Devil's Redemption

Murdock

This time, he could not see.

The world was just as it had been since he was nine years old.

Matt was kneeling on what felt like gravel. The ground was wet and the smell of petrichor was still fresh in the air. It had just finished raining. He could recognise the scene very well and quite frankly, it triggered a lot of emotions inside him.

Matt stretched out a hand and felt the body. The body of his father.

"D-Dad?"

He couldn't control his tears. Without an ounce of control over himself, he shook the prone form of his father lying before him. Just like he had done in his childhood.

His dead father didn't move.

The sounds and smells of the surroundings faded away for Matthew Murdock. All he could hear were his own screams of grief as he shouted at the skies, hoping for God to send back his father's soul from heaven.

"Admirable! I never knew you loved your father so much."

Matt Murdock froze. The voice sent a deep chill down his spine. He heard the heavy footsteps approach in his general direction. Matt wanted to get up and fight the man but something kept him frozen to the ground, as if he was chained. Was it intense shock and grief? He didn't know.

The Kingpin came to a stop right before Jack Murdock's body.

"Fathers have a great role to play in our lives." Fisk said. "They shape our perspectives and our behaviours in a way that we don't really understand until we sit back and introspect about it when we reach adulthood. Don't you agree, Mr. Murdock?"

Matt knelt shivering on the ground, too emotional to reply. His hand was still clutching his father's wrist tightly.

"The reason I say that, Mr. Murdock," Fisk continued, "is because I see a lot of your father in you. He can take a beating like nobody can and still come back with determination. I have experienced that personally with you. You've been like a cockroach in my kitchen. No matter how hard I try to squash you and throw you away, you find your way back into my kitchen to disrupt my peace and my work."

Matt could sense Fisk's anger in his words. His teeth were grinding hard as he spoke.

"I also sense another behaviour of Jack Murdock in you. You both can take all the beating in the world and still fight back. But when life gets tough...when faced with a serious decision...Jack Murdock decided to throw the cards and run! He chose to desert you instead of being there for you and protecting you all because he wanted to win a fight for his son".

Fisk knelt down and Matt felt his face closer to his. He didn't want to hear the rest of the words from Fisk's mouth but Matt still couldn't move his limbs.

"Isn't that what you did too, Mr. Murdock?" Fisk hissed at him. "Just because a stupid nurse you cared about died in your hands, you chose to desert an entire city and your friends instead of staying and protecting them. And you call yourself a hero?"

Fisk spat in his face.

"Hell's kitchen doesn't need Daredevil. Hell's kitchen needs someone stronger like Kingpin. I can lift the place to greater heights that the Devil can never dream of. I will rebuild the city on the graves of those very friends you so dearly love."

Matt found his voice. "I-I...You promised. You wouldn't go after them. You wouldn't dare go after Karen and Foggy..I swear I will.."

A giant fist found Matt's face and he was knocked down to the floor.