Chapter Text
It was still new, the suit. From what he heard, it was intimidating, if not a little menacing. And it was tied to the arrest of Wilson Fisk. The downfall of one of the highest profile men in Hell’s Kitchen. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t relish it, just a little. Putting the fear of the Devil in people.
It had been another busy night, dismantling what little remained of the Russians’ operation, and he was glad to be home, ready to sleep off his headache and bruised ribs. He opened the door and froze.
Rest might have to wait.
He walked into his apartment slowly, listening to the heartbeat of whoever had broken into his place. It wasn’t getting faster, so whoever it was wasn’t afraid of him and probably (hopefully) wasn’t going to immediately attack him. And whoever it was had on cologne that smelled expensive, enough hair gel to keep a small salon in business, and shoes that were way too clean to have walked in Hell’s Kitchen for more than a block. Matt frowned. He couldn’t think of any rich guys that might have a beef with him. Not any that weren’t in prison, anyway. He was about to say something when the intruder spoke.
“That suit’s pretty badass. Not as badass as mine of course, but a solid effort. You have pretty good taste for a blind guy.”
Matt felt his frown deepen, his jaw dropping slightly before he caught it. He recognized the voice from tv.
This night just kept getting weirder.
“Tony Stark?” He was gonna say something more, confront the man, but his voice got lost in his confusion.
“And you’re Matt Murdock, yes. Hi! I have a proposition for you.”
He wasn’t joking. Matt took a deep breath. “Can I change first?”
Stark was silent for a moment, then let out a laugh. “Don’t let me stop you.”
Matt hustled to his room, shutting the door behind him and getting out of the suit as quickly as he could. It was kind of cumbersome, and it didn’t help that Tony Stark, Tony Stark, was sitting just a few feet away in the other room. Matt could feel him sitting in there, and for some reason it made him sweat behind the knees and hear his heartbeat twice as loud as usual. He threw on a pair of sweats and what he hoped was a gray t-shirt and went back out.
“More comfortable now?” Stark queried, and Matt smiled.
“Not as comfortable as I’ll be when I know why you’re here,” he answered, walking to his fridge. “Wanna beer or something?”
“No, thank you.”
Matt shrugged and pulled out a bottle for himself, opening it before walking over to the couch and sitting. “So?”
“I assume you’re familiar with...what do you civilians call it, ‘the Incident?’”
Matt snorted. “Yeah. The Battle of New York. Yeah. Yeah, those...those aliens or whatever the hell really tore this place up. Gave a lot of rich scumbags the opportunity to take advantage of people who couldn’t do anything about it.”
“Rich scumbags, huh?” Tony repeated, but he spoke again before Matt could apologize. “Yeah, I’ve known a few of those in my day. Anyway, so I assume you’re familiar with the Avengers?”
Matt nodded slowly. He was getting an idea of where this was going and he desperately hoped he was wrong. “Well, I’ve got one of ‘em sitting in my living room. So.” He took a drink of his beer.
Stark leaned forward, clasping his hands in front of him. “You know what I’m about to ask, don’t you?”
“Surely you guys can afford a better lawyer than me,” Matt said, and Tony laughed.
“You know,” he said, and Matt held his breath.
Here it comes.
“I think you would fit right in.”
Matt slowly shook his head, setting his beer on the coffee table. “I’m sorry, Mr. Stark, but I can’t. I’m a lawyer. It’s just me and Foggy, you know. And Karen, but she doesn’t have a law degree. I can’t just abandon my job. Abandon them. Besides, the criminals here keep me busy enough.”
He could feel Stark staring at him. Matt was going to say something just to break the silence when Stark finally spoke; Matt was beginning to think the guy could sense when he wanted to talk and was interrupting him on purpose.
“Okay. Well, if you ever did want to work with us, it wouldn’t be an eight hours, six days a week kind of gig. We would have you be kind of a...pinch hitter. Give me your phone, I’ll put my number in, and if you’re interested, even a little, call me.There are bigger things going on than the small-timers here, Matthew. Very big things. What you did with Fisk was very impressive. Imagine what you could do working with us. Just think about it.”
Matt dug his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Stark with some reluctance. “I’ll think about it. But Mr. Stark?”
“Hm?”
“Don’t be too disappointed when I don’t call.”
“I’ll try not be,” Stark said, but he said it as though he knew something Matt didn’t. “Well, it was a pleasure meeting you. Sorry for interrupting your evening.”
Matt stood at the same time as Stark, and reached out for a handshake. Stark’s grip was firm and steady and Matt could feel his stare. He pretended not to notice as he led the Avenger to the door, opening it for Tony.
“I’ll be seeing you, Murdock,” Stark said and left.
Matt stood in the doorway for a long time.
xxx Three weeks later
Matt couldn’t stop thinking about it. He tried like hell, but it was impossible to put it out of his mind. Karen and Foggy had noticed of course, so he lied and dodged questions while he tried to figure out what to do. The thoughts even plagued him when he was kicking bad guys’ asses, whether it been in alleyways or courtrooms. He finally decided that its being so stuck in his head was answer enough.
He’d check it out.
But there was one person he wanted to ask first.
“You wanna go check out the Avengers? Are you shitting me? How is that even a question?”
Matt blinked in surprise. “So you’re okay with it?”
Foggy let out a sound of disbelief. “Matt, it’s the Avengers! Of course I’m okay with it! Aw, dude, imagine fighting side-by-side with The Hulk, and Captain America--oh, and don’t even get me started on Black Widow!”
Matt snorted. “I thought you didn’t like me fighting.”
“I don’t like you fighting dangerous criminals all by yourself and getting your ass seriously handed to you every other week. And almost dying. That’s what I don’t like. But if you fight with the Avengers you’ll be on a team! A kick-ass team that won’t let you die!” Foggy paused in thought. “Dude, you’re probably gonna be the only one on the team that even can die…”
“What?” Matt cried, pulling a face. “Nuh-uh! I mean, isn’t one of them, like, an archer? I bet that guy gets hurt all the time. Probably...falls out of windows and shit.”
“Falls out of windows?” Foggy laughed.
“Well, I don’t know!” Matt replied. He was laughing now too. “From the way Josie talked about him the guy dresses like a stripper! At least I have body armor!”
“A stripper? I mean, I guess from what I saw of him in the footage he didn’t have sleeves, but that’s probably so he can...I dunno, bow and arrow more easily!”
Matt cocked his head to the side. “You really think that’s it? He’s not just showing off his biceps?”
Foggy shrugged. “I dunno! I mean, it has to have a functional purpose, right?”
Matt felt a mischievous smile playing on his lips as he said, “I’m gonna ask him.”
Foggy put a hand on Matt’s knee and leaned forward. “You’re gonna what?!”
“I’m gonna ask him if he was just showing off his biceps!”
“You can’t ask him that!” Foggy exclaimed.
Matt sighed. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Hey, when do you think I should head over there? I mean, we’ve got this whole Linetti case…”
Foggy clapped Matt on the shoulder. “Karen and I can handle the Linetti case. We’re just doing research right now and...well, we’re better at that part than you are anyway. The hearing isn’t for a few weeks anyway, and we can always just call you if we need anything.”
Matt turned to Foggy, a contented grin on his face. “Tomorrow it is then. Thank you, Foggy. I owe you one.”
“Dude, get me some autographs and we’ll be even,” Foggy said. “The Avengers! Man, I can’t believe this. You’re gonna be an Avenger.”
As Matt listened to him talk, he couldn’t help but get a little excited, too.
xxx
Chapter Text
Matt got out of the cab and unfolded his cane, making his way through the busy sidewalk and into the lobby of Avengers Tower.
“Excuse me, sir? Can I help you?” a young man behind a desk asked.
“Uh, yes. I’m here to see Tony Stark,” Matt answered, straightening his tie.
“And you are?”
“Matt Murdock.” Matt resisted a smirk when the young man’s heart jumped.
“Mister Murdock, of course! I’ll let him know you’re here and he’ll be right down.”
“Thank you.” Matt stood, listening and feeling, getting a sense of the room. It was big and open and, except for the reception desk and the man behind it, empty. He got the sense that visitors weren’t really welcome, that there was a lot more to this place but not for just anyone. He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound and vibration of the elevator coming down, and the doors swished open a few seconds later.
“Matthew!” Stark cried, approaching Matt with an outstretched arm that wrapped itself around Matt’s shoulders as they walked. “I knew you’d come! Why didn’t you call? I would’ve sent a car.”
Matt shrugged. “I tried calling, but I couldn’t find your number. No Tony, no Stark-”
Stark let out a chuckle. “Oh, yeah, I put myself in there as Iron Man. Sorry ‘bout that. You ready for the grand tour?”
“As ready as I can be,” Matt replied as they stepped into the elevator. He wanted to ask if the other Avengers were there, but didn’t want to seem too eager. He still wasn’t completely sold on the whole thing, and he didn’t want to give Tony the wrong idea.
After a few seconds of silence, Stark said, “You’ll get to meet some of the others. Not all of them, mind you, but most of ‘em.” The elevator slowly came to a stop and the doors slid open. Stark walked out and Matt trailed after him. “Here we go, the main floor. We’ve got a lounge area and bar over to the left. It’s where I came up with the name Avengers. It’s also where the Hulk smashed a war-hungry maniac into the very expensive tile, but that’s patched up now. The rest of the floor is mostly labs, plus a server room.”
Matt nodded. He could hear a heartbeat other than Stark’s and his own coming from somewhere down the hall. “Who’s here?”
“What’s that?”
“I, uh…” Matt trailed off, suddenly embarrassed. He swallowed. “I can hear someone else’s heartbeat, down the hall. I was just wondering who it was.” He could feel Tony watching him and he willed himself not to blush.
“You are extraordinary, aren’t you? You’re gonna have to explain just how it is you do what you do at some point. For now, though, we’ll go say hi to that heartbeat you heard. If I had to guess, I’d say it belongs to Dr. Bruce Banner. Come on!”
Matt folded up his cane and followed Stark down the gently curving hallway for a little ways before they turned into a large room that smelled like chemicals and flame and hummed with the sound of several computers.
“Bruce!” Stark cried happily. “This is the prospective recruit I was telling you about.”
“Mr. Murdock,” Banner said. “Pleasure to meet you. I’m Bruce Banner. Hope you’re not too disappointed if you don’t get a chance to meet the Other Guy.”
“The other guy?” Matt asked, and he was sure that Stark and Banner exchanged a glance.
“The Hulk,” Banner explained. “Big green monster?”
Matt felt his eyebrows climb up his forehead. He’d never imagined that the Hulk might be someone other than the Hulk. “Right! Foggy told me about you. Big and green or not, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Banner.” He held out his hand and he could feel it in the handshake; it was firm, but not too firm, carefully measured, like Banner himself.
“Please, call me Bruce,” Banner said. “Tony told me about the accident you had as a kid. I’ve been looking into it, trying to figure out exactly what it is that blinded you, but the information on what happened...What I can access is pretty vague. Is there anything you can tell me about that day?”
“Uh...Wow. It hadn’t really occurred to me that there was much to know.” Matt was taken aback. He hadn’t thought about the accident in a long time. What the chemical was and where it had come from and was headed had never really crossed his mind. “I mean, it blinded me, but you know that. But I think it’s also what made me the way I am now; my other senses are...heightened. A lot. I use them to create a mental picture of my surroundings. It’s why I can fight. I can hear heartbeats, can use them to predict when someone’s going to make a move. I can feel the air moving when a fist or a foot comes at me, I can smell the metal of a gun, can hear a finger tighten on the trigger…” He trailed off as the other two stared at him in wonder. Stark moved suddenly, and something sailed toward Matt’s head. He ducked to the side at the same time as his right hand flew up and caught the object, which revealed itself to be a stress ball.
“Tony!” Bruce said in a disapproving tone. Stark just laughed.
“Impressive, Murdock. I’m looking forward to seeing what else you can do. We should get going, there’s a lot to…” Stark hesitated before adding (somewhat sheepishly), “Observe.”
Matt smiled. “You can say ‘see,’ I won’t be offended. It was nice to meet you Doctor--er, Bruce.”
“Nice to meet you too, Matt. Hey, if you don’t mind, I’d love to ask you some questions later on if you have a minute.”
The eagerness in his voice almost made Matt shy and he nodded. “Sure, of course.”
“Come on, Murdock!” Stark said, impatience in his words and the way he bounced on his toes.
Matt gave Banner one last smile before following Tony back to the elevator, surprised when it started moving down. “Where are we going?”
“The upper floors are boring. Lodging, some kitchens, a few media rooms, a dozen-ish more labs...nothing important. Downstairs, though, in the underground floors? That’s where all the fun shit is. I’m talking Olympic size pools, multi-level training decks, fully functional gyms, a boxing ring--the works and more! Just like Bruce and I like to spend time in the labs doing important work, the others spend most of their time training.” He scoffed. “Bunch of nerds.”
The elevator came to a halt and the door swished open, and as they stepped out Matt was assaulted with a strong but not entirely unfamiliar mix of smells--gym mats, canvas, blood and sweat...For a moment, Matt was a kid again, back in Fogwell’s learning Braille as his dad trained. The memory had been a painful one, once, but now it just brought a small smile to Matt’s face. The smile grew when he heard someone pummeling the shit out of a punching bag.
“Steve!” Stark called, and the blows stopped.
Matt drew in a sharp breath. Unless the archer’s name was Steve, Matt was pretty sure he was about to meet Captain America. He’d been learning about the man in school since before he was blind. Hell, one of the essay questions on his honors history final was about Steve Rogers. It was the best essay score he’d ever gotten.
He suddenly felt very nervous.
Steve sauntered his way over--no, sauntered wasn’t quite right. Saunter implied ego, and there didn’t seem to be any ego. Meandered? Matt was still trying to figure out the right word when a voice broke into his thoughts.
“Hi. I’m Steve Rogers.”
Matt couldn’t contain a smile as he shook the super soldier’s hand. “Matt Murdock. Wow. It’s, uh...it’s an honor to meet you.”
Steve let out a small laugh. “You know, I was actually thinking the same thing. It was amazing what you did, standing up against someone like Wilson Fisk. And I’m not just just talking about Daredevil. What you did as Matt Murdock was just as incredible.”
Matt scrubbed at the back of his head, willing his cheeks not to turn red. “Thanks. That’s really nice of you to say.”
He heard a scoff from Stark. “Alright, that’s enough fangirling for one day. There’s more to see around here and Cap is clearly very busy.”
Steve sighed a very small sigh that Matt was sure Stark didn’t hear (and that he sensed was probably a regular occurrence). “It was good to meet you, Mr. Murdock. Regardless of whether you decide to stay, I’d love to talk to you more sometime.”
“Me too,” Matt managed to get out before Stark was guiding (practically dragging) him away.
“We should find agents--sorry, former agents--Romanoff and Barton in the next room. It’s a favorite of theirs--three levels of holographic landscape that changes every day, plus virtual enemies that are programmed to behave differently with every use. It’s next-gen stuff, really keeps ‘em on their toes.” Stark said this all very proudly, and Matt had to hold back a snort.
Matt hummed and nodded. “You know,” he said, turning his face toward Stark. “That all sounds great, except I’m not sure how’d I do against opponents with no vital signs.”
Stark scoffed. “Oh, don’t worry about that. I built a state-of-the-art training facility for a few of the local police precincts, and they pay me back by practicing with the team on occasion.” He punched something into a keypad by the door and it swished open. Matt followed him into the room, and once again found himself surprised. It was a lot bigger than he’d thought, and he could hear the sounds of a fight--but only half of it.
“Hey!” Tony called, hitting a switch and filling the space with the barely noticeable hum and heat of lights. At the shout, the pseudo-fighting sounds stopped and the two interrupted agents made their way down from the upper levels to the now open doorway.
“Is this the guy?” the man--Barton--asked, sounding equal parts excited and skeptical.
“Matt Murdock,” Matt said, and Barton let out a sound.
“Wow. I mean, I thought you’d be taller.”
“Clint!” hissed the woman who had to be Romanoff.
“Ow!” Barton cried, and Matt guessed he’d just gotten an elbow to the ribs. “Seriously though, I’ve got at least three inches on the guy, maybe four.”
Romanoff sighed and addressed Matt. “Just ignore him. Lord knows that’s what the rest of us do.”
“Hey!”
“I’m Natasha Romanoff. And this idiot is Clint Barton. Since Stark and Banner can’t fight to save their lives unless they’re in a flashy metal suit or turned into a green rage monster, you’ll be doing most of your training here with us, and maybe Steve on occasion.”
Matt smiled. “Well, I’m not sure I’m even gonna-”
“What do you mean I can’t fight to save my life?” Stark interrupted. “The first time you saw me I was boxing with Happy, and I have come a long way since then.”
Matt was both shocked and delighted when Romanoff stepped around him and promptly flipped Stark onto his back. Barton laughed while Romanoff helped the billionaire back to his feet.
“That wasn’t fair,” he griped. “I wasn’t ready!”
“That’s kind of the point,” Barton said, his voice bordering on gleeful.
“Exactly,” Romanoff said, a smirk in her voice.
“Did you just agree with me?”
True to her word, Romanoff ignored the archer. “So you’re Daredevil, huh?”
“Yeah,” Matt answered at the same time that Barton said, “You did, didn’t you! The last time you did that was in Rio.”
“Do you even remember Rio? You got concussed so badly on our last day there that I had to carry you to the extraction point. And quit interrupting, it’s rude.”
“I’m gonna go hit the showers, anyway. Nice to meet you Matt! Sorry about the height comment. At least you’re still taller than Tony!” He jogged away laughing, and Matt was reminded of Foggy. He suspected the two of them would probably get along swimmingly if they ever met.
“He’s lucky I don’t kick his ass,” Stark muttered under his breath.
“Even I would have a hard time doing that. He may be a jackass but he’s a good fighter, and stronger than he looks,” Romanoff said.
“Well I’d be in the suit, obviously.”
“Wouldn’t that be cheating?” Matt asked, a smile playing at his lips. Romanoff let out a laugh and Stark gasped.
“Cheating? Me? That’s it, you’re no longer invited. Romanoff, do me a favor and see the gentleman out.”
Matt laughed. “I’m not uninvited.”
“Oh, and what makes you so sure?”
“Your heartbeat. It’s too steady.”
“Listening to my heartbeat is definitely cheating. Well, unless you have any questions, comments, requests, that really does conclude our tour. Do you?”
“Do I…” Matt hadn’t really been listening to the last part of whatever Stark was saying. He’d been too busy observing Romanoff. He got the sense that she had a lot of secrets, and that she was very good at hiding them.
“Have any questions, comments, requests?”
Matt did, actually, something that had been bothering him since the start of all this. “If I decide to do this, what do I tell Karen? Or anyone else who’s not in the know? Because I can’t be like you guys. I can’t let the whole world know who I am. It would ruin my career. It would put every person I love in danger...I can’t just stay here in the Avengers Tower. Hell’s Kitchen is my home. Everyone I care about is there. I’m not gonna give that up, not for anything.”
(He would later encounter something he would give it up for.)
(He would be tempted.)
(He would be too late.)
“Relax, Murdock. We’re all very good at keeping secrets. Tell Karen and anyone else who asks that you’re...I dunno, part of a study I’m conducting in order to develop technology to aid the visually challenged.”
“‘The visually challenged?’” Romanoff repeated.
“It sounds more sensitive that way. Doesn’t it Murdock?”
“Honestly? You can just say blind people,” Matt answered, earning him one of Stark’s signature scoffs.
“Well obviously I can’t trust your opinion. I’m taking you back to the lobby. Happy’ll drive you home so you don’t have to call a cab again.”
Matt frowned. ”He really doesn’t have to do that.”
“Oh please,” Stark said. “Cabs are disgusting. Do you know how disgusting cabs are? Absolutely revolting. I simply won’t allow it.”
“I mean...I guess if you insist,” Matt muttered before turning to Romanoff. “It was nice to meet you, Ms. Romanoff.”
“Please, call me Natasha,” she said, giving him a quick handshake.
“Alright, Natasha,” Matt said before following Stark to the elevator. He gave one last wave before the doors shut. Neither of them spoke the whole way up, and Stark hardly said a word as he guided Matt out to the car where Happy was waiting.
“K, Murdock,” Stark said as Matt sat in the car, the seats of which probably cost more than Matt’s apartment. “Take a few days to think about it. If I haven’t heard from you by the end of the week, I’ll know what that means.”
“You got it,” Matt answered. He was sure he would need the few days, but it turned out only to take the length of the car ride for him to know. As soon as he got up to his apartment, he called Stark.
“Murdock. Did you leave something at the tower? I can have Happy look for whatever it is. Happy!”
“No!” Matt said quickly. “No, I didn’t leave anything! I, uh...well, I’ve decided.”
There was a beat before Tony said, “And?”
“I’m in.”
xxx
Chapter Text
Three days later and Matt was back in the basement of Avengers Tower (which Stark insisted on calling a sub-level because he thought it sounded cooler), only instead of wearing a suit and stumbling through mildly awkward introductions, he was in gym shorts and a t-shirt and sparring with the Avengers.
His current opponent was Steve. It was their third round, and Matt was starting to get the hang of it. He ducked under Steve’s arm and popped up again, getting in two quick blows to the sternum before following with an uppercut. Steve stumbled backward, letting out a surprised laugh.
“You’re good at this. I’m impressed,” the super soldier said. He’d barely broken a sweat. “Where’d you learn to fight like that?”
Matt downed half a bottled water, then caught his breath for a second before answering. “Like that? My dad was a boxer. You, uh…you were still on the ice when he was...active. Anyway, I learned to box in the same gym where he trained.”
“Pardon my saying so, but I’m pretty sure you didn’t learn all of that in a gym.”
Matt turned toward Steve with a small smile. “You’re right about that. I also learned martial arts from a blind old son of a bitch. Plus a few years’ experience fighting crime in the streets of Hell’s Kitchen. Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
“What are you gonna do when you come up against someone as strong as you?”
Steve was silent for a moment, having clearly been caught off-guard. Then, “What do you mean?”
Matt felt his ears turn red, but he couldn’t keep CaptainfuckingAmerica waiting, so he kept going. “Well, when we fought, you didn’t--well, you kind of did a terrible job defending yourself. Which I think is partially because you rely on your shield and partially because you rely on your strength. I’m not strong enough to do much--any--damage, but what if one day someone is? Another super soldier, or an alien or something?”
“I know how to take a beating,” Steve said, and there was something strangely rueful in his voice. He forced a laugh. “You’re probably right, though. I’ll work on that. Thanks.” He took a sip from his water bottle and Matt could feel his gaze. “You wanna go another round?”
Matt shook his head. “Oh, absolutely not. I’m supposed to practice with Barton soon. If you, uh...if you need some pointers--” He cleared his throat, regretting his words immediately, but his mouth kept moving. “You know, on protecting yourself--” What the hell are you doing? “Not that you...need...I just mean-” Abortabortabort!
“That would be great,” Steve interrupted, saving Matt from his floundering. “Tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow,” Matt agreed right as the elevator dinged. “That’s gotta be Barton. Any tips?”
Steve laughed, and it was real this time. “Well, he’s stronger than you think. And, uh...don’t let his talking distract you. Good luck.”
“Thanks, Steve,” Matt answered as Steve walked onto the elevator and Barton came bouncing out.
“Matt! Matty!” Barton called, clapping Matt on the shoulder.
“Just Matt is fine, Barton,” Matt said.
Barton laughed. “And just Clint is fine! I need to go change real quick. Will that be enough recovery time from the captain?”
Matt smiled. “Yeah, that should do it.”
Clint returned a minute later, eager and clearly rearing to go. “You know, I’ve been really looking forward to this. You’re basically a blind ninja which is the coolest thing ever. Except I would feel kind of bad if I kicked a blind man’s ass.”
“You know, it wouldn’t be the first time,” Matt said, adopting a boxing stance--fists up, elbows in, strength centered in his core. “You ready?”
“Fire at will.”
Matt threw a punch at Clint’s chin, but the archer dodged out of the way and it was a glancing blow. He followed with some blows aimed at Clint’s sternum, but again he dodged out of the way. Clint was faster than Steve, and it took a minute for Matt to adjust.
“You adapt quick,” Clint said, sounding impressed. “It took me a long time to learn how to fight well. I prefer to be out of the thick of things. Just as well people don’t know who it was that took ‘em down. I have enough enemies as it is.”
Matt furrowed his brow, ducking his head out of the way of a left hook. “You mean the Avengers have enough enemies as it is?”
Clint laughed. “I wish. No, I meant yours truly. I bought this apartment building in Brooklyn, pissed off a whole lot of Russians. And there’s this clown that tried to kill me once. And of course there’s the Circus of Crime.”
Matt paused. “‘The Circus of Crime?’” A blow directly to the ribs sent him stumbling back and Steve’s words echoed in his mind. Don't let his talking distract you. That was proving more difficult than Matt expected.
“It’s where I learned how to shoot and fight. It’s also where I learned that I didn’t want to be a criminal...”
Matt focused on Clint’s voice for a moment, then pushed it back, letting it melt into the other sounds of the room until it was background noise. As they sparred, Matt found himself increasingly awed. He'd heard a lot about the Avenger’s impressive aim with any weapon he could get his hands on, but his skill didn't stop there. Clint tended to keep some distance between himself and Matt, choosing to stay on the defensive, but when he did throw a punch it landed with impeccable aim--jaw, ribs, sternum. Matt quickly found himself winded, and Clint stopped with a laugh.
“I have literally no idea how you fight like that,” he said, the admiration in his voice embarrassing Matt. “You’re damn good. But if you’re gonna last against Nat, you’re gonna need to take a real break. And get some lunch. I heard Happy made it special today, so that should be good! I’ve got an errand to run so I won’t be able to eat with you, but I’ll get you to the kitchen.”
“Thanks,” Matt said, taking a swig from his water bottle. The Avengers were exhausting. “You’re not too bad yourself, you know.”
“You’ve got to tell Nat you said that. She won’t believe me.”
Matt laughed. He never could’ve predicted this, actually becoming friends with them.
Foggy was going to flip out.
xxx
Matt was eating a surprisingly delicious sandwich (turkey pesto) in the lounge where Stark had come up with the name Avengers when the elevator arrived with its pleasant ding and Clint walked out with someone Matt didn’t recognize. Whoever she was, she was young and she was very fired up about something.
“Do you believe that? Honestly the gall of some people! Good shooting doesn’t count as a superpower my ass! The little toad is lucky I didn’t have any of my practice arrows on me or I would’ve shoved one right up his--oh!” She didn’t finish the threat and Matt could tell she was embarrassed, her cheeks flushing. “Oh! Wow, hi, I’m sorry about that. It’s just that there’s this guy and--oh, you don’t wanna hear about that! I’m Kate Bishop. Hawkeye. But you can call me Kate.”
Matt raised an eyebrow. “Hawkeye?” he asked around a bite of sandwich. He was pretty sure he’d already met Hawkeye, and he wasn’t a teenage girl.
“Yeah, I’m kind of Clint’s...protégé. He’s been helping me shoot and fight better so that when he gets too old or does something stupid and dies-”
“Hey!” Clint interrupted. “That is not why I took you on and you know it! You better watch it or I’ll fire you.”
Kate snorted. “You’re not gonna fire me! I know where you live. I’ll come over and steal your bow. And your dog.”
“Nuh uh!” Then, to Matt, “This punk took my dog to California once, can you believe it?”
Kate huffed. “You’re not still holding onto that, are you? I brought him back! Anyway, I didn’t get your name, sorry. You’re…?”
“Matt Murdock,” Matt answered, and smiled when she gasped.
“Oh! Wow, Clint didn’t tell me you were h--” She made an odd choking sound, then added lamely, “Here. He didn’t tell me you were here.”
“I did too,” Clint said. Matt could tell which of them was telling the truth, and it wasn’t the young newcomer.
“NO, you didn’t! Ha! You and your terrible memory. So, Mr. Murdock!”
“Matt,” Matt said.
“Matt. You’re a lawyer, right?” Something mischievous had crept into Kate’s voice. “Clint once told me that lawyers are the devil’s way of reminding us that he exists.”
Clint made a sound. “W-well, I mean-I didn’t-”
“You’re stammering,” Kate said smugly.
Matt cleared his throat. “As amusing as it is listening to you two bicker, do you mind if I interrupt with a question?”
“Go for it!” Clint said at the same time Kate cried, “Of course!”
Matt pictured the two of them sticking their tongues out at each other.
“How old are you, Kate?” he asked before taking another bite of his sandwich.
“...Seventeen,” Kate answered. “But I’m old enough! I mean, I’ve practically raised myself, since Daddy’s always so busy. Plus I think I remind him of Mom and he doesn’t like to think about her...Anyway, I’m also really good with a bow and arrow. Like, more than Barton would care to admit.”
“And you’re...an Avenger?” Matt asked, still trying to wrap his mind around the two Hawkeyes thing. Listening to their conversation hadn’t helped much.
“In training,” Kate said, a little bitterly. “Even though I’ve saved this jackass on more than one occasion. Although when Stark and Nat found out about that I nearly got Clint fired.”
That was a story Matt wanted to hear eventually, but right now he still had questions. He was going to ask one when the elevator door opened, wafting out a cloud of cologne that could only mean Stark.
“Kate! JARVIS told me you were here! I trust you’re not getting into too much trouble out there?”
“Who, me?”
Tony laughed. “I think you’ve been spending too much time with Barton. Speaking of Barton, Barton! I’ve drawn up the specs and a rough design on those net arrows you wanted. Wanna come check ‘em out, see if it’s what you’re looking for?”
“Hell yeah!” Clint cried. “Hey, catcha later Matt. Good luck with Natasha. I’m warning you now, she won’t go easy just ‘cus you’re the new guy and you’re blind. She’s freaky flexible and freaky fast and they don’t call her the widow for nothing.”
“Got it. Thanks, Clint.”
“Nice to meet you, Matt,” Kate said. “Sorry about us. I’d say we’re not usually like that, but we are. I’ll see you around!”
The three of them left, and suddenly the room was as quiet as it had been before. Matt finished the last few bites of his sandwich in silence wondering how the hell a teenager had managed to become an Avenger-in-training.
xxx
Natasha didn’t talk when they sparred. She did little more than let out the occasional grunt/growl. It was in stark contrast to Clint, who apparently didn’t have an off-switch. It was actually a little unsettling at first, but Matt adjusted quickly. Her fighting style took a little longer to adapt to He’d been mostly boxing all day, but now he found himself needing to draw from what he’d learned from Stick. And from fighting ninjas.
She was a lot smaller than Steve and Clint, but more than made up for it in speed, agility, and a relentlessness that hadn’t been there with the other two. Matt found he actually appreciated the challenge (though he was grateful he knew how to take an ass kicking). He wasn’t sure how long they’d been fighting when Nat finally stopped. Matt bent over with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily.
“Okay,” she said as she caught he breath. “That’s it; I’m calling it. Stark’s upgrading my tasers and I’m supposed to test them.” She started to walk away, but paused before the elevator. “You did good, Murdock.”
xxx
“She actually said that? You did good, Murdock? You’ve known her for all of a day and she’s already praised you more highly than anyone else on the team. You better not tell Tony. He’d never admit it but he tends to be the jealous type.”
“Does he?” Matt responded, forgetting that with a boss like Stark there was no way his sarcasm could get by Happy. “Oh, you can let me off in the next alley.”
“Do you even know where we are?” Happy asked, not rudely but with genuine concern and a hint of curiosity.
“Behind Remi’s. They have the best pizza sauce in the state, but it smells like they’re a little short on garlic.”
“It smells like they--I won’t pretend to have any idea what you’re capable of. I guess here’s your stop, Mr. Murdock. I’ll pick you up tomorrow at nine.”
“Thanks, Happy,” Matt said, getting out of the car and unfolding his cane. “Tomorrow, then.”
He shut the car door and waited for Happy to pull out before heading home. Every part of him ached and he was mildly exhausted, so the walk took a little longer than usual, but he couldn’t keep a small smile from his face. There was something almost intoxicating about interacting with other people like him, who understood why he fought and what it meant to save a life.
xxx
They’d been training together for a week now, and Matt was getting to know the others pretty well. He knew that Steve claimed to be a stickler for the rules, but that didn’t keep him from sneaking pickles out of Clint’s sacred jar when no one was looking. He knew that Clint liked to be away from the fight whenever possible, and that despite this he would try and coax the Hulk out for a visit by setting little booby traps in Bruce’s lab and then watching from a safe distance. He knew that Natasha didn’t like eating in front of other people and that she sometimes sang to herself in Russian when she was in an elevator. And he knew that Stark drank too much and slept too little, despite his meticulously crafted image.
Bruce Banner was still largely a mystery.
Currently, the Avengers were relaxing in the lounge after sitting through an excruciatingly boring presentation about Tower security from Happy (which was only necessary after Clint decided to see if he could break in). Stark and Bruce were talking about something pertaining to artificial intelligence, Natasha was reading a book, and Clint was excitedly looking over his finished net arrows from Stark. Matt was sipping at a beer and about to ask Clint a question when Pepper burst in, heart pounding with excitement.
“He’s here!” she announced, and Matt cocked his head in interest.
“Who’s here?” Matt asked Clint, who didn’t pause from scrutinizing his new arrows.
“Oh, you’ll see,” the archer replied, and Matt could hear the smirk in his voice. The smirk which wasn’t there when he quickly added, “Well, not see. Uh.” He cleared his throat, and Matt smiled.
“Don’t worry about it. When Foggy and I were first room-” The word got caught in his throat as someone entered the room, an energy rolling off of the stranger that made the hair on the back of Matt’s arms and neck stand on end. Whoever it was, something, no, everything about him was wrong. The way his heart beat hard and fast while the rest of him stayed calm, the way his footfall seemed to make gravity work just a little harder, the way his very being seemed to hum and vibrate, as if every atom wanted to take flight. Whoever the stranger was, he was powerful. It unsettled Matt.
“Matt!” Clint’s voice cut through his thoughts, and he looked up sharply. Everyone in the room was silent, and he could feel their eyes on him.
“Yeah?”
“You okay? You suddenly just, like...I dunno, froze.”
“Who the hell is that?” Matt asked, hoping that the panic hadn’t crept into his voice.
“Thor, of Asgard!” the stranger cried happily, crossing the room. Matt could easily picture the goofy grin that was undoubtedly on the giant man’s face.
“Asgard?” Matt repeated, shaking Thor’s hand. As soon as their skin made contact, Matt could feel the strange energy pouring off of him. “I’m Matt Murdock. You’re not human.” The words jumped out of his mouth before he could stop them, and Clint choked while Tony let out an odd harumph. Thor just laughed, a full, hearty sound that eased Matt’s frayed nerves somewhat.
“Stark has told me about you, the Daring Devil,” Thor said loudly, taking a seat on the other side of Matt. “You see very well for a blind man. You remind me of Heimdall!” Thor clapped Matt’s shoulder and almost knocked him off of the sofa.
“Uh, thank you,” Matt said, unsure what else to say. He swallowed. “So, you’re from...Asgard? That’s…”
“It’s on another dimensional plane,” Tony interjected. “Or another realm, as he calls it. He’s a demigod.”
“He’s a what?” Normally Matt would be embarrassed to be so behind everyone else in the room, but everyone else in the room was an Avenger, so he didn’t feel bad.
“He’s a superpowered alien,” Clint said, rather unhelpfully. Then, more unhelpfully, “His power comes from his hammer.”
Matt frowned. “From his…”
“Mjolnir,” offered Thor, his chest puffed out, pride lacing the word. “Although I am very powerful even without Mjolnir.”
“Mjolnir,” Matt repeated, fairly certain as his tongue tripped over the unfamiliar word that he hadn’t pronounced it correctly. “I’m sorry, I’m confused.”
“He’s a super-strong alien viking who has a magic hammer than he can beat people up with and also it can control lightning,” Clint said.
Matt blinked, then took a long drink of his beer. “I’ll just pretend all of that made sense.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Steve offered kindly. “I was confused, too. I’m still confused about a lot of things, actually. Like the moon landing. And spray cheese! Who thought that was a good idea?”
“Spray cheese is the food of the gods,” Clint said, sounded slightly offended.
Thor scoffed. “Actually, the food of the gods is sæhrímnir, and it is delicious. The best of meats! You humans have come close with your bacon, which is strange considering what a tiny beast it comes from.”
“Can I ask what it is you’re doing here?” Matt asked. He felt a spike of worry. “There’s not another alien invasion coming is there?”
Thor laughed heartily at that. “No, Matthew. At least not that Heimdall or I are aware of.”
“He’s here to talk about science,” Bruce called over from where he and Tony were. “There’s a lot we don’t understand about Thor and where he comes from and how he gets here and there’s a lot we have that he doesn’t get, so-”
“Basically we’re gonna compare notes,” Stark interjected. “Oh, and by the way, I scheduled a team exercise for this Thursday. All of you covert ops guys are gonna run a drill with one of the local SWAT teams.”
“Yes!” Clint said beside Matt. “Team drills are the best. I get to have my bow and arrows--practice arrows, of course--and Cap has his shield...It’s almost like the real deal except there’s no buildings being destroyed or people dying...and I guess no aliens and no giant portal in the sky...Whatever, though, it’s great.”
Matt forced a smile. “Yeah, I’m looking forward to it.” For some reason he was feeling nervous about the whole thing. He pushed the feeling away. Of course it would go great. Why wouldn’t it?
xxx Thursday
Matt opened the door to his apartment and frowned.
“How was the team exercise?” someone asked eagerly.
“Foggy, how did you get in here?” Matt asked, shutting the door behind him and heading to the fridge for a well deserved beer. “And how did you know I’d be home now?”
“I put Find My Friends on your phone after all those explosions happened and we couldn’t find you and I had a key made after that time I found you nearly dead. How was the team exercise?”
Matt trudged over to the couch and flopped down, bottle in hand, too miserable to care about Foggy’s invasions of privacy. “They’re like a well-oiled machine. And I’m like a wrench.”
“That bad huh?”
Matt leaned his head back and groaned. “Oh, Foggy, it was terrible. I can hold my own in a fight with each of them, and we all get along great and they’re amazing people and I like them, but there’s no way in hell I’d ever be able to fight with them, as a team.” He took a drink of his beer and sighed. He’d really enjoyed his short foray into the world of the Avengers, and he was actually really sad to be leaving all of that behind. But the truth of it was, he just wasn’t one of them.
“What happened?” Foggy asked, his voice soft and irritatingly genuine.
Matt turned toward him. “Well, I broke one of Stark’s fancy earpieces for one.”
“You did not.”
Matt smiled and took a sip of his beer. “I did.”
“On accident, though.”
Matt gave a slow shake of his head. “Nope. It was too loud, and distracting, and I couldn’t handle it so I took it out...and stepped on it.”
“Why the hell did you step on it?” Foggy cried.
“I don’t know, I was just really fed up! Then I gave a SWAT guy a concussion and bruised another one’s ribs. I didn’t follow the plan, I didn’t communicate with them and didn’t let them communicate with me...I guess I’m just not much of a team player. After it was all over I told Stark it wasn’t working and that I wasn’t going to be a back-up Avenger and that I was sorry about the earpiece, and then I caught a cab home.” Matt heaved a big sigh. “I screwed it all up.”
Foggy was quiet for a moment before saying, “You wanna go get Thai and then drink the afternoon away at Josies?”
Matt rubbed a hand over his face and smiled. “You bet your ass I do.”
“And there’s, like, no possible way I could meet Steve Rogers?”
“Foggy!” Matt threw an elbow in his friend’s direction.
“Ouch, hey! Sorry! You’re right, it doesn’t matter. Let’s go. And tomorrow Karen and I will get you caught up on the Linetti case. We’ve got a hearing scheduled for five days from now.”
“No shit? How’s that been going?” As he and Foggy talked, Matt slipped easily back into his old life, but he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d made the wrong decision.
xxx Five days later
“Sir.”
“Yeah, JARVIS?” Tony asked distractedly, tinkering with a new bit of gadgetry.
“Sir, I believe Agents Barton and Bishop are in trouble.”
Tony paused his work. “Already? On a job that simple? What makes you say that?”
“Well, sir, I’m receiving some sort of distress beacon. One of Barton’s arrows, I believe.”
“Where’s it coming from?” Tony asked, worry starting to creep in. Neither Hawkeye ever asked for help unless it was the absolute last resort, and even then...
“In the middle of Yury Volkov’s base of operations, sir.”
Tony let out a long breath. “Shit.”
There was a breath’s length of hesitation before JARVIS spoke again.“Would you like me to call him, sir?”
They both knew exactly who JARVIS meant. Tony ran his fingers through his hair.
“No, JARVIS. Wake up Rogers. I think I better make that call myself.”
xxx
Chapter Text
Kate ignored the gunman. He was currently pacing the room, swearing to himself in Russian and running an idle hand through his hair. Kate’s hands, usually so steady, were betraying her now, trembling, a physical manifestation of her fear.
“You actually worried about me, Bishop?” Clint croaked at her from the floor. Kate let out a sharp chuckle.
“Worried? About you? That's a good one, Barton.” It was half-assed. They both knew it. She looked down at him. “How’re you feeling?”
“Oh, you know,” he said. He was right; she knew. It was evident in the crinkles at the corners of his eyes, the tight line of his lips, the shallow, measured breaths. He was hurting and, though he would never admit it, scared.
Kate shifted her hands, putting a little more pressure on the bullet hole in her partner's side. He let out a little grunt of pain, bending one leg and scraping his heel on the floor as if to find bearing.
“Try to stay still, Clint,” she said softly, all joking gone from her voice.
“Shouldn't be too hard,” he answered, his voice breathy and tight, eyes shining as they stared up at the ceiling.
He’d already lost a lot of blood, and though Kate had slowed the flow significantly, she couldn’t quite manage to stop it. What they both knew but refused to acknowledge was that if they couldn't get him out of here, even the slow stream would kill him eventually. His face was steadily losing its color, and it wouldn't be long before shock took hold.
Kate had to get him out of this. Of course, the Russian (whose name Clint was pretty sure was Andrei; Kate thought it was Alexei) was pissed off, freaking out, and clearly a bit emotionally unstable. And he’d taken their weapons. And the entrances (and therefore exits) were heavily guarded by angry Russians. And Hawkeye (both of them) were hated by the Russian community as a whole. But still, she had to try.
She cleared her throat. “Alexei?” Her throat was so dry, the word barely came out.
Clint glared at her. “What the hell are you doing?” he whispered. “And his name is Andrei!”
Kate shot a glare back at him and swallowed, raising her voice. “Alexei?”
The young Russian man didn’t even look over his shoulder. “It’s Andrei.” His accent was very light, and Kate guessed he’d immigrated to the states as a child.
Clint smirked. Kate didn’t see it, but she knew. “Andrei. Of course, I’m sorry. Andrei. My name is Kate Bishop, and I-”
“I know who you are. All of us know who you are. I want you to shut up now, or I’ll kill him.”
Kate closed her eyes, hoping she’d correctly interpreted what little Russian she’d been able to pick up from his phone conversation. “Andrei, I know your boss told you to keep an eye us until he gets here. I know he wants us alive.”
“I don’t give a shit what he wants,” Andrei muttered, though his heart clearly wasn’t in it.
“Oh, you say that. But you know what happens to people who don’t give him what he wants.” She could feel Clint glaring up at her, but she ignored him.
Andrei still didn’t turn, but his neck straightened and his shoulders stiffened; she’d hit a nerve. “You don’t know shit,” he said, his voice pitching up just enough to let Kate know he was starting to get nervous. “Stop talking or I will kill you.”
Kate smirked, though her heart was hammering so hard she thought it might burst. “Either one of us ends up dead, what do you think happens to you?”
“I said shut up!” Andrei cried, waving his gun in her direction.
“Listen, Andrei, I have an idea that just might help you, okay? Let Clint go.” Clint opened his mouth like he was going to argue with her, so she put a hand over it. “Tell Yury he got away. Let him get to a hospital and I’ll stay here. If he...” She lost her focus momentarily as she felt Clint’s tongue against her palm. She grimaced, but didn’t move her hand. “If Clint gets out of here and gets help, my father can get you a great lawyer. The Avengers can offer protection. You’ll be safe from Yury and get a reduced sentence.” Kate removed her hand from Clint’s mouth and glared down at him as she wiped the dampness off on her pants. “What are you, five?” she whispered.
“I don’t believe you!” Andrei cried, slamming his fist into a pillar. He turned around and marched toward them, gun held casually at his side. It looked huge in his slim fingers. Clint let out a small sound, though whether it was out of pain or worry, Kate couldn’t tell. She looked up at Andrei. Time to cut the bullshit.
“Look, Barton here is in trouble. Real trouble, okay? So either he gets out of here now and lives to face your boss another day, or he dies and you’re gonna be in really deep shit.”
Andrei looked at her, then Clint, then back at her. His face was unreadable.
“I can’t let you go,” he said finally. “Yury was...very clear. I’ll be back. You try anything, I break his fingers.”
Kate felt her shoulders sag, real tears threatening to spill over. Andrei walked out of the room and disappeared down the hall. A minute later he came back, a small, white plastic box in his hand. He threw it on the floor next to Clint, and Kate could see the red cross on the top of it.
“Keep him alive,” he said, and went back to his post by the door, though he kept it shut and locked it now. His phone rang, and Kate felt a stab of fear. Who knew what Yury had planned for them when he got there? She took a deep breath.
There were more important things that required her attention.
“K, Clint, your turn to put pressure on here for a minute,” she said, pulling Clint’s hands down from where they were resting against his head and pressing them against the wound. His face tightened, his brow furrowing.
“It hurts so much worse when I’m doing it,” he muttered.
“You’re doing great,” Kate said distractedly. She was rifling through the meager contents of the first-aid kit with an increasing sinking feeling. She finally found a pair of gloves, sterile gauze, and some medical tape, and took them out of the box. “Okay, Barton, I’m gonna have to lift your shirt up,” she said, pulling on the pair of blue latex gloves with an audible snap.
“The hell are you doing?” Clint muttered.
“What?” she asked. She had taken the edge of his shirt in her hands and she paused, waiting for him to explain.
“Coulda blown up those gloves as balloons,” he said with half a grin.
She snorted. “You really are five years old,” she said, pulling his shirt up and away from the wound. She tried not to react when she saw it; it was her first time seeing a bullet wound up close, and it was a mite unsettling. She tore her eyes away from it and opened the package of gauze, placing it carefully over the surprisingly little hole, then tore off four pieces of medical tape, pressing one down on each side of the gauze to secure it.
“How's it lookin’, doc?” Clint asked, cracking a crooked smile.
“Like you’re acting like a baby and you’re gonna be just fine,” Kate answered, though she thought she could see a bit of pink already leaking through the gauze.
“That’s good, because…’m starting to get a bit chilly. You a bit chilly?” He tried to smile, but it was clear he knew what the answer was. And what it meant.
It was shock. Shock was bad, bad news.
“Hey, Andrei?” Kate asked, her voice thin with real emotion this time.
“The hell do you want now?”
“He needs a blanket..” She looked over at Clint, who was back to staring at the ceiling. “He’s going into shock.”
Andrei rolled his eyes, swearing under his breath in Russian as he went for the door, and in a few moments he threw two blankets into the room.
“Thank you,” Kate said, but he’d already left the room. She took one blanket and folded it up, then tucked it under Clint’s feet. The other blanket she draped over him. “There. How’s that?”
“Like the shittiest B&B ever,” Clint answered, and Kate responded with a short chuckle that was mostly nerves. He looked up at her, and there was something new in his eyes that she hadn’t seen there before.
Fear.
Shit.
“Hey, you’re gonna be okay, Clint. Okay? You’re gonna be fine,” She said softly, lacing her fingers into his. “You’re gonna be just. Fine.”
“You sound worried, Bishop,” Clint breathed in what was barely more than a whisper.
“I am. There’s no one on this earth that would take in that smelly, pizza-thieving dog of yours.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You’re...you’re just saying that because he has one eye.”
Kate frowned, wrinkling her nose. “No, I’m saying that because he’s smelly and thieves pizza.”
Clint didn’t respond.
“Clint?” Kate asked, and she was met with a hollow groan.
“‘t hurts,” he gasped, and his eyes rolled, his lids drooping.
“No. No! Nonono, Clint, don’t do that!” Kate cried, shaking Clint’s hand in her own. His eyes fluttered open and he looked up at her uncertainly.
“Wha’d I do?” he slurred.
“You tried to take a nap on me, Hawkeye! You can’t sleep right now. I need you.” Kate could barely keep the quaver from her voice. A corner of Clint’s mouth perked up a little.
“Y’...y’need me, huh?”
Kate sighed. “Yeah, Clint, I need you.”
She looked down at her mentor, who looked back up at her, brows furrowed. She forced a smile. She needed to keep him awake.
“Hey, Clint, tell me a story will you?”
Clint let out a harsh breath that could have been a snort or a sigh. “What story?”
“How ‘bout the story of how you got Lucky?” She’d heard it a million times, but it was one Clint loved to tell. She could handle listening to it again.
Clint managed a smirk that was just as mischievous as ever. “How I...how I got lucky? Not sure tha’s appropriate. I gotta...gotta talk to HR?”
“Lucky the dog,” Kate replied, rolling her eyes. “Sicko.” She was pretty sure the Avengers didn’t even have an HR.
Clint smiled again, and this time it was real, his face relaxing some. He closed his eyes. “Lucky. Y’know, it started with a...a man. In a tracksuit. More like...ten men really.”
“Last time it was six,” Kate pointed out.
“Oh, hush you. You’ll spoil it. So this...this tracksuit mafia…”
She ran her fingers absently through his hair as he talked. There was no way she would be able to get him out on her own, and no way in hell she was going to leave him. All she could do was wait, and hope Tony or someone would come before it was too late.
xxx
Chapter Text
Matt tried very hard to ignore his phone ringing at (he pressed the button on top of his alarm clock and it informed him that it was 2:17 am) 2:17 am, but it was Iron Man calling.
That was a very hard call to ignore.
He groaned and rolled over, grabbing his phone off of the nightstand. “H’llo?”
“Hey, Murdock. You know how I said you would be a pinch-hitter?”
“You know how I said it wasn’t really working?” Matt responded, a little frustrated. He had a hearing tomorrow (wait--make that today) and Foggy would kill him if he botched it.
“Yeah, I know. But Clint and Kate are in trouble, Nat just went overseas, and Thor and the big guy aren’t very stealthy. And, as much as I hate to admit it, neither am I.”
Matt sat up in bed, Stark having gotten his attention. “What kind of trouble?”
“Oh, you know. The Russian kind.”
Matt closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. Always with the Russians. “How many?”
“A lot. It’ll be you and Cap. I have absolute faith in the two of you.” The next words held a hint of desperation. “Will you come?”
“Yeah,” Matt said. Damn you. “Just--I need to get dressed.”
“Happy will pick you up a few blocks from your apartment, then you and Cap will go in together. I’ll be listening, so if things really go downhill you won’t be alone. It would be best for everyone if things don’t really go downhill. Think you can handle that?”
Matt suppressed a sigh as he made his way to the closet where his suit resided. “Well I can sure as hell try.”
“That’s the spirit.” There was a pause before he added, “Thanks, Murdock. I owe you one.”
“No you don’t. I’m hanging up now; this suit is hard enough to get on without a phone in my hand.”
“I could give you your earpiece back.”
“Bye, Stark.” Matt hung up his phone as he grabbed his suit, quickly getting undressed before changing into his Daredevil outfit and hurrying down to where Happy was waiting.
Steve was waiting in the backseat, clearly gearing up for a fight but still cool as a cucumber.
“Murdock,” he said once the door was shut. “I’m glad you could make it.”
“It may not seem like it after what I left the way I did, but I care about you guys. Clint and Kate are in danger, and I want to help. What’s the situation?”
“Clint and Kate were just supposed to be doing some surveillance, but something happened and now we’re pretty sure they’ve been taken by the Russians they were supposed to be watching.”
“Doesn’t Stark have, like, drones and shit that could handle surveillance?” Matt asked, still mildly cranky at being roused from bed at such an ungodly hour the night before a hearing. Morning of a hearing.
Steve sighed. “Yeah, but Kate is really eager to prove herself and Tony finally caved and put her and Clint on an op that was supposed to be easy and hands-off, but obviously that didn’t happen. I don’t know what Tony’s gonna do if Clint, or Kate…” Steve sighed again, a long sigh. “We don't know much other than what building they're in and that there are a lot of hostiles. Stark doesn't wanna surveil in case it puts ours at risk, so we're going to have to go in blind.”
“Not necessarily,” Matt said. “If we can get me close, I'll be able to tell you a lot.”
Steve let out a sudden chuckle that surprised Matt then said, “A blind man keeping me from going in blind. Who'd have thought.”
They rode in silence for a moment before Matt finally asked the question that had been on his mind since he got in the car. “So...are you wearing the stars and stripes then?”
Steve snorted. “Oh gosh no. I'm in tactical gear, all black. Not my usual outfit, but a little more appropriate than the other, I think. I even have a tactical version of the shield with me.”
“You two chatty Cathys ready or what?” Happy said from the front seat. “We're almost to the dropping point.”
“Thanks, Happy,” Steve said, and after a moment the car rolled to a stop in an alley. Matt and Steve got out of the car, and Matt could sense the spike in Steve’s adrenaline.
“How close are we?” Matt asked.
“Half a block south of the building.When you say you’ll be able to tell me a lot, what do you mean?”
“I can probably tell you how many people are in there, maybe on what floors, and where Clint and Kate are if we’re lucky,” Matt answered.
“Of all the crazy things I’ve seen in the last few years, that has got to be one of the craziest,” steve muttered, almost to himself. Then, “Okay, we’re coming up on the building next to them. We’ll go in through the back so you can get a read on the situation without tipping off the Russians, then we can decide what to do from there.”
Matt nodded and Steve forced the door open with a single well placed kick. The two of them walked into the building that smelled of metal and leather and that Matt guessed was probably a welding shop and through it until they were at the other door, opposite of where the Russians were with Clint and Kate.
“Okay,” Matt said, taking a deep breath. “Give me a minute.” He closed his eyes and took another deep breath--in, out-- and as he exhaled his reigned in all of his senses, sharpening his focus and shifting it to the building across the street.
Another breath.
In. Twenty heartbeats total, spread between two of the building’s three floors. One of them was fluttering and frightened. One was working for too hard and pumping far too fast.
Out. A frightened voice to match the heartbeat: “You can’t sleep right now. I need you.”
Another.
In. Clint’s strained response.“Y’...y’need me, huh?”
Out. One other heartbeat in the room. One at the door. Four in a room down the hall and the rest on the floor below.
Matt opened his eyes and turned to Steve. “Eighteen hostiles. A dozen on the first floor. Clint and Kate are in a room on the second floor with one hostile, one more at the door, and four in a room down the hall. The door is the only way in and out of the room. And Clint is hurt. It sounds pretty bad.”
Steve’s heart jumped at the last thing, and there was the slightest waver in his voice when he spoke. “There’s a fire escape on the west side of the building. We’ll go in that way. Once we’re in, I need you to go directly to Clint and Kate. The man in the room with them probably has a gun, and we don’t want to give him the chance to do anything.Then you get Kate and Clint out. If he’s hurt as bad as you say, he won’t make it down the ladder, so you’ll need to get them out the other way. I think I know you well enough to know that your instinct is going to be to fight. Don’t. Your first priority needs to be to get them to safety. I’ll clear the way for you. I need you to trust me on this, Murdock.”
Matt wasn’t sure he had as much faith in him as Steve was asking for, and while he had the choice not to follow orders, doing so would put Clint and Kate in even more danger, and that wasn’t something he could do. He nodded. “You got it, Cap. And that’s the last time you call me by my name. I don’t want these guys to know anything about me.”
“Alright, Daredevil. You ready?”
“Ready,” Matt answered, and they headed for the building.
The fire escape ladder was alarmingly loud as Steve pulled it down, and Matt listened for a response from the men inside, relieved when there was none.
“We’re good,” he said, and they hurried up the ladder and onto the second floor. Matt headed straight for the room where Clint and Kate were being held, despite the Russians that came pouring out of a doorway to his left. One of them grabbed his arm, but released it an instant later--judging by the clang, presumably due to a shield to the head. Suddenly Steve was beside him, then in front of him, dispatching the man guarding the door before bursting into the room.
Matt’s heart skipped a beat at the overwhelming smell of blood.
“Stop!” a young man with a surprisingly American accent cried, raising his weapon, but before he could do anything he, too fell victim to Captain America’s shield.
“Oh thank god you guys are here,” Kate breathed.
“H...hey. I thought you quit,” Clint said from the floor.
“Yeah well, so did I,” Matt said. A commotion from the lower level made him turn to Steve. “They’re coming up.”
“I’ll take care of them,” Steve said, picking up his shield and heading back out the door.
Matt turned toward Kate. “We have to get him out of here. Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine,” she said, and her voice was shaking.
“Good,” he said, bending down next to Clint. “I’m gonna get you to your feet now. It’s not going to be pleasant. You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” Clint responded.
Matt pulled Clint’s right arm over his shoulders and stood as quickly as he dared, trying to ignore the pained sounds that erupted from the Avenger.
“Get his other arm,” he instructed, and Kate quickly obeyed so that Clint was supported between the two of them. “Alright, let’s get out of here.”
It took a few steps for Clint to get his legs beneath him, and even then it was slow-going. Matt could tell that the man was in bad shape--trembling all over, sweating and clammy, heart racing, blood still leaking from the bullet hole in his side. It was amazing that he was even conscious. As they made their way down the hall, something caught Kate’s attention in the other room and she stopped.
“Give me a second,” she said, ducking out from under Clint’s arm and leaving Matt to take his bodyweight. A few seconds later she returned, bow and quiver in hand, and resumed her position at Clint’s left side. “Let’s go.”
“Atta girl,” Clint said, his words laced with pride.
“Well I couldn’t let you lose your net arrows. You just got them!” There was a shout from the stairwell, and the sounds of a fight floated toward them. Kate turned to Matt. Fear had snaked its way into her voice. “There’s a lot of them.”
“Cap’s got it. We just need to get out of here,” Matt responded, pushing his own doubts aside. By the time they got to the stairwell, the fighting had moved down to the bottom floor and there were significantly fewer conscious Russians.
“Anyone...anyone object to us t-taking this a little...slow?” Clint asked, his voice thin.
“C’mon, Barton, you’ve got this. Just one step at a time.” Kate said with forced pep.
They did okay at first, but halfway down the staircase Clint’s legs folded beneath him, the sudden dead weight almost pulling Matt and Kate down, too.
“Aww, legs, no,” Clint muttered. “‘M sorry. You...y’should probably j’st leave.”
“That’s not gonna happen,” Matt said. “Come on!” He hauled Clint back to his feet with a grunt and they continued the difficult trek. Clint was panting now, his labored breathing mixing with the occasional groan. They came out of the stairwell and immediately a bullet whizzed past Matt’s head. For a split second he was tempted to let Kate take Clint the rest of the way out and fight, but he knew that the teenager would struggle to get her mentor out on her own. He had to trust Steve to do the fighting.
“We’re almost there, Clint!” Kate called over the fighting. “You’re doing so good!”
Clint’s steps were getting sloppier, and just as they made it out of the building he went limp between Matt and Kate.
“Clint!” Kate’s voice was high and tight with panic. “Nonono. Clint!”
“He’s still breathing and his heartbeat is strong,” Matt said, offering comfort in the only way he could think to. He could hear an ambulance nearby and getting closer, and something told him it was for Clint. “We’re almost there, Kate. You doing okay?”
“I’m okay.”
Matt knew she was lying, but he didn’t say anything. Someone had come out of the door they’d just exited and he was easily gaining on them.
“Come on, Steve,” Matt muttered under his breath. There was an unconscious man hanging off of him, so there wasn’t much he could do to stop the impending attack.
“Look out!” Kate cried, and before he could duck out of the way something connected with the side of his head with surprising force and he fell unconscious.
xxx
He awoke to the feeling of wind blowing in his hair and someone holding his wrist. His head was pounding and he was having a hard time focusing, and something wasn’t right...His face was showing. His face was showing.
Shit.
He grabbed the hand that was holding his wrist. “Who are you?” he demanded.
“My name’s Dylan. I’m a paramedic. Will you let go of my wrist please?”
Matt slowly let go, still suspicious of the stranger. “My face. You’re not supposed to see my face.”
“Relax. I’m a friend of Tony’s. So’s Casey, the driver. She’s on the phone with him now, actually.”
Matt frowned, slowly sitting up and wincing when it made his headache worse. “Stark?”
“Yeah. He’s putting us through medical school so we help him out on stuff like this. Stuff that needs to stay on the DL, that is. Can you tell me what you had for dinner?”
Matt frowned. “What I had for--look, I’m fine. You have to let me go. I’ve got a hearing today and-”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Dylan interrupted. “You took a pretty good blow to the head. You’re looking at a probable concussion. “You remember what you had for dinner?”
“Leftover pizza from Remi’s. Now will you let me go?”
“No can do, sir. If you’ll just lay back down for me-”
“Listen, kid,” Matt said, irritation building.
“Stark says he’ll be here soon with a change of clothes and a cover story,” a woman that Matt guessed was Casey said before he could finish his threat. She walked over and stood in front of Matt. “He wanted me to tell you he got your hearing moved back so you have time to recover.”
“He…huh.”
“Now will you lay back for me?” Dylan asked, and Matt slowly obliged, only to sit up again.
“Wait, where’s Clint?”
Dylan put a hand against Matt’s chest, gently pushing him back. “He’s in surgery. He was conscious when he got to emergency and was stable and strong going into the OR, which is the best we could’ve hoped for. Are you experiencing any headache, nausea, dizziness?”
Matt laid back down and thought about it for a moment. “All of the above,” he finally said. The adrenaline he’d had was winding down now and he realized that he felt like shit.
“Okay, Matt, once Tony gets here we’ll get you changed and then into the ER. The doctors there will do some scans and decide the best course of treatment,” Casey said.
“‘Kay,” Matt said, closing his eyes and riding out the waves of nausea that were now hitting him full force. The smell of expensive cologne made him open his eyes again. “Stark?’
“Hey, Murdock. You’ve looked better pal. How’re you feeling?”
“Great. How the hell did you get my hearing moved?”
“Oh, you know. The judge was an old friend of my father’s, no big deal. I brought you some pajamas to change into. And if anyone asks, you slipped and fell in the shower.”
Matt grimaced. “Is that really the best you could come up with?”
Stark sighed. “Well, if you can think of something better that isn’t ‘I got hit in the head by a Russian with a crowbar and a swing rivals that of Joe DiMaggio,’ I’d love to hear it.”
“Shower it is,” Matt said, slowly sitting up with Dylan’s help and taking his pajamas from Stark.
“Case and I will go wait in the front of the ambulance while you change,” Dylan offered. Then to Stark, “Yell if he vomits or faints.”
“You’ve got it,” Stark said. Once the paramedics were gone, he turned and said, “Don’t worry, I won’t peek.”
Matt changed as quickly as he could, but between the terrible headache, the turning stomach, and feeling like the ground was teeter-tottering beneath him, it took a little longer than usual. When he was finally done, he dropped the suit and laid back down on the gurney.
“I’ll take your suit back to your apartment,” Stark said.
“How’d you get in there in the first place?”
“I called your friend Foggy. Nice guy. He actually offered to meet you at the ER and take you back home.”
“Oh,” Matt said.
“You done?” Dylan called.
“Yeah, he’s done. Thanks, Dylan,” Stark called. “And thank you, Murdock. I really do owe you one. You’ve got my number if you need me. You guys better get going! Murdock looks like shit.”
Matt flipped him the bird as he was loaded into the ambulance. The nausea was getting worse as the pain in his head intensified and he found himself saying, “I'm gonna throw up.”
Dylan hastily shoved a bag into his hands and Matt lost the contents of his stomach, the heaving only serving to make the pounding even worse. When he was done, Dylan took the bag and Matt directed a question at him.
“How the hell did I get a concussion with that thing on my head?”
“Football players get concussions and scientists and medical professionals have been working to improve their helmets for decades. That helmet probably saved your life. Are you experiencing any other symptoms I should know about?”
“I can’t see,” Matt responded, getting a chuckle from Dylan.
“Your sense of humor seems to be intact. That’s good. Hey Casey, can we get an ETA?”
“About two minutes.”
“Good. We’ll get your scans, make sure your brain isn’t too damaged, and then we can get you some medication for the nausea and pain. Sound good?”
Matt just grunted in response. They arrived at the ER and Matt was able to get through surprisingly quickly (apparently head injuries did that). Foggy had found him by the time the results from the scans came back. He definitely had a concussion (no surprise there), but it was nothing too major. They gave him some anti-nausea medication and told him to take Tylenol or aspirin, not ibuprofen, and that he was to get plenty of sleep and avoid physical exertion and things that required a lot of mental concentration for the next four weeks (and yes that included law).
“How the hell did Stark manage to get our hearing pushed back?’ Foggy asked as they walked out into the early morning to catch a cab.
“His dad was a friend of the judge,” Matt answered. “Shit, I’m exhausted.” While the nausea was gone, the headache was more persistent. He wanted to just sleep it off now, like a bad hangover.
“Yeah, I bet. Falling in the shower will do that to you.”
Matt frowned. “You know I didn’t actually-”
Foggy laughed. “Yeah, I know. I’m glad you’re okay. From what Stark said you really put yourself on the line to save Hawkeye.”
Matt shrugged. “I don’t know about that.” A familiar sound came out of Foggy’s pocket. “Is that my phone?”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry. I brought it for you. Uh…” There was some fumbling and Foggy pulled it out of his pocket. “It’s a text from Stark!”
“You wanna just read it to me?”
“Uh, yeah. He says...Barton is out of surgery and stable.”
Matt let out a sigh of relief. “Good.”
“I can’t believe you saved Hawkeye,” Foggy said as a cab pulled up. “This is for us.”
They got into the backseat together and it was everything Matt could do not to fall asleep on the short ride home. Foggy walked him up to his apartment.
“‘Kay, Matt, I’ll be by later to check on you, okay? You call me if you need anything?”
“Thanks, Foggy,” Matt said, collapsing onto his bed with a sigh.
He was asleep before Foggy had even left.
xxx
When he woke up, there was the smell of tomato soup from the kitchen and the sounds of quiet conversation. He sat up, dismayed to find that he still had a slight headache, and walked out into the living room.
“Hey, Matt!”
He smiled. “Hi, Karen,” he said, returning her hug.
“Foggy told me what happened! I’m glad you’re okay!”
“Yeah, thanks. I guess that’s the last time I use bar soap. Hey, what time is it?”
“Four,” Foggy said. “You’ve been asleep for almost eleven hours. How are you feeling?”
His stomach growled loudly and he put a hand over it as if somehow that would muffle the sound. “Like I could use some aspirin and food.”
“Well we’ve got both,” Karen said.
“And you also have a thank you basket from Tony Stark, for helping out with that study,” Foggy said.
“The study?” Matt said, then remembered what the cover story had been during training. “Oh, the study! Right. I take it you already looked to see what’s in there?”
“I tried to stop him,” Karen said.
“Not very hard!” Foggy shot back.
“Well?” Matt said, gratefully accepting a glass of water and some pain medication from his friend.
“You’ve got fancy chocolates, fancy alcohol, fancy shot glasses with your initials on them, a fancy watch that will read you the time, outside temperature, and your coordinates, a sleek looking tie that has a pattern of arc reactors on it and is signed at the bottom, and an earpiece,” Foggy said, and Matt thought he could hear some glee in his voice at the last part.
“An earpiece?” Karen said. “Why would he send you that?”
“I have no idea,” Matt said. The bastard.
“Huh. Well, sit down and I’ll get you some soup.”
“Thanks, Karen,” Matt said, sitting down. “You really don’t have to-”
“Yeah, I do. You’re important to me. Plus I know from experience that no one should be alone when they have a concussion, at least not for the first few days.”
Matt snorted. “Oh, come on. You don’t have to babysit me.”
“We’re not babysitting,” Foggy argued. “We’re hanging out with you and sharing your fancy chocolates and your fancy alcohol and your fancy pears. Stark also bought you a pear subscription. I forgot about that before.”
Matt laughed. “Fine. Thank you, guys. I really appreciate it. I couldn’t ask for better friends.”
He really couldn’t.
xxx
It was a week later that Matt got a text from an unfamiliar number. He had his phone read out the text to him.
“Hi, Matt. This is Steve. Clint is awake and allowed visitors. Would you like to come with me to see him?”
Ten minutes later, Matt was back in the backseat of Happy’s car with Steve Rogers, only this time instead of being decked out in tactical gear they were wearing jeans and t-shirts.
“Hey, I’m sorry I vanished the other night,” Steve said. “I was helping the police with the round-up. I knew you were in good hands, but it was still awful of me to leave you like that.”
Matt shrugged. “It’s okay, really.”
“And you’re doing okay?”
“I’m still getting headaches and I’m not allowed to do my job--either of them-- for three more weeks, but other than that I’m great! I have to admit, though, the break is...nice. I’m just getting a little restless is all.”
“Well Tony wanted me to tell you that you’re welcome to come wile away the hours at Avengers Tower if you get too bored. We certainly wouldn’t mind having you around. Fresh faces are always welcome.”
“And my face is still fresh?” Matt asked and Steve laughed.
“Oh, you have no idea. Fighting with them is one thing, living with them...that is a whole other thing.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Matt answered just as the car stopped. “Thanks, Happy.”
“Don’t mention it,” Happy answered.
When Matt and Steve got to Clint’s hospital room, he was sitting up in bed talking to Kate.
“You really don’t think you can pass Lucky off as a service dog?” he was saying.
“He has one eye! He practically needs a service dog himself!” Kate replied. “Oh. Hey, Steve! Hi Matt!”
Clint turned and a grin split his face. “Hey, guys! Hey, thanks for saving me. I could’ve done it myself only...well, I got shot. That kind of ruined it. Did you know they had to--never mind, that’s disgusting. Anyway, Matt, thank you for coming back. I really appreciate it.”
“We really appreciate it,” Kate corrected. “Really. Thank you.”
Matt rubbed the back of his neck. “It really wasn’t a big deal…”
“Why don’t you guys sit down?” Clint said.
“Do you have time?” Steve asked Matt.
“Well, I don’t have work,” Matt said.
“Great! Have I ever told you guys the story of how I got Lucky?”
Kate groaned as Matt and Steve sat down, and Matt couldn’t help but feel like maybe there was a place for him with these loons.
He would just have to wait and see.
xxx
Witch_Assassin on Chapter 2 Wed 17 Jan 2024 12:30AM UTC
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