He had to find out what made her different; he had to. It wasn't stalking – it really wasn't. Matt – or, well, Daredevil given that he had his outfit on – just needed to a) protect the woman he could mysteriously see and b) figure out why he, being blind, could see one person. No one else – he'd gone with Foggy through any large crowded places in the city and high up on Times Square when work let out – nothing. There was fire and not a single black spot of nothingness – never mind an actual person – to be found.

So, as it stood, she was the only one.

Matt still didn't know why.

Meissa was lying on her back, on the roof, staring up at the sky. She appeared completely relaxed. There was no one else there – Matt wondered what she was doing here. New York with its light pollution was not the ideal spot to gaze at the stars; but what did he know.

Only then he noticed how his mystery woman got tenser, her breathing shallower and heartbeat faster. He saw (or as much as he could in the dark; he kept forgetting how much night-time would affect other people's vision – and now his own, of her at least) her surreptitious glances around. He'd been noticed – or at least his focus on her had been.

He watched as Meissa gave up on hiding her suspicions, grabbing the blanket and pillow she'd been lying on and rushing for the stairs back down. He listened and counted the steps as she ran back down to her apartment. Curiously, once in her apartment, he felt her tap something beside the door but nothing happened – except her breathing eased up and she relaxed.

Interesting. As far as Matt could see nothing had changed or happened and yet she relaxed as if she was now safer than she had been after just closing the door to her apartment. Finally, the light switch went on and as Meissa approached the window to close the blinds, he noticed her look around again and Matt easily ducked underneath the balustrade, hiding himself from her view. He waited another moment after she'd closed the blinds but she appeared to have settled down to read, as far as he could tell. Or maybe watch television – the sound was insanely dampened inside the apartments and Matt wasn't sure if he would hear television if it were turned on.

That would make it a lot more difficult to intervene in domestic violence situations if he couldn't hear them occurring. Matt wondered what criminal intent lurked behind the soundproofing installed in this new apartment block and reminded himself to add it to their research list as suspicious activities may be occurring inside. He had made sure that they did a preliminary scan when the building got approval within a fraction of the time it should take to go through the bureaucratic channels, but hadn't stumbled over anything suspicious. The adverts Foggy had told him about in the newspaper for poor families or single parents had made him only more suspicious – easy access to children? To vulnerable people? If they lowered the rent that much, what did they get out of it? But when nothing had come of it, they had let it lie. Now, knowing about the soundproofing which would mean even if Meissa – or anyone else in the building – screamed for help, Daredevil wouldn't be able to assist, well, that put things in a different light.

They would have to double down on the investigation into the owner tomorrow. For now, Daredevil had to assist the people who actually needed his help.


It wasn't the last night he appeared on the roofs, watching (over) her. He avoided the café for now – he needed to find out more, first, needed to make sure she wasn't a trap (although how someone could make a person visible he still didn't understand).

Unfortunately, Daredevil's preoccupation – and absences – had not gone as unnoticed in the criminal world as he would have hoped. It really shouldn't have been a surprise to find the criminal he was following heading straight for that specific roof among the hundreds of others.

Wiping the blood away from his chin, Daredevil righted himself and followed quickly, trying to make it there faster, keep her safe.

He didn't make it there first, however, but he was only a few seconds behind, at least.

"Look, sweetheart," the criminal was saying, still out of breath but his gun pointing steadily at her chest from the right, her arm held tightly in his, "nowhere to run, unless you fancy a swim. So, what's so special about you, Doll, that you get the personal protection of the Daredevil?"

"The who now?" Matt saw her eyes furrow for a second before they cleared "Oh! That masked guy here in Hell's Kitchen!"

Someone really should tell her not to engage your attacker in conversation – amiable conversation at that. She didn't even seem phased; if anything her heartbeat had calmed down as if used to dangerous situations. It was interesting, seeing her through the mask where very few gaps in the cloth allowed for sight – after all, he hadn't ever needed to see before.

"Yes, him," the guy holding her had apparently gestured towards him in some way, but his grip on Meissa was tight. Matt may be able to get the gun away from him before he could get off a shot, but there was a chance he wouldn't or that she may get shot whilst he is trying to free her.

Not an acceptable option.

Maybe she had it right with the talking after all.

"You been the one watching me the last few nights, then?" Her head was tilted but her eyes were steadfast and focussed on him. He winced. Well, alright, so that did sound like stalking. A little bit.

"Ah! You didn't have any bad intent, that's why it didn't work. And I really should have included the roof! I just – you know, airspace, I didn't want to accidentally interfere and it's such a difficult thing to get right without upper limit so- yeah. Anyway. You probably have no idea what I'm talking about," she continued, and Daredevil felt a smirk curl at his lips – she wasn't wrong.

He didn't know why she presumed or how she determined he didn't have bad intent towards her – and while glad for her presumption, he really wanted to shake her and remind her that strange men staring at her during the night should not be permissible, whatever their intent and how would she know what his intent was anyway? But he kept quiet because for the moment it was definitely going in his favour and he didn't quite want to disabuse her of that notion.

"Well, as much fun as this has been, I'm going to bow out now. Leave you boys to your fun and all that."

Matt's brow furrowed and he could see the guy holding her turn to give her more of his attention now that she may not continue being the compliant victim he had dealt with up until now, but then she twisted her wrist sharply enough his hold slackened momentarily and with a quick step back she was up on the ledge and jumped before either of them could get a hold of her.

Well, fuck. Her heartbeat hadn't increased, nor had her breathing. Her face had remained impassive – and maybe even a little amused – before she jumped. There hadn't been a single sign that she intended to do this. Jumping into water at this height – the water surface tension would be like concrete. She'd break every bone in her body and if that didn't kill her, she would drown!

The splash he heard was loud but Daredevil was already in motion well before then – the man who'd led her to jump was unconscious on the floor along with his gun by then. Matt found the easiest access route and jumped his way down, rushing towards the water below the apartment block, hoping she would somehow – miraculously – have survived.

He didn't know if he would still be able to see her below water, but there was not much for it, if he wanted to find out. So Daredevil jumped, pulling the mask up over his eyes once he was below water.

What he hadn't expected to see was a massive killer whale – sorry, Orca now – just half a meter in front of him.

Fuck.

Okay, he could freak out about the fact that the killer whale had a black outline and that he could see every single tooth in its open mouth. Tiny rows of sharpened teeth.

Stick taught him how to fight people – not marine animals! Okay, calm – was this – should he try and run or was that what attracted them? He knew people weren't an Orca's normal diet (thank god for small mercies) but that was the limit of what he knew? Was running more or less likely to make it bite him? Was it better to punch it or just stay still?

How long could he hold his breath anyway?

Had the orca eaten her? Was that why he could see it now. Fuck. That was really not good. But why else would it too be surrounded by that darkness and be visible? It made a sick kind of sense.

At last, the orca closed its mouth and then nudged him slightly until he was floating above it.

Okay, great, maybe now he could escape and- Oh god, he was going to die.

The orca had floated to the top, with Daredevil on its back and he barely had the presence of mind to tuck the mask further down.

Then it accelerated with Daredevil now desperately holding onto the fin for purchase, wondering if he should let himself go but if they always swam with others, what if he landed on another one and that one did take a bite out of him?

Still not sure how he was still alive or what was going on – or what had happened to Meissa except for one horrifying image after another – he clung to the massive beast beneath him which appeared to delight in high speeds, the occasional jump and going by the sound, laughing at him. If he wasn't still so concerned about Meissa – and his own life – Matt would be laughing too. As it stood, he was far too keyed up to relax.

Scratch that – this Orca was definitely laughing at him, Daredevil determined when it did yet another sideways jump, ensuring Matt was doused with as much water as possible without drowning him and then letting out yet another song-like laugh. He finally remembered that Orcas had some sort of relation to Dolphins who had been observed bullying others. While he hadn't really expected to be bullied by a marine mammal, it definitely fit perfectly into his crazy days lately with being able to see Meissa – and orcas, or at least this one – a weirdly perfectly soundproofed building with an owner who would not be tracked down and now this.

What did scare him was that they were now out on the ocean – so far, the orca kept to the coastline, but who knew how long that would last? Matt was wondering yet again how far they were from the shore by now – he could smell and taste the sea breeze but he could still hear the sounds of the city beside them. But for how long still? Then the creature below him turned towards the sounds, as if it had read his thoughts and came closer to the shore. Rustling … Trees? Where were they?

What he hadn't expected was for the whale to beach itself, stranding itself on the beach as Matt hesitantly stepped off. Was it appropriate to say thank you for the escape and ride or should he try and gut it and see if Meissa was a) inside the whale (dolphin-adjacent whale?) and b) still alive to be rescued. And Matt had no phone or way of contacting help and no idea where the hell he was.

Nevertheless he slid off the whale (the skin was rougher without water) and stepped back slightly. Should he help it back to sea? Except then he watched – pulling his mask off in disbelief half-way through just to make sure what he was seeing was real – as the orca turned into Meissa.

"So… is this like Ariel?" He found himself asking, voice distant, eyes fastened onto the miraculous woman who had survived a several story jump into water and could apparently turn into – and back from – a marine mammal several times the size of her. His mind was running a mile a minute and Meissa blinked at him in confusion before waving hesitantly in his face a few times.

Matt belatedly realised that he was both still dressed as Daredevil and unmasked.

"I- can you see me? And who is Ariel?"

"Yes, of course I can see you. And Ariel – the mermaid – have you really never heard of her?"

"Ah," she announced, her mouth turned down in disappointment, "so you're just pretending to be blind so no one connects you to your alter ego."

Matt stared at her.

"No – I really am blind," he confirmed, still bemused.

"But you just said you can see me," she announced hesitantly as if he'd forgotten and Matt found himself rolling his eyes.

"Yes – I can see you. But only you. And you as an orca, of course – which, by the way, how does that work?"

She shrugged. "Ever heard of the animal transformation – animagus forms – in Harry Potter? Yeah, it's like that. And- hold on. So you really are blind?"

Matt sighed. He, Foggy and Karen had been up, down and sideways discussing this over the last few days and he was getting rather tired of explaining it by this point.

"Yes, I really am blind. No, I don't know why I see you. Chemical spill when I was nine, been blind ever since. To me, the whole world is on fire, and I can't see anything – usually. You're just. Well, I can see you, every hand movement, step, or expression on your face. You're outlined by darkness and just seem to exist separately from the rest of the world. I don't know why or how. I was kind of hoping you could tell me."

"Ah, before I do that – can you go back a bit. Did you say there's a mermaid you met? One called Ariel? Do you know where she is? Can I meet her?"

Matt stared at her helplessly before bursting into peals of laughter at her uncomprehending face – which slowly was fading into an offended frown.

He waved her off, "sorry, sorry," he managed to finally gasp out between the chuckles still shaking his frame. The relief that she was alive, that he could still see her was barely eclipsed by her knowing Harry Potter but not Ariel and being able to turn into a killer whale apparently, at will.

"Ariel is children's story – and a Disney movie. Sorry for laughing, again."

"'s okay," she announced sounding sulky and for the first time in twenty years – and Matt thought for the first time in ever, maybe – he saw an adult pout. He snorted but barely stopped himself from laughing again.

"So," he started, sitting down on the beach, "how is any of this possible?" Matt waved a hand expansively at everything around them and Meissa sighed.

"Look, can you give me your hand, I'll take you to my home, we'll have a look at your bruises and then I'll explain me and why I think you can see me. Is that alright?"

Puzzled about how she intended to get him home – the beach was certainly not anywhere near Hell's Kitchen going by the distance to the sounds of New York City, but at this point Matt was certainly willing to indulge for some secrets and a lot more understanding.

What he didn't expect was the pop and force compressing him before he was right back in the middle of Hell's Kitchen in what appeared to be the blink of an eye.

"I- What?" He turned around himself as if that would make more sense, stumbled over to the windows and leaned out and – yes, definitely, right back in Hell's Kitchen and, if he had to guess, her apartment.

"What?" he reiterated weakly, a hand still holding his stomach, the sounds of the city echoing loudly in his ears and his head, his senses haywire as he flopped to the floor, groaning.

Meissa did look sheepish, at least.

"Sorry, just figured this was a safe space to have a discussion. Let me get my first aid kit, I'll make us some food and tea, and then we can talk."

Matt sat still, trying to get his senses back to normal, eyes fastened onto the woman dashing around the apartment.

Well, Matt conceded, at least nothing could surprise him anymore at this point.