Hello! I don't know if anyone is really reading this but if you've made it too this chapter, awesome! Thanks for reading. This chapter is a little shorter and slower but it should hopefully get you caught up with Halina's life in a short amount of time over a long period of time. Hopefully you'll be able to somewhat know what part of the Daredevil show this is taking place. If not, it starts between 2 and ends with the start of season 3.
Halina nearly jumped out of her chair when the phone by her hand rang. She'd been extremely focused on the monitor before her, reading over her most recent work, looking for any errors before submitting the document to the court. Halina picked up the phone and put it to her ear.
"Miss Jackson, I would like to speak with you." Said Hogarth when she put the receiver to her ear.
"I'll be right there, ma'am." Halina said briskly then hung up the phone.
She was a little surprised to even receive a call from Hogarth as she'd been working from home for several weeks already and rumour had it that Chao and Benowitz were kicking her to the curb. She quickly saved her work and logged out of her computer. She'd learned the hard way, the second week in, that the people working at Hogarth, Chao & Benowitz were vultures, and were perfectly happy to take credit for someone else's hard work. She'd been in New York now for a little over three months and had already received two promotions despite her early set back. She was still living in Hell's Kitchen, in spite of her promotions but now, at least, she was living in a better apartment where it was larger than a two hundred square feet and she no longer had to wage constant war on the resilient pests that inhabited her previous home.
She walked briskly through the rows of cubicles of the lower section where the lower beings of the firm worked tirelessly to please their bosses, to the stairwell that led to the shining upper floor where the high paid lawyers worked. It was a simple matter of crossing the gleaming marble floor to the massive ten foot all door which stood open.
"You wanted to see me?" Halina asked, standing in the doorway.
"Close the door." She instructed Halina.
Halina suddenly realized the office was nearly empty except for the few things that were still sitting on her desk. Once the door was closed, she stopped what she was doing and looked at Halina.
"Are you happy here, Miss Jackson?" She asked calmly as she put some papers in a box.
"Umm…" Halina replied uncertainly, not really know how else to reply.
Hogarth waved her hand impatiently. "Never mind. Irrelevant. I've been watching you, you do good work. Very thorough. Tough."
"Thank you, Ma'am." Halina said, still uncertain as to what Hogarth was getting at.
"I'll get to the point. I'm leaving. I've decided to leave and start my own firm. I'll be taking sixty-four percent of the clientele with me, along with several of your co-workers from all parts of the firm. I'd like you to come with me."
"Me?" Halina asked in shock. "I've only been here for a short while."
"That's right. You're young, intelligent and still optimistic about the law. Talented. I think my firm needs that. I already have an office set up, it just needs people to fill it." Hogarth said as she moved to the other side of the room and started taking down pictures. "I'll be taking several powerful clients with me, including Rand. It's a risky move for you, I'll admit, but you'll be hell of a lot farther up the ladder with me than if you stay here. And good luck getting any real power around here without me around."
Halina didn't respond immediately and Hogarth let her think as she continued to move around the office while Halina weighed her options. She might get a promotion if she stayed, if what Hogarth says is true. There will be positions opening up all over the firm but from what she'd heard about Chao and Benowitz, they weren't particularly generous. She'd hardly ever seen them, never actually met them and only Hogarth seemed willing to speak with her lesser.
"Okay, I'll do it." Halina said finally, her father had always encouraged her to take chances, how else would she get anywhere in life?
Hogarth walked slowly over to her desk and grabbed a card before walking over to Halina. "Here's the address. Be there first thing in the morning. There will still be plenty of work to do. You'll even get your own office. Now go pack up, nothing left for you to do here."
The next morning, Halina was surprised by the size of her new workplace. She had expected that, since Hogarth's departure was so sudden, that she'd have secured something considerably less impressive. But her new place of work was quite the contrary. Hogarth had secured what looked more like a 19th century mansion with gleaming white stone front and, as soon as you enter the tall door way, there was a sweeping staircase off to your left with a reception desk nestled in between the stair case and front door. And while the place was still in a bit of disarray, the floors were covered in marble and big windows throughout the office letting a considerable amount of natural light into the space.
"Oh, hey, you must be Halina Jackson." Said a man with a slightly pushed in nose but had an otherwise handsome face, as he walked down the hallway directly in front of the door.
He seemed friendly as he reached for the box she was carrying and took it from her.
"I'm Franklin Nelson and this beautiful lady here, is Marci Stahl." He said indicating a tall blonde woman who'd followed him down the hall, as he walked away.
"I don't believe we've had the pleasure." Stahl said as she walked over and held out her hand. "Rather brave of you to make such a big move after only just starting at Hogarth, Chao & Benowitz. Must have made a big impression on Hogarth."
"I suppose." Halina said as the two of them followed after Nelson.
"I swear there will more of us, everyone's just running a little late." Stahl said as Halina looked around, noting there was literally only the three of them. Nelson turned and disappeared into an office.
When she entered, Halina was surprised by the spaciousness. "Wow, this is so big!" She exclaimed as she looked at the Victorian style office.
"Don't get too excited, there all like this." Nelson said as he set down her box on the desk where a computer sat. "And since you're the third person to arrive, you get a better computer. Early bird gets the worm."
"I doubt Hogarth will feel the same, I'm pretty sure I have the least amount of seniority here." She said as she looked around at the room more closely.
"Oh, I don't know. Marci and I are probably the only ones with any real seniority. The others either have only months on you or aren't even lawyers. The other, more senior members had built themselves cozy little nests back at the old office and weren't as bold as we were."
"She brought people who weren't lawyers?" Halina didn't know why that surprised her.
"Yeah, you know, secretaries, legal aids and she's hired a couple of investigators to work for our new little firm." Stahl said from where she leaned against the door frame. "Foggy, we should get back to our own work before Hogarth shows up. You know what she's like."
"Foggy?" Halina asked. "I've heard that as a name only once before. A lawyer I met. Matt Murdock. He mentioned a friend named Foggy."
At the mention Matt Murdock's name, Nelson turned around so fast, he nearly fell backwards. "You know Matt?"
"Well, know is a strong word. More like I met him once, months ago at Fogwell's gym. Haven't seen him since though, which is strange since the owner says he came around all the time." Halina said, intrigued by Nelson's reaction.
"Why was Matt going to a gym?" Stahl replied, obviously never having seen Matt box before.
"It…uh…is where his dad, Jack, used to box." Nelson said, obviously thrown off by his friend's name being mentioned.
"Was he a boxer or something?" Stahl asked, confused.
"You've never heard of Battlin' Jack Murdock?" Nelson shook his head in disbelief.
Stahl laughed. "Is that what they called him?"
"Uh…yeah." He turned back to Halina. "Yeah, anyways…that must've been just before Matt…uh…left." Nelson winced and looked immensely uncomfortable.
"I suppose so." Halina said, incredibly interested as to why Nelson seemed so uncomfortable but not wanting to push him, he clearly didn't wish to say anything further.
She watched as the two left, with Stahl patting Nelson on the shoulder as he looked a little hunched over as he walked. Curious as to why Nelson behaved as he did, Halina fired up her new desktop, waited for it to set itself up then went straight to the internet browser and searched 'Matt Murdock'. All she could find, though, were old news articles, some relating to cases he'd worked (apparently, he liked to take down dangerous people), an old listing for Nelson and Murdock, and even the article mentioning his father's death but otherwise, nothing. Maybe he pissed off the wrong criminal and had to go on the run? That made the most sense and would explain Nelson's reaction to hearing his name.
Over the next hour, the remainder of the staff showed up, along with some IT specialists who went about setting up a network and then setting up all the computers that were in the office. Nobody seemed to care that she had been given one of the few offices with a high end computer and even Hogarth, three hours later, didn't seem to care. An hour after her arrival, they had a big staff meeting to introduce the various staff members who hadn't yet met, then laid down company policies and assigned cases.
To her great fear and delight, Halina was given her first ever solo case. A lawsuit defending a medical manufacturing company against several complainants. It wasn't a massive lawsuit, but it certainly was big enough to make or break her career and she hated that she wasn't particularly enthused with defending this particular client. The company was shady as hell, but what could she do? If she got fired, it was unlikely she'd be able to work at another large firm anytime soon.
Despite the lack of enthusiasm that she had for the case she'd been handed, over the next few months, she did find that she was happier here than at her previous job. Her co-workers seemed less likely to stab her in the back and she had even formed a friendship with Foggy and Marci. And while Foggy never mentioned what had happened to Matt Murdock, she did learn a few nuggets of information about him. Apparently, the two men had known each other since the first day of college and pretty much had been best friends since. Foggy thought very highly of his friend, calling him highly intelligent, unfailingly kind and extremely protective of anyone he called friend. He never talked about Matt like he was some unfortunate or damaged person in need of a gentle hand. But, Foggy always seemed sad when he talked about his friend.
Apparently, Foggy was also from Hell's Kitchen and had given her some excellent tips on places to shop and the best restaurants in the neighbourhood. Marci, while also from New York, had come from a different part of the city. She also proved to be very much a girlie girl but not so much as to make her obnoxious. In fact, they had begun to spend their off time together, when they had off time, going to bars and showing Halina the city. Then, one day, Foggy didn't show up to work. Which was highly unusual for him, he was never late. Marci, on the other hand, did. When Halina asked about him she smiled brightly although her eyes looked a little worried.
"Oh, well he has to quit since he'll be running for DA." She said as she typed an email at her desk.
"He's running for District Attorney? I didn't realize he even had those sorts of aspirations." Halina sat in a chair across from her, sipping on a cup of coffee.
"Well, he didn't. Until yesterday." Marci said matter of factly.
"So why such a spur of the moment decision?"
"Oh, Foggy will likely be coming back, eventually. You see, Foggy, Matt Murdock, and a woman by the name of Karen Page, managed to piss of one of the most dangerous man in New York City and the brilliant people of the FBI," Marci's said with extreme sarcasm, "let him out of his cage. So, since the current DA is too consumed with his re-election, and until we can get Fisk back to where he belongs, Foggy hopes that being a public figure will shield him from Fisk."
"So, why did the FBI let him out?" Halina frowned. "This Fisk."
"Don't know for sure, but I'm guessing he gave them some good intel and used it to barter his way out of prison. See, he's technically still incarcerated," Marci made air quotations, "but he's living in a billion dollar penthouse suite on the top floor of a hotel. Foggy's friend, Karen, thinks she's found proof that he owns the hotel, she just needs to get her hands on it."
"That's sick." Halina said frowning. "Hardly hard time, is it?"
"I sure most of those agents fully intend to uphold the law, but I bet half of them will be in Fisk's pocket by the end of the week, if they aren't already."
"Is he really that dangerous?" Halina had heard about some powerful criminals before, but the way Marci talked about Fisk, it sounded like he could do pretty much whatever he wanted.
"Well he had all kinds of powerful people in his pocket before Foggy and Matt had managed to bring him down, including judges, senators and the Mayor of New York. Who knows what other people have managed to fly under the radar up until now."
"Is that why Matt Murdock suddenly disappeared? Because of Fisk?" Asked Halina suddenly curious.
Marci looked shocked by the question.
"I…I really don't know for sure, but I don't think so." Marci suddenly frowned. "Wait how do you know he's disappeared?"
"Just by the way Foggy talked about him when we met." Halina said shrugging innocently. "I just put two and two together, he didn't seem like the kind of guy to up and leave. I mean I only knew him for like an hour but he talked highly of Hell's Kitchen and didn't seem like he was planning on going anywhere soon."
"Well he's been gone for six months. Foggy's just assumed that he's dead…I think something happened, but he won't say what…" Marci trailed off looking into space, "Foggy has nightmare's about whatever it is that happen. Maybe now…" then Marci suddenly shook her head. "Never mind."
Halina decided to not push Marci, whatever was going through her mind, seemed to bother her. So, Halina got up and returned to her office and immediately began searching the name 'Wilson Fisk'. She found several stories about him but there was little published about his misdeeds. Largely, it seemed, the press had focused on his campaign to rebuild Hell's Kitchen. It seemed that everyone was blindsided by Fisk's unlawful behaviour. Some press even questioned the validity of the claims that Nelson & Murdock had filed against him. There was one article in particular though, that intrigued Halina. It spoke about Fisk's past, mentioning his mother and how he had corrupted the police. He certainly seemed dangerous. After staring at the screen for a moment, Halina shook her head. Why did she even care? She wasn't apart of this and she hardly knew Matt Murdock. Finally, she closed the browser and returned to work.
A few days later, several men dressed in FBI jackets walked past her door to where Marci's office was located. She heard the men knock on Marci's door then enter her office. Half an hour later the same men walked back to the elevator, looking slightly disappointed. Curious, Halina got to her feet and walked over to Marci's door and peered in. Marci had a phone to her ear but when she saw Halina, she waved her in anyways.
"Babe, what the hell? Why are the FBI asking me about Matt Murdock?" Marci crossed her one arm, obviously irritated as she listened to, who was obviously Foggy on the other end, reply. "Well apparently, he's wanted for questioning! What did he do, Foggy? Nothing!? Then why are they looking for him? …I guess that does seem likely, doesn't it. Wait, what? Why would he steal your Bard's license? He did what? Foggy what the hell is going on? Foggy? Foggy? Son of a..."
"Well, I guess that answers my question." Halina said, sitting back in her chair. "But why question you?"
"I've technically known Matt since college, just like Foggy, we just didn't get along. And I imagine its also because of my relationship with Foggy. Maybe they hoped to catch Foggy in a lie? If those idiots think I'd incriminate him, they've got shit for brains."
"Did he lie to them?"
"No. He's not stupid, he answered their questions honestly but I'm sure he failed to tell them everything also. Although I have no idea what everything is." Marci sighed. "I'm sorry, I sure I'm making both of them sound like crooked lawyers, but really they aren't. This whole Fisk thing, has gotten Foggy all paranoid and quite frankly, after what he's told me, I don't blame him."
"So you don't really believe Matt has done anything illegal."
"No, I doubt it." Marci sighed as she rubbed her temples. "Foggy saw Matt a couple weeks ago. Foggy was really concerned about him. He said Matt sounded severely depressed, maybe even suicidal. He warned Foggy about Fisk and told him to stay away from him."
"Well, Foggy said that Matt was protective of his friends, and if he feels they're in danger, I imagine he won't be going anywhere any time soon." Halina said in an attempt to cheer Marci up. Halina was about to say that he had seemed fine when she'd talked to him but honestly, she had thought her mother was fine too. One could never really tell what was going on in a person's head.
"Why do you think he's hiding from the Feds? I mean they're supposed to be the good guys."
Marci scoffed bitterly. "Emphasis on the supposed to be. If Foggy is paranoid about Fisk being out, then so is Matt. I mean they're accusing him of being corrupt, Fisk claimed Matt worked for him, which he definitely didn't. Matt probably thinks he'd be dead before he even reached their headquarters."