you don't have any money,

[man_without_fear]

[previously: enter the bar]

It's been an interesting morning.

Stepping out through the front door of the strange bar leads Matt into walking into the building he'd been entering when he'd found Milliways.

The rush of Hell's Kitchen slams over him like a wave as the sounds, scents, taste and feel of the city return. Matt takes a moment to orient himself, and he tucks away the matchbook he brought back from the bar into his jacket before heading up the stairs.

Foggy and the real estate agent are talking already. Foggy is trying to negotiate price, and waiting for a moment to make a move.

Matt swoops in and handles both. A moment of awkward embarrassment has the woman flustered, and Matt's easy response makes her smile and laugh.

She has a nice laugh.

She takes his arm gladly when he asks to be led around the space and he can practically feel Foggy's scowl aimed at the back of his head when they walk past.

Just a little payback for their phone conversation this morning.

Matt decides this is the place for them and tells the agent as much. Foggy balks, but their recurring argument about clientele doesn't change Matt's mind.

By the end of the day they have an office.

By the end of the night, they have their first client.

-----

They're unpacking into their new offices when Foggy gets a phone call and suddenly they have a case.

Sometimes it pays to bribe a cop.

The woman in custody is young, frightened and confused. Matt can smell the salt from her tears and hear the flutter in her chest she makes every few breaths or so; the shaky hitches of a post-crying jag.

"Ms. Page, my name is Matt Murdock, this is my associate Foggy Nelson. Do you mind if we sit down?"

She doesn't reply. Her fingers steeple against the metal surface of the table between them, and Matt can taste the flecks of dried blood in the air that flake away from beneath her fingernails.

"She gave a vague shrug, I say we go with it," Foggy informs him and they both sit down.

"We understand you're in some trouble. We uh, may be able to help," Matt opens.

She's wary, and scared, and the first thing she asks after he and Foggy go over the details of what they know is, "Who the hell are you guys?"

The second thing she asks after Matt reintroduces them is, "Who sent you?"

Matt can't imagine that's a question many lawyers get from their clients, but maybe a little paranoia is a good thing. Especially from someone claiming to have been set up for murder.

An explanation, an admission of their brand new firm, and some friendly banter between he and Foggy sets her at ease enough to accept their presence and begin to tell her side of the story.

Her breaths stutter and her voice cracks, but her heartbeat never falters. She begins timidly, but by the end she's adamant, desperately pleading with them.

"Please, please you have to believe me. I didn't kill him."

Matt's ears tell him what he needs to know.

"I believe you, Ms. Page."

-----

Back in their office Foggy is against the idea of letting the case go to trial, and he does have a point.

"She's the sole suspect, found at the scene, covered in blood, with the murder weapon and no defensive wounds!"

The thing is, Matt knows for a fact that she's innocent, and anything short of proving that innocence is unacceptable.

Unfortunately, Foggy can't know or understand how Matt is so certain and Matt has to chalk it up to a 'feeling'. And when Foggy balks again Matt plays the friendship and lays down the 'back me' card.

And Foggy, best friend that he is, groans and bemoans the decision, but still relents.

Some days Matt really doesn't know what he'd do without the guy.

With Foggy on-board Matt can focus on the case, and the niggling feelings he has that are all telling him something isn't right here.

At least Foggy doesn't disagree with Matt there, but he does point out one thing Matt needs to consider. "She may not be guilty, Matt, but that doesn't mean Ms. Page is telling the truth."

No, it doesn't, and it's important they find out what she isn't telling them, and why.



[dialogue taken from Netflix' Daredevil: 1.1 - Into the Ring]