." Pouring a solution into a cloth, Claire stood to Luke's side and untied the bind around Danny's arm, replacing it with the wet cloth. "Back up. Devil costume? Who are you talking about, Luke?"
"It's exactly what it sounds like," mumbled Danny.
"The devil character from Hell's Kitchen," Luke added. "The one you've talked about before."
"Yeah. I know him. I know him…" Claire bit her lip, thinking. "…Ah, crap. Kilgrave does have him…"
"He didn't seem so tough to me."
"Yeah, maybe not to you. But you're a pretty goddamn special case." Stricken by the realization, Claire let out a tired sigh, leaning away from Danny for a moment. "Damn it… I need to call Foggy."
"Foggy? Why?"
She let out a groan "…It's a long story."
"What about me?" asked Danny, sitting up suddenly.
"Yeah. I'm taking things one step at a time. Now sit your ass down so I can finish up on you." Claire slid forward again, clutching the saline cloth.
Danny winced as she pressed it into his wound. "Look- ngh- look, you guys seem like good people, but you don't know all the details here. This Kilgrave guy… he took everything from me. Taking him down is the only thing that matters to me. This wound is just… just a small setback."
"Oh, yeah?" Claire set aside the now blood-soaked cloth. "And what… did he take from you…?" She mumbled that last part as she wrapped the wound with sterile bandages, sliding to the side to take over for Luke putting pressure on Danny's shoulder.
Danny steeled himself. "He stole my birthright. Rand, my father's company. There was a place for me there- I'm supposed to own over half the shares. But he… forced me to sign them over."
Now without anything to do, Luke stepped away from the couch, crossing his arms with an unimpressed grimace. "Danny, he killed my wife."
Danny glanced briefly at Luke with surprise, but shook it off. "Okay… fine, then. So he took something from both of us."
Luke and Claire exchanged a disbelieving glance.
"…Yeah. I guess you could put it like that," Luke murmured.
"It doesn't change anything." Danny narrowed his eyes. "I want him beaten. That's the only thing that matters right now."
"We all want him beaten, genius. You didn't see the bullet holes in his shirt?" Claire pointed at Luke, making no attempt to hide an enormous eye-roll. "Let's think about this for a second. You're facing off against a guy who can make people do whatever he wants just by talking to them, and your plan was to attack him head on? That's asinine, and it's an easy way to fail. Like, spectacularly. You can't solve every problem just by bulldozing through people with a glow-in-the-dark fist."
Danny glowered at her for a moment, but his head quickly turned to Luke, perturbed. "…Dude… you told her about the Iron Fist…?"
Luke shrugged halfheartedly. "What, was it supposed to be subtle?"
"Listen," said Claire. "We only beat him if we outsmart him. So he can't see you coming, right? What's the best way to do that?"
"Get him where he lives." Luke crossed his arms. "Where he sleeps…"
"Okay… so… where's that?"
"There's no easy way to find out. He's been a step ahead of me this whole time. Like I said, the reason they almost got me today was because they sprung a trap." Danny spoke bitterly, resigned to remain seated after Claire's derision.
"Yeah. He's secretive. Information like that is something he would be careful not to let out," said Luke.
"And he'd probably have security there."
"Now that's something I'm not worried about."
Claire smirked briefly at that, taking a long sigh before responding. "Then the missing piece is… how do we get someone to turn on Kilgrave?"
"We actually might have a certain advantage." Luke said this cautiously, and Claire and Danny both directed their full attention to him as he spoke. "Kilgrave's operating on a bigger scale than he did before. That means he has people working for him that he isn't directly influencing with his powers." Luke nodded once, thinking it over. "We saw that when we went to search Jessica's apartment. Her neighbor was being strong-armed by lesser criminals, not by Kilgrave himself."
"That's true. But don't forget- Jessica's neighbor had never even heard the name Kilgrave. Anyone close enough to have personal information about him…"
"…Is going to be directly under his control. Shit…"
"It's beside the point anyway," said Danny, clutching a fist. "The ambush tonight just proves that Kilgrave is expecting people to try and use his criminal underlings to get to him. The only business I've ever actually been able to confirm that he personally attends to is Rand, and all the employees there are victims to his every whim. I can't even get in the front door."
Claire blinked. "Wait, you know where spends his time? You mean, you've confirmed it?"
"I didn't just confirm it," Danny scoffed. "I met him there. How do you think he compelled me to sign the company away in the first place?"
"Okay. Okay!" She threw up her hands. "So we have something to work with after all."
"Except we can't go after him there. Like I said, I can't even get in the front door."
"And Kilgrave and I have crossed paths multiple times before. He'd see me coming from a mile away if I tried going after him there," said Luke.
"What about me? Kilgrave hasn't seen me before; he doesn't even know who I am." Finished with Danny's wounds, Claire set aside the cloth, stepping from the couch.
"How would you get in?" Getting defensive again, Danny touched a hand to his chest, sitting up. "I mean, no offense, but… you have no business with Rand. Kilgrave was controlling Ward Meachum- the CEO. You'd never be able to get in the same room with him."
"Fine. Maybe not me, then." She narrowed her eyes. "But it's something. Right? I'll tell you what." She looked Danny sharply in the eye. "You want to go after Kilgrave now? You have plenty of time to strategize."
Luke just smirked at that. "You have to admit, she's got you there."
"Franklin P. Nelson, Es-"
"-Foggy, it's Claire. Can you talk?"
Fingers drumming uneasily on the phone, Claire leaned on the wall of her bedroom, the others out of earshot.
"I can talk. But what's wrong?" Foggy was quick to respond on the other end, speaking uneasily. "Sounds like something bad…"
"It's about…"
"…Oh, shit…"
"…Kilgrave has him."
There was a tangible pause, and Claire gritted her teeth as she allowed Foggy a little bit of time to take that information in.
"How… do you know…?" Foggy asked after a while, voice suddenly a little hoarse.
"Luke came face-to-face with him tonight."
"What is that bastard making him do?"
"Fight. It looks like." Claire closed her eyes. "Ugh… I'm sorry. This is what you were worried about."
"He's in over his head." Foggy sighed loudly. "God damn it, this is my fault…"
"Don't go down that road, Foggy. You don't deserve it, and it's not going to do any good. Trust me when I tell you, Matt is carrying enough guilt on his shoulders for the both of you. And it's not going to fix things any sooner."
"Then what is? If Matt can't stop Kilgrave, what chance do we stand?" Foggy hesitated. "…What happened to Luke?"
"Don't worry, don't worry. Luke is just fine. He's staying with me right now." Claire leaned back, taking a surreptitious glance through the bedroom door. "Actually, he made a friend. A special friend. Like Matt and Luke."
"You're kidding me."
"I wish."
"Okay, well…" Foggy huffed, "…well, that's something, right? Who's the new guy? What's his story?"
"Name's Danny. I don't know much about him. He seems a little… off… but he has information on Kilgrave that I think might be useful." She slowed down a little. "Apparently Kilgrave has taken control of a corporation called 'Rand'. That's been, like, his HQ. Now, I don't know if that's something that we can use right away, but-"
"Hold on, hold on!" Foggy cut her off abruptly, voice suddenly filled with energy. "Did you say Rand? As in Rand Enterprises?"
"Uh, yeah-" Claire tripped over her words for a second- "-What, are you involved with them or something?"
"They're one of my clients!" Foggy exclaimed. "-I mean, not one of mine, but… one of my firm's. Jeri Hogarth personally represented them before the suicide- I mean, before she died…"
"You're shitting me."
"No! I've worked with them before. The senior partners were right in the middle of delegating a lot of Hogarth's boilerplate paperwork when I signed on, so…"
"…So you could get in the building."
"…I, uh." Foggy paused. "Sure, I could."
Claire lowered the phone from her ear for a moment, leaning her head back against the wall.
After everything that had happened. Finally some news like this.
She stared at her phone. "…Sweet Christmas."