Chapter Text
“Hello, this is a lawyer’s office right?” Matt heard a young voice ask in the entryway of their office.
Matt was listening to a recording of testimony from a recent case, but was immediately distracted by the unknown person. He tilted his head and paused the recording. The kid’s heartbeat had one of the fastest resting rates he had ever heard. He was clearly a teenage boy, but there was something off about him. The kid shifted his weight from side to side as he waited for Karen to respond.
“Hello, yes. This is the office of Nelson and Murdock, but you seem a little young to be looking for a lawyer by yourself,” Karen said as soon as she finished typing on her computer. She stood up from her desk and walked over to him.
“I just wanted to see if I could set up an appointment and I will bring my aunt May to my actual appointment,” the kid explained in a rush. “Is that something I can do with you? Set up an appointment for later?”
He paused, but then started talking again before Karen could answer.
“My aunt just has a really difficult schedule and I want to make sure you will be available when my aunt is. And I don’t live in Manhattan, but I heard this was the place I should go if I was in trouble. My neighbor Ms. Park says you help people no matter who they are, and I really - “
“Yes, we will do what we can to help you. Nelson and Murdock are flexible with their working hours when needed,” Karen cut off the boy’s rambling. She led him back over to her desk. “When would you like to schedule this meeting?”
Matt heard a pen click, as Karen prepared to write on her calendar.
“Well it would have to be after 9 pm, but as soon as possible. Is there any way we could meet tonight?”
“Let me check.”
Matt listened as Karen walked over to Foggy’s door to ask him if he needed to be anywhere tonight. Then she walked over to his office.
“Hey, Matt,” she called out to him.
Matt took out his earbuds, so she knew she had his attention. He did not want to give away that he had heard the whole conversation.
“Yes?”
“Are you busy tonight?”
“I don’t think so, why?”
“We have a potential client and he can’t get his aunt over here until after 9 tonight.”
“That is fine with me. What about Foggy?”
“He said that he can be there as well, so I will set the appointment for 9.”
“Sounds good. Thank you Karen.”
---
Matt stood in the middle of the Nelson and Murdock office space and listened to Karen and Foggy bicker about Foggy’s love life. Foggy was trying to figure out what to get Marci for her birthday.
The fast heartbeat he had heard earlier was out on the street headed toward their office. The kid had someone else walking alongside him. Based on the sound of the person's footsteps they were taller than the kid, but rather petite. She must be his aunt. They were speaking as they walked up to the building and Matt eavesdropped instead of listening to Foggy's love life struggles.
“Ms. Park says these are the best lawyers around, and they don’t charge that much either,” the kid explained. “I know that I got us into some serious trouble, but I will work as long as I need to to pay off whatever they charge.”
“Peter, I am not letting you do that,” the woman said, sternly, “I want you to focus on school. I will take care of it no matter what it is. I know you mean well, but you need to work on keeping your head down. You have the worst luck and I don’t want to see you get into any more trouble.”
“But I can come help you out at work or something then. I will make this up to you I promise.”
“Make it up to me, by keeping your grades up and being the good kid I know you are.”
She ruffled his hair. He let her do it, but immediately patted it back down afterwards.
“Yes, ma’am,” the kid agreed and the conversation had to end as they had reached the door to the office.
They knocked and Karen let them in.
“Hello again Peter,” Karen welcomed as the two entered. “And this must be your aunt.” She stuck out her hand for the aunt to shake.
“Yes, I am May Parker. Nice to meet you.”
The two women shook hands.
“And these are the famous Franklin Nelson and Matthew Murdock,” Karen gestured to each man as she introduced them.
“You can call me Foggy.”
“I prefer Matt.”
She shook both of their offered hands as well.
“Nice to meet each of you, thank you so much for finding time so late at night to meet with us,” May said.
“It is no problem, flexibility is a necessary part of this job,” Foggy explained.
“Why don’t we move to our conference room and get started,” Matt suggested.
Everyone took a seat around the table. Foggy and Matt on one side, Peter and May on the other, and Karen off on her own side with pen and paper out to take notes.
“If you don’t mind Karen taking notes then we are ready to get started,” Foggy told the potential clients. “Go ahead and tell us why we are here.”
Peter spoke up for the first time since entering their office. “Do you know of Oscorp?” he asked.
Matt felt his eyebrows rise as he answered, “We have heard of them, yes.”
“Well I kind of got caught trespassing in one of their labs. I didn’t think it was a big deal, because I have been friends with Harry Osborn for ages now and we hang out in the Oscorp building sometimes, but I guess I went farther than I should have on my own and now they are suing me.”
The kid's fluttery-fast heartbeat was consistent except when he said ‘friends’. It wasn’t quite a lie, but it wasn’t quite the truth either.
“Why were you in the lab by yourself in the first place?” Foggy asked in his business voice.
“I was just curious about what they were doing in that lab,” Peter responded. “I have been interested in science my whole life and I usually know what they are researching in each lab, but I didn’t know what they were doing in that one, so I went to investigate a little.”
This was an outright lie. Matt did not like dealing with clients who lied. He never knew what they might reveal on the stand without telling their own counsel, and he didn’t know if they were actually up to something nefarious. However, he wasn’t inclined to believe the worst in a teenager.
“When exactly did this happen?” Foggy continued questioning.
“It was three nights ago, at around eight at night,” Peter answered.
“What did you find when you were there?” Matt asked.
Peter shifted a bit in his seat.
“I don’t really know. It just looked like any other lab, and I didn’t stick around long enough to see anything interesting.”
There was another lie.
“If you are friends with Harry Osborn, like you say, then why is his dad’s company suing you?” Matt continued.
“Well we have been arguing a little lately. His dad is sick or something and he is under a lot of stress. He hasn’t wanted to talk to me for the past two days.”
“You didn’t tell me that,” May cut in.
She stared the kid down, waiting for an explanation.
The scratch of Karen’s pen on paper slowed to a stop, and Peter started to fiddle with his hands.
“I didn’t want you to worry,” he said softly.
“Well it is a little late for that,” May responded gently.
“May I ask why you think they are suing you?” Foggy probed.
“I’m not sure,” Peter admitted. “My guess is whatever was in that lab was really important and secret.”
“Okay, with what you have told us this sounds like something we could settle in a conference room instead of court, because of your personal connection to the company. You may have to make some apologies and promises not to do anything like this again, but if we play this right we won’t need to take it all the way through a trial,” Foggy explained.
“That would be great,” Peter said with enthusiasm.
“Alright, we can send them a letter and set up a meeting,” Foggy stated. “It may take a few letters and a meeting with just Matt and I before you would have to face them. And if we are really lucky you may not have to face them at all.”
“Thank you, how much do we owe you for taking our case?” May asked.
“We are willing to work with whatever you can afford. Karen does a great job of adjusting payment based on your income,” Foggy answered.
“Are you sure that is okay?”
“It is fine,” Matt assured her. “We want to make sure everyone is represented fairly, regardless of income.”
“Thank you, Peter just started high school this year, and has a bright future in front of him. If we can keep him on track he will be a great scientist just like his parents were.”
“We are happy to help,” Foggy said. “It’s late. We have what we need for tonight. Why don’t you leave a number we can contact you with and we will let you know as soon as we have made any progress.”
They said their goodbyes, and the Parkers left. Karen followed soon after.
“They seemed like a nice family,” Foggy told Matt.
“Yeah, but Peter is definitely hiding something. I hope it isn’t anything that will come back to bite us.”
---
Matt ran across rooftops later that night in search of a fight. He had just landed on a roof near the pier when his burner phone vibrated in his pocket.
“Hello,” he answered in his disguised voice.
“Hi Daredevil, this is Steve. I was wondering if you could come by the tower to discuss something with myself and Natasha.”
“Right now?”
“Well you seemed to not like it when we interrupted your day job, so I figured now would be better.”
“Fine,” Matt responded, then hung up.
He turned around and made his way to Avengers Tower.
He came in through the back so no one would see him and took the elevator up to where he could hear Steve’s heartbeat. When he got off the elevator he headed to the open living area, where Steve and Natasha sat on separate couches talking to each other about the progress of their newest recruits to the Avengers. Neither of them noticed him until he came and sat in an armchair nearby.
“Hello Daredevil, how are you?” Steve asked.
“Fine,” Matt grunted in response.
“We wanted to talk to you about your future with our team,” Steve continued.
“I am not part of your team,” Matt responded.
“Sure, but you have helped us out a lot. And we would like you to be a part of the team.”
Matt angled his face so it appeared like he was staring down Captain America.
“Right, okay, you don’t have to be part of our team, but you may have noticed that we have gained a few new members. We were hoping you could maybe get to know them a little better, and maybe help us train them. I have not had much opportunity to see it for myself, but Natasha says you fight spectacularly.”
“I am sure it is a sight to behold,” Matt responded, deadpan.
He sensed Natasha move a hand to her mouth to cover her smirk.
“You have a lot of skills that would be beneficial to share with your allies,” Nat stated, after regaining her composure.
Matt sighed. If he said no then they would keep pestering him. He knew by now how persistent they all were.
“I have never taught anyone in my life.”
“Neither have we,” Steve said, gesturing to himself and Nat.
“And I am not sharing my identity.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Steve agreed with a smile.
“When are we going to be doing this? I don’t have a lot of spare time in my schedule.”
“We can work around your schedule.”
Matt thought about it for a moment before saying, “It will have to be eight to ten pm then on whatever nights I am not already busy. I will let you know each time when my next availability is. Is that fair?”
“That will work,” Steve nodded.
“I should be available tomorrow evening.”
“Perfect, we will get the new recruits assembled and ready to meet you by then. We will meet in the gym on the floor above this one.”
“See you then,” Matt said and smirked at his joke.
Natasha rolled her eyes at Matt as he walked away.