Think of the Devil

Four

Telepathy could be such a strange thing sometimes. More often than not, it was simply a tool Jane used to gauge the emotions and anticipate the responses of the people around her. She'd always felt a bit guilty about her psychic power, feeling like a hostile intruder despite her inability to control who she listened to and when. It wasn't like she chose to have this extra sense. Usually, it was just a bit of mental eavesdropping. But sometimes she realized this tool was more powerful than she really understood.

Times like these, when she knew she only recognized Clinton Church because of someone else's memories.

She stumbled to the bench before her, collapsing into it as she felt nausea creeping in. She was light-headed, pale like she'd seen a ghost, and in a way she felt she had. She couldn't help but stare above her at the bell tower, the one that had startled her into noticing the building in the first place. Her mind was racing as she tried to figure out why she had his memories.

The day Jane Cayce had met Matthew Murdock felt like a different time, and in some ways it was. There was before knowing the heroes that resided in New York, and there was after.

Jane had met Jessica Jones first after all that had happened with Kilgrave-- but that was a different story. When Jessica had gotten caught up with the other superhumans in the Hand's web, she'd reached out to Jane immediately. She figured that mind-reading capabilities would come in handy after they'd captured Sowande, one of the five leaders of the organization they were determined to destroy. Jessica dragged Jane to the abandoned warehouse where their prisoner was kept, pretty much against Jane's will. She was terrified of getting mixed up in whatever Jessica had gotten into, but once she stepped inside she knew she had no choice.

The space had felt so loud initially. The heroes had all been agitated, exhausted, and desperate to get answers from the man bound to a chair, only for him to be passed out on the ground. She'd heard an older man speak just before they'd opened the door.

Daredevil had just removed his gloves and mask as the women entered, and he paused just after the helmet revealed his identity. His head tilted towards them, his eyes staring ahead in a way that Jane immediately understood was unseeing. Daredevil is blind? How can he be blind? she'd wondered, and his brows furrowed as he realized he didn't recognize her heartbeat and he'd just been seen. It had immediately terrified her, especially because she'd been able to hear him thinking about it so clearly from so far away. She'd stopped dead, her fear paralyzing her, but Jessica used her strength to pull her forward anyway. The closer they got, the louder Daredevil's thoughts had become, even drowning out the mental noise from the rest of the pack.

The heroes began arguing immediately, demanding to know who Jane was and why Jessica had brought her here. As they did, Jane took a few hesitant steps back, if only just to get a better sense of the room away from the commotion. The older man, who she realized was also blind, stayed quiet and seemed to be observing her. His thoughts were loud because of his enhanced senses, but they still weren't like Daredevil's. Jessica was already defending herself, trying to explain who Jane was, but Daredevil was angry she'd brought another stranger into the fold.

Jane picked out Luke and Danny first, who were mostly listening to the argument instead of dogpiling. They were curious about Jane, a new stranger knowing their identities and possibly their powers, so blissfully unaware of how much she was already picking up from them. Danny Rand was the immortal Iron Fist, whatever the hell that meant, and the mysterious billionaire beneficiary of the Rand family. Luke Cage seemed to be a hulking man just trying to protect his corner of New York, who also happened to be invincible.

Daredevil was somehow more difficult to read, even as his thoughts were louder than anyone she'd ever met. His senses were turned up to a ten, his emotions to an eleven. He was so overwhelming that she'd already started getting a headache. He was panicking about his identity being exposed to yet another person after he'd already had to sacrifice it to three others for this mission.