Disclaimer: I do not own Daredevil, Arrow or anything else you may recognize
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In my A/N at the end of last chapter, I said I would not include the investigation but I realize that without Matt, the episode would remain the same, so now it's the investigation I am covering.
Chapter 14- Finding the truth
New York wasn't that far from Starling City. A 7 hour ride from a cab was all the time that was needed to get to New York from Starling City.
Matt and Laurel were in one such cab. Matt had told Oliver that he was going to New York with Laurel as he needed to help her with something but hadn't told him the full thing. He had decided not to until the lead was verified.
They were currently discussing the person they were going to.
"So what's her name?" Laurel asked Matt.
"Jessica", he told her, "Jessica Jones."
"How good is she?" Laurel asked.
"The best in Hell's Kitchen", Matt said, "Trust me. I know."
"How do you know her?" she asked.
"Well", said Matt, "Foggy and I didn't totally cut each other from our lives. He once gave me a bunch of files so that I could do more lawyering. He then contacted me to be an attorney for her. She had gotten into trouble with the police during an investigation. I represented her there and some other times as she got into trouble with them a lot. We have known each other ever since."
"Oh!" said Laurel, "What kind of person is she?"
"She might come off as unfriendly", Matt told her, "And she drinks a lot. But she's a good P.I. and an even better person. She just doesn't show it."
"Sounds like an interesting person", Laurel commented and Matt agreed with a light chuckle.
"Wait till you meet her", he said to her.
Matt knocked at the door of Alias Investigations. He then heard rushed footsteps of a man. The door was opened.
Laurel looked at the dark-skinned man who had opened the door.
"Uh, hi", she said to him.
"Hello Ma'am", he said to her before turning to her boyfriend and fellow lawyer, "Mr. Murdock. It's good to see you."
"Good to see you too Ducasse", Matt said to him as the two shook hands and then Matt made the introductions, "Malcolm, this is Laurel Lance from Starling City. She is a lawyer in CNRI. Laurel, this is Malcolm Ducasse, Jessica's assistant."
Ducasse and Laurel shook hands.
"What brings you here?" Ducasse asked Matt.
"We have a case", Matt said, "Is Jessica here?"
"She is", Ducasse replied and stepped out of their way to allow them both to walk in.
Matt and Laurel walked in. Matt could easily smell alcohol and the sound of drinking. Jessica would never change.
The two walked into a room and Laurel looked at the P.I. Matt had told her about for the first time. She had black hair and wore a brown leather jacket over a tank top and torn jeans. Her feet were on the table and she was taking swigs from a bottle.
She did not seem to be aware that she was not alone anymore in the room. Or maybe she did and chose to ignore them to indulge in the pleasures of drinking a bit more.
A polite cough from Matt got her attention. She put the bottle down and looked at the two lawyers.
"Murdock", she said to him as she regarded him and his companion, "Who's your friend there?"
"Laurel Lance", said Laurel as she held out her hand.
"Jessica Jones", said Jessica and looked at Matt again as Laurel put her hand back.
"So to what do I owe this visit?" she asked him.
"The two of us have a little case we would like you to solve", he said to her without further preamble.
"What case?" she asked him.
Laurel took out the picture while Matt put down the folder.
"We want to know who the woman in this picture is", Laurel said as Jessica picked up the picture and regarded it.
"And we would also like to know where this was taken and when", said Matt as it was entirely possible this wasn't one of the islands around Lian Yu.
"Wait a minute", said Jessica as she rose from her seat, "Half of the payment first."
"Sure", said Matt who already knew she would ask for the payment first. He took out some money and handed it to her, "Done."
"Good", she said, "Now let's see who's the person in this fucking picture."
Jessica then managed to scan the photo into her computer and then uploaded it on Google.
She then tried to search by image but nothing came up.
With a sigh, she said, "The face isn't too visible. We might need something else."
Turning to Matt and Laurel, she said, "Where exactly do you think this picture was taken?"
"According to the one who gave this to us, it was taken in the Phuket province", Matt said.
"Why do you want to find her anyway?" Jessica asked.
"She may be someone we know", Laurel said.
Jessica decided to not ask any other questions as she had got half of the payment already.
She then ended up calling the consulate in Phuket and after some talking, got off the phone.
She then typed on her computer and sent the image to an official email id.
"I sent the picture to the consulate of Phuket", she said, "The secretary says he's going to run the photo against their database and inform us if they have a match."
"Thank you so much", Laurel said gratefully.
"It may not be whoever you're looking for so don't get your hopes up too high", she told Laurel, "The world's fucking cruel and vile and filled with assholes."
"Okay", said Laurel, feeling a little creeped out by Jessica.
"Let's just say it isn't her", Matt said, "What will we do then?"
"If it isn't Phuket", said Laurel, "It definitely has to be somewhere in the North China Sea."
"In that case", said Jessica, "We'll need the Chinese Embassy's help."
"Okay", said Laurel.
Moira stood on the outskirts of Starling City. She had an umbrella to protect herself from the light showers overhead. Hearing footsteps, she turned to see Frank Chen.
"What did Malcolm want with you last night?" he asked her.
"A target for reprisal", Moira said, "He wants justice, and he's not going to stop until he gets it. Besides, this is good."
"I think your definition of good requires an adjustment", Frank dryly said.
Moira turned back to Frank and explained, "No, he came to me. Which means that he doesn't know that we're responsible for the attempt on his life."
"Yet", pointed out Frank.
Moira regarded him and asked, "What are the chances of Malcolm discovering who paid the Triad to assassinate him?"
"I was very discreet", Frank assured her, "I wired the money through a small shell corporation I own, from an offshore account."
"Offshore?" Moira noted and then said, "Good. That's good."
"I'm sending Amanda to London for a few weeks, just as a precaution", Chen told her, as he put a hand on her shoulder, "Perhaps you should do the same for your family."
Moira looked down at his hand and then back at him, "There's nothing I wouldn't do to protect my children Frank."
And with that, she turned and walked away.
Quentin and Dinah walked into CNRI where Laurel was waiting for them and they walked over to her.
"Hey", Quentin said to her.
Laurel gave a strained smile and rose to meet her parents, "Hi. I wanted to do some research of my own on the evidence you gathered on Sara. So me and Matt asked a P.I. to look into it and ended up calling the Chinese Embassy. The photo of the girl. I found her."
Before they could say anything, a young woman walked up between them. She had dark hair and the same build as Sara- but she wasn't her.
"I'm sorry", she said to Laurel, "Can-can I borrow your phone? I promised my fiancé I'd call before phone's battery went dead."
Laurel nodded and made the introductions, "Jen, these are my parents."
"Hi", Jen said as she shook their hands, "Nice to meet you."
The little bit of hope in Quentin's chest died at that moment as he said, "Yeah. You too."
Laurel picked up the photos and said, "I just told Jen about this photograph that popped up in this case I'm working on."
Her mother took the photos and looked between them and Jen.
"Is that you in the photo?" Quentin asked her.
"Yeah", she replied, "I spent six months off the coast of China on an island. That was taken in a small fishing village called Zhengjiu. It's Mandarin for-"
"Salvation", said a heartbroken Dinah.
Jen noted her tone and asked, "Are you all right, Mrs. Lance?"
"Yes… I just, uh, you look like someone I used to know", Dinah said brokenly before running off. Quentin closed his eyes as his grief became fresh again while Laurel and Jen looked at them with sadness.
A while later, Matt was once again sitting in Big Belly Burger as Laurel walked up to him.
"What happened?" he asked her as he heard her heartbeat and realized she was on the verge of crying.
"My mother just confessed something", Laurel told him in a shaky voice.
"What?" he asked her.
"She saw Sara the day she left for Queen's Gambit with Oliver", Laurel said and Matt was shocked.
"So she knew Oliver was cheating on you with your sister", Matt said as he fumed in anger at Dinah, "And yet she didn't say a thing."
"I know", Laurel said, feeling betrayed.
"Come here", Matt said to her as she fell into his arms and wept silently.
During this time though, he thought about a theory Jessica had told him.
"The woman in the picture is not the one your friend is looking for", she said before adding, "But maybe, there's a chance it is the one she is looking for, but she sent this other woman to take responsibility so that everyone stops looking for her."
"Why does she not want to be found I wonder", Matt said.
"Perhaps she did things that make her want to stay alone", Jessica said with a little self-loathing.
Matt thought about telling Laurel but she was in too much pain right now. And what good would telling her do? It would probably hurt her even more. And as someone who suffered from self-loathing and depression himself, he could imagine various reasons as to why Sara did not want to be found.
Or maybe the theory was wrong. Who knows?
Later, Daredevil and The Hood pulled up next to an abandoned subway station at Ocean Avenue. The Hood had told Daredevil about Joseph Faulk and what he had been up to during his absence.
The Hood fired an explosive arrow and it blew off the access grate. He dropped a line down the hole and the two slid down, ending up in an access tunnel to the subway itself.
The two ran through the tunnel, and on hearing a train, stopped near the tracks as the train sped past.
"It's happening", Felicity told the two of them via comms.
"I'll give you 10 minutes to state your case, Roy", Faulk said to him as he held up the camera and the gun, "So tell me, do you get to live?"
Roy closed his eyes and finally said with self-loathing, "I shouldn't."
"Just do it, kill me", Roy said as Faulk looked at him in stunned shock. He wasn't expecting that.
"Just do it! Kill me!"
Faulk slightly lowered the camera so he could look into Roy's eyes and asked in a dumbfounded tone, "You really don't care if you live or you die?"
"No one's going to miss me", Roy said in a defeated tone.
Back at Verdant, Thea was watching the broadcast on TV. Her eyes were filled with tears on hearing that.
"I'm just a waste", Roy said as Tommy walked up next to Thea to give her support.
"Then we agree on something", Faulk said to him, "This world would be better off without you in it."
Faulk raised the gun as Roy closed his eyes, waiting for the end. Suddenly, there was a crash on the roof and a startled Faulk dropped the camera.
Back at Verdant, Thea saw the camera fall down and then heard some static before the news anchor said, "We seem to have lost the feed. We will stay on this story and keep you up to date on any developments."
Thea broke down in Tommy's arms at the loss of Roy.
Faulk moved around, searching for the source of the sound. Suddenly, a window next to him exploded as Daredevil and The Hood crashed in. The three fell down but quickly got up.
The Hood spun around and threw a fletchette at Roy, hitting the tape on his left wrist. The two then rose as The Hood aimed an arrow at Faulk's heart while Daredevil prepared to throw his club.
"Let the kid go", The Hood growled, "You kill this kid, he'll never get an opportunity to change. You can give him a second chance."
"We're the only ones who can save this city!" Faulk protested as he pointed his gun at the two, "We can't stop now!"
"We're not the same!" The Hood screamed as Roy watched.
"You've killed people for this city, so have I", Faulk said.
"He killed people who were proven to be bad", Daredevil told him, "You kill any random person even if his crime is most minor."
The Hood nodded his head at the fletchette as he looked at Roy who got the hint.
"Their crimes increase as time passes on", Faulk argued.
"Not if we reprimand them for it and tell them there are better ways to live your life", Daredevil said, "And like it or not, he is not a waste. You are. You could have done so much good for this city with your skills. Saved it. You could have made it better than it is, you could have made it something beautiful. But you took that away from yourself the moment you decided to kill people."
Roy reached the fletchette and started cutting away the tape on his wrist.
"I AM NOT A WASTE! I AM THE SAVIOUR!"
Faulk turned to Roy and raised his gun.
"Don't do it!" The Hood yelled as Faulk fired at Roy who ducked to avoid.
The man fired off two shots. Daredevil threw his club while The Hood fired an arrow at the same time. The club disarmed him while the arrow pierced his heart. He gasped in pain as he looked down at the arrow. Roy watched as he slowly collapsed on the bench and died.
Roy groaned as he pulled himself up, and took a seat, staring at the man who had unknowingly changed his life.
Thea was sitting in Verdant, staring when her phone buzzed. She looked down and her eyes widened in surprise on seeing the message.
'Turn to your left.'
Thea turned to her left and saw a disheveled Roy walking towards her. She let out a happy sob and hugged him tightly.
"I thought you were going to die", she cried.
"That makes two of us", Roy replied as he hugged her equally tightly.
Thea pulled back and said, "I probably look like a mess. I think I should go to the bathroom and freshen way, way up."
"Ok", said Roy as Thea walked away. Matt and Oliver watched it from the balcony and walked away. Roy then pulled out the fletchette that had saved his life and stared at it, deep in thought.
Moira stood on a deserted street. A car pulled up and Frank Chen walked out.
"Thank you for coming, Frank", Moira told him.
"Meeting like this is dangerous, Moira", Frank said as he buttoned his coat, "Particularly now."
"Yes, I know", Moira said in a determined tone before looking at him and announced, "Malcolm knows."
"What?!" Frank asked.
"I had no choice but to turn over what I discovered", Moira told him, "The evidence of the wire transfer. The money you paid the Triad to assassinate him."
Frank tried to protest, "The money I-"
But he was cut off when an arrow protruded from his chest, having pierced his heart. Moira looked on in shock as Frank tried to reach her, "Moira!"
He fell into her arms and both fell down. Only Moira got back up.
"You've done well", the Dark Archer said as he walked up to her, "Now Chen's family will share his fate."
"Chen betrayed us, but his daughter didn't", Moira protested, "Tell Mr. Merlyn that I want her to live. Amanda nearly lost her life in the Glades, now she's lost her father. She has suffered enough."
"We must send a message", the Dark Archer said.
"We have", Moira said as she looked at Frank's body, "We-"
"Very well", the Dark Archer said.
Moira said, "Thank you-"
But he was gone.
She went back to her car and tried to start it. But then she noted Frank's blood on her hands. Reaching into her coat, she withdrew a Kleenex and wiped the blood. She spat at her hands to wash out the blood, but it didn't come off. She started sobbing- for all the sins she had committed.
"What's that?" Oliver asked Felicity as he looked at her computer.
"Felicity pulled it up", Dig told him, "It's an old map of the decommissioned subway underneath the low rent district of Starling City."
Oliver picked up his father's notebook and looking at the symbol on the inside cover said, "I've seen that map before."
Oliver put it down as Felicity stared at it, realization hitting her. Matt realized what Oliver meant too.
"It was right in front of our faces the entire time", Oliver said, "My father, the other archer, the Gnuccis, the device, the Undertaking."
Matt then said, "He wants to destroy the Glades with the device."
I don't know much about how investigations are carried out so that's all I could do. I read a theory about how the photo was of Sara but she asked Jen to take responsibility for it instead. It actually makes sense because when Sara comes to visit Sin in the hospital after she is attacked by Xavier Reed, she is wearing the same hat from the photo.
They now know that the Dark Archer wants to destroy the Glades with a device.
Please review. I always appreciate your feedback.