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Chapter 15- Conspiracy

"You hustling me, Grandpa?" the young man asked Lantom as they played pool.

"You tell me", Lantom said cheekily.

"Did you know, Father?"

Lantom turned to see Matt standing there.

"Matthew?" Lantom asked, "What're you doing here?"

"Did you know she was my mother?" Matt asked, a hint of anger and resentment in his voice.

Lantom involuntarily stepped back on hearing the question.

"Yeah", Matt said in a betrayed tone on noting his reaction, "You knew."

"I couldn't tell you", Lantom tried to defend himself, "Even when I wanted to."

"Don't hide behind your collar, Father", Matt said angrily.

"Wait", the young man said, "You're a priest?"

"Take your money and go", Lantom told him. He took his money and walked off.

"I'm not hiding, Matthew", Lantom said as he sat on the table, "I'm right here."

"You….. of all people", Matt said in a slightly shaky voice, "All those times I looked to you for guidance. You saw me struggling and you chose to hide the one thing that could have changed everything for me. Please, Father, help me understand why you would do that."

"I prayed for Maggie to find it in herself to tell you years ago", Lantom said.

"She couldn't find it in herself to walk nine blocks to visit me as a kid", Matt said resentfully, "Or to comfort me when my father was murdered and I thought that- I knew that I was alone in this world."

"You were never alone-"

"YES, I WAS!" Matt yelled as loudly as he could without attracting attention, "And you let me believe it."

"Yes", Lantom said regretfully, "Yes, we did."

"Why?" Matt asked.

"What did Maggie say?" Lantom asked.

"I'm asking you", Matt pointed out.

"Maggie's a good person, Matthew", Lantom said, "Flawed, like us all. And tortured over decisions she's made. But she dedicated her life to making amends."

"You still haven't answered the question", Matt said in a frustrated tone.

"Growing up without your parents, Matthew, you don't grow to see them as people", Lantom said, "You need to understand that to understand her."

Lantom and Matt then sat on a table and Lantom narrated to him about how Maggie first met Jack. She had gone to see a boxing match of Jack and had been immediately attracted to him.

Eventually, they had fallen in love and conceived him. But after his birth, she had suffered from post-partum depression as she believed she had turned away from God.

So she had gone back to work as a nun, leaving Jack and her little son- Matthew.

"Damn, I don't know what I should have done", Lantom said after he was done, "I guess that's not really true."

"You know, when I heard Maggie call me her son", Matt said with some traces of anger in his voice, "My thought was- my first thought was how stupid I'd been. That it had been in front of me for so long. And then I remembered that it had been in front of you for even longer. From-from the beginning. We've talked so much about the truth, you and I. Of my truth, God's truth.

Getting up, Matt said, "Now it seems that all those conversations were just a goddamned lie."

Putting a hand on Lantom's shoulder, he whispered, "Shame on you!"

He then patted Lantom's shoulder and walked away.

"Sorry about the mess", Hattley said to Agents Nadeem and Winn as she gestured at the plastic in her house, "My contractor promised me he would be done months ago."

She then stood on one side of the table while Nadeem and Winn took their seats.

Winn switched on his recorder and declared, "Interview with Special Agent Rahul Nadeem and Special Agent in Charge Tammy Hattley, conducted by Supervisory Special Agent Winn, FBI Office of Professional Responsibility."

"Okay, Ray, you've got our attention", Hattley said, "What's this about?"

After taking a deep breath, Nadeem said, "There's no good way for me to say this. But I believe Wilson Fisk is currently engaged in a criminal conspiracy and has manipulated the bureau into becoming his unwitting accomplice. I also have reason to believe that Fisk has corrupted an agent on his detail."

"Who?" Hattley asked.

"Dex", Nadeem said after a moment. He wanted to talk about Chase too, but he had no proof of that.

"You're referring to Special Agent Ben Poindexter?" Winn asked

"Yes, sir", Nadeem said, "And as crazy as it sounds, I think Poindexter may have perpetrated the attack at the Bulletin."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Winn asked in confusion, "Why would you think that?"

"Because while I was pursuing those suspicions yesterday", Nadeem said as he moved his coat to the side to reveal his wound from the bullet, "Dex shot me."

"Jesus Christ", Winn gasped. Hattley looked at him with an interested expression.

"Sir, OPR needs to start an internal investigation into Fisk, into Poindexter, into all of it", Nadeem said before he realized there was probably a way to get Chase under the radar too, "And for the record this was on my and Special Agent Adrian Chase's watch. We personally ran Fisk's detail. SAC Hattley did everything by the book, and this shouldn't fall on her. I take full responsibility."

"Ray, I'm sorry, but I'm placing you on administrative leave, effective immediately", Hattley immediately said.

"I understand", Nadeem said as he turned to her, "And I will cooperate fully."

He took out his badge and gun and slid them over to her.

"So what do we do next?" Nadeem asked Winn.

Winn said, "First, we call you an ambulance-"

BANG!

Blood poured from Winn's throat as the bullet shattered his wind pipe. Ray and a gasping Winn turned to look at Hattley.

She had picked up Ray's gun and shot Winn. She fired again. This time, the bullet went into Winn's head, killing him.

"No! Ray!" she said in a frightened and begging tone, "Put down the gun! Please!"

She then turned off the recorder and angrily said to Ray, "Damn you, Ray. You bring this into my house? My home? Sit down."

Ray's mind still hadn't processed what had happened. He was just staring at Winn's body, horrified.

"Sit", she commanded as she aimed the gun on him.

Ray sat down, breathing heavily, wondering what will happen now. He was horrified and shocked beyond anything. He had tried to do the right thing. And it had backfired.

Felix Manning walked in, holding an evidence package and said, "Your prints, your weapon, the recording."

As Hattley put Ray's gun and the recording into the package, Manning asked Ray, "Do I need to explain to you what this means?"

Ray still couldn't respond due to how shocked he was.

"Answer my question, please", Manning said.

"Do you understand your situation now? Ray? You get this?" Hattley asked angrily.

Turning to her, Ray finally said in a horrified whisper, "Yeah, boss. I understand."

"I'm not your boss anymore", Hattley said harshly, "Wilson Fisk and Adrian Chase are."

Maggie was bidding farewell to a kid in her orphanage who had been adopted by a family.

Oliver, Elektra, Slade and Roy watched from a distance. They were all worried for Matt. They wondered where he had gone.

That moment, Lantom arrived.

"Maggie", he said, making her turn towards him. He tried to say something but faltered, which was noticed by Maggie, Oliver, Elektra, Slade and Roy.

"What is it, Paul?" she asked.

With a sad sigh, Lantom said, "Matthew knows."

Hearing that, Maggie's eyes widened in horror and sadness. She ran to the room where Matt was. The Earth-1 trio and Elektra had not told her about him going away.

"Knows what?" Oliver asked.

Lantom turned to look at them. He didn't recognize Oliver, Slade or Roy but he knew Elektra.

"Elektra!" he gasped, "You're alive?"

"Answer his question", Elektra said firmly.

With a sigh, Lantom said, "Maggie's his mother."

All of their jaws dropped on hearing that and their eyes widened. The next thing they heard was Maggie's heartbreaking wails coming from Matt's room.

Exchanging a look with the others, Oliver slowly walked into the room. Maggie's head was on Matt's bed. She was wailing due to the shame and guilt she was feeling. Oliver slowly walked towards her and put his hand on her shoulder as a show of comfort.

He did not approve of what she had done, but he still felt it was right to offer her comfort at this time.

Matt entered the abandoned boxing club in which his father used to box. There were still old posters around there.

One of them said- "Creel vs. Murdock."

Creel was the last person Jack had fought. He had refused to throw the match against Creel and so he had been shot dead.

Matt threw down his bag and sat down.

"Oh, I guess you know everything now, Matty", Jack's voice said from behind him.

"Everything I need to", Matt said, in spite of knowing this was just a hallucination, "Meh. Doesn't change anything."

He then threw away his cap.

He then started opening the lockers.

"It's a shitty way for you to find out, Matty, about your mother", Jack admitted to him.

"Yeah", Matt said as he continued what he was doing, "You should have told me."

"Maybe I promised her that I wouldn't", Jack said.

"That is no excuse", Matt scoffed.

"Yeah, I know, kid", Jack said, "But after I took that bullet, Maggie had years to tell you the truth and she didn't. That wasn't my choice, it was hers."

"You both lied. You both left", Matt said angrily as he started breaking a locker with a stick.

"I never left you", Jack protested.

"You didn't go down in that fight like you were supposed to", Matt said as he opened that locker, "Knowing they'd kill you for it."

"I did that for you", Jack said, "So you'd know what your old man is made of."

"My old man chose his ego over a lifetime with his son", Matt said with resentment, "That's what I know."

"It wasn't ego, it was living up to a code", Jack said passionately, "Being a man. It means lovin' the feel of my fist in someone else's face. It means waiting for them to hit the ground and knowing that I put them there. And, yeah, okay maybe I put that at the top of my list and maybe it cost me everything, including you. But you do the same thing."

"No, I don't", Matt protested.

"You have a code, too", Jack pointed out, "You beat the shit out of people. You tell yourself its okay because you didn't kill anyone. There is something wrong with us, Matty. It's just who we are."

"That's who you were, Dad", Matt said as he sat down and started wrapping a cloth around his fists, "I'm not like you. I don't throw fights. And I don't let everyone else suffer 'cause of some bullshit code. Not anymore. When I get to Fisk and Chase…. I'm gonna kill them."

"Excuse me, Sister Maggie? I'm sorry to bother you", Karen said as she walked up to Maggie in the church, "They told me I could find you here."

"He's gone", Maggie said as she knew who Karen was asking about, "I don't know where."

"It's a matter of life and death", Karen said, "Do you have any idea when he'll be back?"

"He won't be", Maggie said cryptically.

"I-I don't understand", Karen said in confusion, "Why? Why not?"

"He learned the truth", Maggie said with a sad sigh, "That I'm his mother."

A stunned Karen could only say, "Wow. Uh He never talked about-about you."

"I was a danger to Matthew when I gave him up", Maggie said, "Nowadays, they know a great deal about postpartum, but at the time I was convinced that I was betraying God. I hadn't yet taken my vows, but in my heart I believed I had committed an unforgivable sin. And so I replaced that sin with another. I abandoned my child."

"Why-Why did you tell him now?" Karen asked.

"I didn't", Maggie said, "He found out on his own. I wanted to tell him. When Jack was alive, I convinced myself the truth would confuse Matthew. After Jack died, I convinced myself it would do more harm than good. Finally, I just realized that I was too much of a coward. The Lord has a way. Sending the Devil of Hell's Kitchen to me now. Showing me what became of my sin. The Lord gave me another chance to make things right. And I failed, yet again."

"Yes, you did", Oliver said as he walked up to them with Elektra, Slade and Roy, "But this is not the end."

"It is", Maggie said, "Matthew knows who and what I am now. He won't be back."

"He will be", Elektra assured.

"Because he is nothing like my son", Slade said with a sad sigh.

"In spite of what you did, you're still his mother", Roy said.

"Matthew will hate you", Elektra said, "For what you did. But I know him. In the end, he will come around. He can't hate people he cares about forever."

"I just-I don't-I don't know what to say", Karen stammered.

"What can you say to someone who's scarred your friend for life?" Maggie said with self-loathing, "He must be in a lot of pain right now. When you find him, he'll need you all."

"That's just it. See, I can't really stick around", Karen said to them in a whisper, "Um Fisk knows about Matt. I just I just wanted to warn him before I run."

"Wait, Karen what're you talking about?" Oliver asked.

"I accidentally revealed to Fisk that Matt is Daredevil", Karen said guiltily.

"What happened?" Elektra asked.

"He asked me what I knew about Matt's secret life and I gave him a shocked look. That's just what he needed to know", Karen said.

"He fooled you into thinking you betrayed him", Slade said.

"Chase would've already told him", Roy revealed.

"But are you in danger?" Maggie asked Karen.

"Yeah", Karen said, "Matt's not the only one that Fisk wants dead."

"Do you have someplace to go?" Maggie asked.

"No, I was just gonna get the first bus out of town", Karen said.

"You don't need to", Oliver said, "We will protect you."

"With us around, they will think twice before trying to kill you", Slade said.

"Let us help you", Maggie said, "Trust me. The church has been helping people hide for 2,000 years. Hide here.

Give me a day to make a few calls, and you'll have shelter halfway around the world by the end of the week. Until then, stay with these four. Please, let me do something for you. For Matthew."

With a sigh, Karen accepted the offer of the five, "Yeah. Okay."

Matt was punching the boxing bag repeatedly. His cell phone then beeped.

He picked it up, "Yeah?"

"Fisk has left the hotel", Nadeem said from the other end.

"How's that even possible?" Matt asked.

"I think Dex is not the only FBI Agent he has turned", Nadeem said, "But he's taking Fisk to meet with some other crime bosses. Some kind of sit-down."

"Where?" Matt asked.

"I'll text you the address", Nadeem said, "But if you catch Fisk in the act-"

"This will be our only chance to take him down", Matt said, "Thank you, Nadeem."

The call was then cut.

Hattley had put Nadeem in a unit which comprised agents who had been compromised by Fisk and Chase. With Dex, he had then arrested all mob bosses across the city on Fisk's orders.

He had asked Hattley why she was their accomplice. Hattley had revealed that Fisk was the reason Nadeem's sister-in law had lost her health coverage when she had got cancer. So he had played Nadeem right from the start by making him desperate for the job. And she was his accomplice because he had got one of her two daughters killed and made it look like a hit-and-run. So she had then divorced her husband to keep him safe and was doing this to keep her remaining daughter alive.

Nadeem had then removed Fisk's ankle monitor and had then been forced by him to tell Matt about the meeting.

He now stood with another FBI Agent as Fisk talked to all the crime-bosses they had arrested.

"I've brought you here to offer you my protection", Fisk said to the others, "From investigations and prosecutions by the federal government."

"Bullshit", one of them said, "This is a sting."

"Hey, jury, if you can hear this on tape, I'm totally innocent. I don't even know these people", a female one said.

Another one, whose name was Rosalie Carbon asked Fisk, "How much? What's the vig?"

"Twenty percent."

One of them who was annoyed grumbled, "For Christ's sake."

"Of everything."

"I don't know how you keep that suit white with all the bullshit you pack into it", he said to Fisk, "I know what this is. We all know what this is. You want us to confess to something that buys you another month in that hotel suite you conned yourself into. No. You can count me out."

Looking at him, Fisk said out loud, "You know what to do."

Then a tall, muscular man of 6'3"" with dirty blonde hair walked out of the shadows with Prometheus, Fakedevil, Joe, Diaz and the Longbow Hunters after him.

He wore a black shirt and dark blue jeans and had a grey trenchcoat on him.

He lifted that crime-lord by the throat and looked at him with a cold, unnerving look.

And then he gave him a very hard punch in the chest. Next moment, his bloodied fist protruded from the crime-lord's back, the man's heart in his hand. He crushed the heart into a bloody smear and retracted his hand before throwing the dead crime-lord to the ground.

Everyone present gasped in horror at the strength and brutality this man possessed and some were even panting. What they did not know was that this was no man. This was Nuke Model 101. A cyborg. Made of metal. It's metal body had been covered by living tissue to make it look like a man.

And all the other dangerous killers on Fisk's side only increased their terror.

"The tax is now 25 percent", Fisk said to the horrified crime-lords.

"I gotta hand it to you, Fisk", Carbon said as she recovered from the shock, "You know how to put on a show. Just one question. Where do I drop the cash?"

Matt had snuck into the penthouse, wearing his black suit. He had switched off all the power from the electrical room.

He had realized the info Nadeem had given him had been a trap. He hid to avoid some FBI Agents looking for him.

He then opened the door to Fisk's room and walked inside, sensing everything around him. He then tapped the shoe rack and realized it was hidden door.

He pushed it, revealing a set of stairs. He walked down and heard a woman, breathing very fast due to fear.

"Are you gonna kill me?" she asked him as her heart beat faster.

"No", Matt said, "Not you."

"Fisk and Chase?" she asked.

He nodded and she gave a relieved sigh, "Oh, thank God."

"When will they be back?" Matt asked.

"Minutes", she said.

"Thank you", Matt said gratefully.

That moment, the power came back on and the monitors opened.

They showed two agents in the camera room.

"Karen Page located at the Clinton Church", one of them said, "Keep all NYPD units clear of that location until otherwise advised. Copy?"

Matt felt something was wrong on hearing that.

"What does Fisk want with Karen?" he asked her.

Looking at Matt with some fear, she said, "He wants her killed."

She looked at the monitors. The cars were returning.

"He's downstairs", she said, "There are no cameras in the bedroom."

"No, no, God", Matt muttered in frustration, anger, concern and fear before stammering, "How-How long?"

"What?" she asked, "What are-"

"How long until he gets here?" Matt asked.

"Seconds", she said and exhaling sharply, added, "If you leave, I have to tell him you were here. He'll triple security. Getting back in here will be impossible. You'll never have another chance like this."

With a sigh, Matt said, "You do what you have to do."

He then walked out, knowing where he was needed more.

Nadeem stopped the car near the Clinton Church. He was ashamed of himself for doing what he was doing. But he had no choice.

Dex, dressed as Daredevil was sitting next to him while on the backseat were Adrian in his Prometheus suit, Diaz and Nuke.

Another car was going with them which had Joe and the Longbow Hunters inside.

Turning to Nuke, Chase said, "You know what to do."

Nuke opened the door of the car and walked out, towards the church.

Lantom was giving a speech there in the Mass. Karen was among the attendees. She didn't want to attend, but he had convinced her to.

Oliver, Elektra, Slade and Roy were in Matt's room, discussing their next move.

"We have been called upon to question whether the people we thought were fighting for us were really monsters all along", Lantom said, "We are being told that we are not strong that we are not safe. Yet here we are. Stronger, because we will not accept that we are weak. Safer, because we will not be divided. I am proud of all of you for coming here despite your fears. And I am grateful to you, always for letting me call myself one of you."

At that moment, a tall, muscular man of 6'3" height walked inside, wearing a black shirt, dark blue jeans and a grey trenchcoat.

Lantom thought he was just another person who was going to attend the Mass.

He walked up to where Karen was sitting, having been told what she looked like.

Karen looked up at his cold, unnerving gaze, fear filling her all of a sudden.

He suddenly took out a medium-sized gun and aimed it at her face.

BANG!

How could I not end it there?

If you want to imagine someone's face on Nuke, think of a young Arnold Schwarzenegger. Because Nuke in here is inspired from Arnold's portrayal of the T-800 in the first Terminator movie.

I know in the show, Karen refused to attend the Mass but for the purpose of this story, she is. I don't think she has any idea of knowing that Fisk knows where she is.

BTW, fun MCU fact- the boxer Jack fought and defeated before being murdered was Carl Creel aka the Absorbing Man from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2.

Please review. I always appreciate your feedback.