Devils and Angels

Chapter 2

"That barista, Claire?  She was hot," Foggy said as they were leaving. 

"I think she works at the hospital, too," Matt said.  He explained how she was there when he dropped off the girl.  He'd recognized not only her voice but her scent and sweet heartbeat. 

"Hmm.  Do you think she's hot, too, then?" Foggy asked.

"How would I know?"

"You always do.  In your own creepy way...  What, do you use some kind of sonar to find out what her face looks like?"  Matt laughed.

"I guess I just have an idea.  Or maybe you just think that every woman is hot."

"That is...valid."  He punched Matt on the shoulder.

"Okay...we'd better get to the office," Matt said, sipping what was left of his Maverick coffee.

"Yes!"  Foggy threw his hand in the air.  "The office!"  He then grabbed Matt's arm with the same hand.  "We're gonna save the world!"

-

"Am I going to die?"  His voice was a weak whisper.  Claire Temple, minutes after starting her shift at the hospital, which was only an hour after she clocked out at Starbucks, applied pressure to a man's gunshot wound.  The night was well upon them.

"No, no.  You're going to be fine," she replied.  "Just relax, and don't forget to breathe.  It's a good thing you got here in time."

"The man in the black...he saved me," the man said.  Claire nodded, smiling.

"He's brought in an awful lot of people lately, and lots of them said that, too.  Strange, huh?"

"He's a hero..."  The man's eyes fluttered closed.

"Don't talk.  Just breathe.  We're going to notify the police of the gunshot wound and make sure you recover, okay?"

The man gave a small nod.  "I just want to...I want to...to thank him," he struggled. 

Claire sighed.  "So do I."

-

The Devil of Hell's Kitchen took a running leap from one building roof to another.  He slowed to a stop at the edge, listening.  He'd rescued a man who'd been shot while being mugged, he'd saved a girl from being raped, and he'd stopped a drug deal. 

Heroin has a very bad smell, according to Matt.

His city was safe, for the night.  Matt decided to head home and get a little sleep before attending his day job.  That is, what little that consisted of his day job, anyway.

A lawyer by day, vigilante by night.

Translation: Law-obsessor by day, law-breaker by night.

How's that for a double life?

But hey, sometimes the law isn't enough.  Or fast enough.  Or skilled enough.

-

Curiosity got the better of him the next morning, and Matt decided to get another coffee at Starbucks.  Claire was there again, which he was expecting. 

Working at both the hospital and a coffee shop...how much sleep did she get?  Any more than Matt did? 

"And your name?" Claire asked.  Matt sensed recognition in her voice.

"Matthew," he told her.  She smiled.

"Ahh...so this is the real name this time, huh?"

"So I've been told.  But I could have an entirely different name written on my birth certificate and I wouldn't ever know."  He gave a smile to emphasize the humor in his statement, so Claire wouldn't take the comment a different way.  She gave a saddened laugh, like she was ashamed that she'd thought his words were funny. 

"Well I'll be good and write your actual name on your cup, then," she said.

There was something different about this woman, different from all of the other women he'd met.  Special.  And he liked it.  He could tell that she was strong and confident, yet...alone.  It was probably the best reason why she worked two jobs...She busied herself enough that she didn't think much about it, her aloneness.

Matt read people pretty well.  He could do it nicely even without his heightened senses.  You can learn a lot from someone just by their tone of voice.

While he drank his coffee, Matt spent a lot of time thinking about his own life.  Any girl he'd ever been with always left him.  It was sad, but he regretted nothing.  Perhaps he just wasn't the romantic kind of guy.  As well as the fact that the ones that dated him felt bad for him because he was blind, but finally broke away because they couldn't take lying to him anymore.  Yeah...lying to Matt Murdock doesn't go so well.  Not when he can hear your heartbeat.  But he'll never tell you that.  Instead, he plays along like he's a normal blind person.

Who all knows about his abilities, anyway?  Not many.  Matt never even told his dad before he died.  Stick knows, because he's like him.  Foggy knows, because he's his best friend.  And...is that all?  Well...yes.

Matt finished the last of his coffee and tossed the cup in the trash before walking out.  If anyone had been paying attention, they'd have asked him how he knew where the trashcan was, since it had been moved since the day before.

But that's the thing about people in the city.  They don't pay much attention.  That is, not the majority of them.  But the caring, compassionate ones notice everything.