“Out of the goodness of their hearts, I’m sure,” says Foggy, bitterly.
“I’m not sure they even have hearts,” says Matt, and that—that startles a laugh out of him, and Karen as well. “No, they wanted the Black Sky. They got me, instead—they wanted to lure her in, I think. Using me.”
“Black what?” says Foggy.
“Her?” says Karen.
Matt just cocks his head to the side. “She didn’t tell you?” he asks, which, no shit, no one ever tells Foggy anything. “The woman with the sai. The Black Sky.”
“Elektra?” says Karen. “No, she didn’t tell either of us.”
“It’s nothing new,” says Foggy.
Matt’s brow wrinkles up, his face scrunching up like he’s just smelled something bad. “She probably wanted to keep you both safe,” he reasons. “And here I am, dragging you further in.”
“We are here by choice,” Karen stresses.
“You called me out here without telling me what I was going to find,” Foggy points out. “Also, why did you call me out here, anyway? I mean, I’m glad that for once someone’s keeping me in the loop, but, uh. What am I supposed to do here?”
Karen jabs a finger into Foggy’s chest and says, “You’re going to be his lawyer.”
“What,” says Foggy.
“What,” says Matt, at the same time.
“He’s a witness,” says Karen.
“You can’t possibly think you can take down an ancient organization with its claws in everything using the legal system,” says Matt, bleakly. “They’ll find a way out. They always do.”
“An ancient organization like that knows how to delegate, though,” says Karen. “Maybe we can’t take them down completely. Fine. But we can destabilize their powerbase somehow by taking down key figures, screw up their operations—”
“—with information from a witness on the inside,” Foggy completes. He can see the logic that Karen’s working with, and he could almost approve. Almost. “Matt?” he says.
Matt huffs out a breath. “That’s doable,” he says, curling up on the couch and drawing the cloak tighter around him. Like this, he looks less like a ghost and more like the Matt that Foggy had known. Had buried. “Risky, though. I don’t know, I didn’t—I don’t want to drag you either of you even further into this. I can’t have either of you become targets because of me.”
And there’s the Matt Murdock Foggy knows, hating even the idea of dragging his loved ones into his mess.
“We’re not doing this because we’re dragged into this,” he says. “We’re doing this because, damn it, Matt, we’re friends.”
Present tense.
Matt stares up at him, sheer shock written across his face. Or—well, he stares at Foggy’s cheek, anyway, but the utter surprise on his face breaks Foggy’s heart, more than a little bit. This shouldn’t be a surprise. This should be a given.
“You don’t have to go back,” he says.
Karen kneels down, takes Matt’s hand in hers, the hope in her eyes laid bare for Foggy to see. “We’ll find some way to keep you safe,” she says. “Somehow. Somehow.”
Matt tugs his hand out of hers, his face doing that—that thing, where it scrunches up like he’s overwhelmed and might actually cry. Foggy’s not really sure, his vision’s kind of swimming from the tears right now too.
“I don’t,” Matt starts, then he shakes his head. “I can’t leave. You don’t know the Hand, not like I do. Right now, the safest thing to do is play along with whatever they want—I break away now, they’ll go after you and everyone you love, and everyone they love.”
“They’ve done that,” starts Karen.
“They’ll do more than that,” says Matt. “I want to help, you want me out of the Hand, and the Black Sky seems to want the Hand gone.” He sighs. “Right now, I have more information about the Hand than I frankly know what to do with. I might as well unload somewhere, and you can get it to her and her friends.”
“What about you?” says Foggy.
“There’s stuff I don’t know yet that I plan to find out,” says Matt, eyes darting away and flicking downward. “The easiest way of getting that information would be staying in the Hand—they don’t have any reason to suspect I want to break from them, for now.” He smiles, and it’s a touch sardonic and a little dangerous, like the Matt Foggy buried. “They were thorough.”
Foggy’s not a violent man.
But if he had the chance to punch the Hand right in the face, especially if it was anyone responsible for doing this to Matt—he thinks he might just do it.
“So, okay, you’re going to leak info to us and we’re going to tell Elektra,” he says, instead. “I get that right?”
“Yeah,” says Matt, relaxing.
“Can’t you tell her yourself?”
“She’d try to kill me first,” says Matt.
“What,” says Foggy. “But she loved you! I mean, you two crazy kids used to ditch me all the time in college!”
“What,” says Karen. “You know what, that explains so much. Except the part where Elektra wants you dead.”
Matt cocks his head, and says, “Because I’m part of the Hand,” like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “And she’s made it clear she thinks that I’m not—who I was.”
Man, these two crazy kids are fucked up as all hell.
“Not was,” says Karen, with conviction. “Are.”
“Was,” says Matt, simply. “The man you buried, the man I used to be—would he have done the things I’ve done?”
“What things?” Foggy asks, dreading the answer.
Matt tells them.
--
“We have to help him,” says Karen, quietly, after Matt’s fallen back to sleep. It hadn’t been an easy thing to convince him to rest for a little while longer, after everything he’d told them, but somehow they’d managed it. Foggy’s been watching the windows ever since, terrified somehow that some ninja might crash through the windows, or kick their way in through the walls, or—
He hasn’t had the best few hours so far.
“And we will,” he says, peeking through the blinds. “We’ll get him out of there, but—he’s right. Goddammit, he’s right about where he can best help us.”
“We can’t just let him go back to them,” says Karen. “There’s a risk they’ll know.”
“It’s not a risk I want to take, either,” says Foggy, looking back at Matt, sleeping on the sofa. He looks so vulnerable and small, curled up into a ball. He looks like the man Foggy knew back in college, before everything, before Daredevil and the Hand and Matt dying. “But even if we tried to get him to stay here and be safe, how long do you think it’ll be until he does it anyway?”
Karen breathes out, shakes her head. “Dammit,” she murmurs. The answer hangs in the air between them: not long at all. “So what next? What do we do?”
“We go back to the precinct,” says Foggy. “Knight’s probably wondering where we’ve gone. And then we give Elektra the info Matt gave us. Hopefully she won’t think it’s unreliable and go after Matt, but just in case—”
“Witness protection,” says Karen, sardonic.
Foggy nods, then looks back out the window again, trying not to jump at every shifting shadow he spies.
He glances at Karen again, sees her crossing the room to kneel down and brush Matt’s hair back from his face. He makes a soft little noise.
fill. role reversal au: elektra as a defender, matt as an assassin (2/2)
“I’m not sure they even have hearts,” says Matt, and that—that startles a laugh out of him, and Karen as well. “No, they wanted the Black Sky. They got me, instead—they wanted to lure her in, I think. Using me.”
“Black what?” says Foggy.
“Her?” says Karen.
Matt just cocks his head to the side. “She didn’t tell you?” he asks, which, no shit, no one ever tells Foggy anything. “The woman with the sai. The Black Sky.”
“Elektra?” says Karen. “No, she didn’t tell either of us.”
“It’s nothing new,” says Foggy.
Matt’s brow wrinkles up, his face scrunching up like he’s just smelled something bad. “She probably wanted to keep you both safe,” he reasons. “And here I am, dragging you further in.”
“We are here by choice,” Karen stresses.
“You called me out here without telling me what I was going to find,” Foggy points out. “Also, why did you call me out here, anyway? I mean, I’m glad that for once someone’s keeping me in the loop, but, uh. What am I supposed to do here?”
Karen jabs a finger into Foggy’s chest and says, “You’re going to be his lawyer.”
“What,” says Foggy.
“What,” says Matt, at the same time.
“He’s a witness,” says Karen.
“You can’t possibly think you can take down an ancient organization with its claws in everything using the legal system,” says Matt, bleakly. “They’ll find a way out. They always do.”
“An ancient organization like that knows how to delegate, though,” says Karen. “Maybe we can’t take them down completely. Fine. But we can destabilize their powerbase somehow by taking down key figures, screw up their operations—”
“—with information from a witness on the inside,” Foggy completes. He can see the logic that Karen’s working with, and he could almost approve. Almost. “Matt?” he says.
Matt huffs out a breath. “That’s doable,” he says, curling up on the couch and drawing the cloak tighter around him. Like this, he looks less like a ghost and more like the Matt that Foggy had known. Had buried. “Risky, though. I don’t know, I didn’t—I don’t want to drag you either of you even further into this. I can’t have either of you become targets because of me.”
And there’s the Matt Murdock Foggy knows, hating even the idea of dragging his loved ones into his mess.
“We’re not doing this because we’re dragged into this,” he says. “We’re doing this because, damn it, Matt, we’re friends.”
Present tense.
Matt stares up at him, sheer shock written across his face. Or—well, he stares at Foggy’s cheek, anyway, but the utter surprise on his face breaks Foggy’s heart, more than a little bit. This shouldn’t be a surprise. This should be a given.
“You don’t have to go back,” he says.
Karen kneels down, takes Matt’s hand in hers, the hope in her eyes laid bare for Foggy to see. “We’ll find some way to keep you safe,” she says. “Somehow. Somehow.”
Matt tugs his hand out of hers, his face doing that—that thing, where it scrunches up like he’s overwhelmed and might actually cry. Foggy’s not really sure, his vision’s kind of swimming from the tears right now too.
“I don’t,” Matt starts, then he shakes his head. “I can’t leave. You don’t know the Hand, not like I do. Right now, the safest thing to do is play along with whatever they want—I break away now, they’ll go after you and everyone you love, and everyone they love.”
“They’ve done that,” starts Karen.
“They’ll do more than that,” says Matt. “I want to help, you want me out of the Hand, and the Black Sky seems to want the Hand gone.” He sighs. “Right now, I have more information about the Hand than I frankly know what to do with. I might as well unload somewhere, and you can get it to her and her friends.”
“What about you?” says Foggy.
“There’s stuff I don’t know yet that I plan to find out,” says Matt, eyes darting away and flicking downward. “The easiest way of getting that information would be staying in the Hand—they don’t have any reason to suspect I want to break from them, for now.” He smiles, and it’s a touch sardonic and a little dangerous, like the Matt Foggy buried. “They were thorough.”
Foggy’s not a violent man.
But if he had the chance to punch the Hand right in the face, especially if it was anyone responsible for doing this to Matt—he thinks he might just do it.
“So, okay, you’re going to leak info to us and we’re going to tell Elektra,” he says, instead. “I get that right?”
“Yeah,” says Matt, relaxing.
“Can’t you tell her yourself?”
“She’d try to kill me first,” says Matt.
“What,” says Foggy. “But she loved you! I mean, you two crazy kids used to ditch me all the time in college!”
“What,” says Karen. “You know what, that explains so much. Except the part where Elektra wants you dead.”
Matt cocks his head, and says, “Because I’m part of the Hand,” like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “And she’s made it clear she thinks that I’m not—who I was.”
Man, these two crazy kids are fucked up as all hell.
“Not was,” says Karen, with conviction. “Are.”
“Was,” says Matt, simply. “The man you buried, the man I used to be—would he have done the things I’ve done?”
“What things?” Foggy asks, dreading the answer.
Matt tells them.
--
“We have to help him,” says Karen, quietly, after Matt’s fallen back to sleep. It hadn’t been an easy thing to convince him to rest for a little while longer, after everything he’d told them, but somehow they’d managed it. Foggy’s been watching the windows ever since, terrified somehow that some ninja might crash through the windows, or kick their way in through the walls, or—
He hasn’t had the best few hours so far.
“And we will,” he says, peeking through the blinds. “We’ll get him out of there, but—he’s right. Goddammit, he’s right about where he can best help us.”
“We can’t just let him go back to them,” says Karen. “There’s a risk they’ll know.”
“It’s not a risk I want to take, either,” says Foggy, looking back at Matt, sleeping on the sofa. He looks so vulnerable and small, curled up into a ball. He looks like the man Foggy knew back in college, before everything, before Daredevil and the Hand and Matt dying. “But even if we tried to get him to stay here and be safe, how long do you think it’ll be until he does it anyway?”
Karen breathes out, shakes her head. “Dammit,” she murmurs. The answer hangs in the air between them: not long at all. “So what next? What do we do?”
“We go back to the precinct,” says Foggy. “Knight’s probably wondering where we’ve gone. And then we give Elektra the info Matt gave us. Hopefully she won’t think it’s unreliable and go after Matt, but just in case—”
“Witness protection,” says Karen, sardonic.
Foggy nods, then looks back out the window again, trying not to jump at every shifting shadow he spies.
He glances at Karen again, sees her crossing the room to kneel down and brush Matt’s hair back from his face. He makes a soft little noise.
It sounds like Elektra’s name.