Daredevil: Defender Of Hell's Kitchen - Volume One: Heightened Terror

Chapter Two: Heightened Terror Pt. 2

The following afternoon, I sleep through my alarm and hurry to shower, get dressed, etc. After skipping a shave, I race out of my apartment building and start heading to work. My feet clammer down the busy Hell's Kitchen sidewalk, until I arrive at the singular law office of the Nelson and Murdock firm. I enter the building and then my feet begin to clammer again, but this time up the narrow staircase until I approach the large room which holds my office. Judging by the sound I hear after I creak the door open, Foggy is printing off some law documents for a domestic dispute case we took the previous day.

"Matt," Foggy begins, before I angrily cut him off.

"I'm late again, I know," I groan. "You don't have to keep telling me, Fog. It's getting annoying."

"Usually, I'd say 'what's getting annoying is your constant tardiness and general lack of interest in our cases', but we'd just get in another arguement. And frankly, I'd rather skip that so we can talk about some case details."

"I didn't get to have my morning coffee, can you brew a pot quickly? I wanna check the paper," I reply.

"Can't you do the Daredevil stuff on your own time? This is important," Foggy says impatiently.

"How do you know I'm checking the paper for 'Daredevil stuff'? I'm just curious about the news. I haven't checked it in a few days."

"I can just...feel it, Matt. You've got that look about you, again. You got some big break last night and you wanna look into it, rather than do any work. Like when you were going after Copperhead. Look where that led us, Matt. Everyone's suspicious about Daredevil's ties to a struggling law firm," Foggy huffs.

"Ok...I'm sorry, but Wilbur Day just got bailed out of Riker's, Foggy. I'm stumped as to why someone would want to get 'Stilt-Man' out of jail. Just give me a few minutes, man. When the pot's done, we'll go over the case notes."

I manage to get another sigh out of Foggy. "Fine. But, um, really quickly; Are we still set for tonight? Ms. Page wanted to know."

Tonight...? Shit, what were we doing tonight? "U-Uh, yeah! Of course, Foggy. I wouldn't just go ahead and cancel plans on you, like that."

"Alright, good because I really like Karen. I think she's the best one out of the interviews we got. Honestly, this follow up is kinda pointless. It feels more like a social call, really," Foggy chuckles, showing that his spirits have been lifted a bit. "I mean, we're holding an interview for our secretary at a pub."

"Yeah, I don't know," I say, grabbing this morning's Daily Bugle off of a nearby filing cabinet. "She seems really nice and passionate, so I guess this is more about getting to know her than giving her a job."

"Yeah, buddy," Foggy replies. "We probably should've just hired her on the spot."

I just nod, as I begin to run my index and middle fingers along the print of the newest Ben Urich article. The headline reads: Z-List Daredevil Villain Mysteriously Bailed From Prison. Could This Be The Work Of The Shadowy 'Puppet Master'? Urich's the most trustworthy reporter in New York and the one who always breaks the bigger stories involving the heroes and villains of the city.

Lately, though, he's been reporting a supposed crime boss known only as 'The Puppet Master' who controls the largest percent of organized crime in the Kitchen. This is probably the only matter I'll disagree with him on, because surely I'd know about something this big in the neighborhood that I protect. Though, there has been an open spot in the Hell's Kitchen since I took down the Fixer. But, there haven't really been any power struggles since Fixer's heart attack few years ago.

Foggy comes back over to me with a mug full of steaming coffee and the scent enters my sensitive nostrils. I smirk and thank him before taking a sip of the hot liquid. "Alright, Matt. Let's get to work."