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audreyclimbs · 3 months ago

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foreseen in shadows- prologue

chapter summary: Matt Murdock meets a strange woman... and punches her in the face.

word count: 2.5k

to access the entire story: foreseen in shadows masterlist + masterlist

The rain pelting against Matt's face had grown nearly unbearable. The raindrops themselves weren't so bad, though the way they soaked into his black mask had grown to be something of a nuisance. Rather, it was the whipping, harsh October air against his skin that made the weather so intolerable. He seriously needed to get something nicer than this poor excuse for a suit.

This evening had been fairly monotonous. A few burglaries, a mugging. There were a few drunk college idiots who tried to corner a woman on her way from work- a restaurant from what Matt could smell on her- who ended up on the receiving end of Matt's growing aggravation with the weather. As he remembered the encounter, he briefly wondered if he had needed to beat them that hard. Remains to be seen. The deafening sound of the woman's trembling had been the only thing that pulled him out of his adrenaline-induced stupor.

Oh right, I'm supposed to be helping them, not terrifying them even more. Matt had thought to himself, hands clenching and unclenching in fists.

"How far away is your home?" He huffed out, shoulders slowly dropping as the pounding of his heart subsided.

She had stuttered a few times before choking out, "Just a couple of blocks. Thank you for... that."

Matt nodded silently before stepping back ever so slightly. Without another word, the woman practically raced in the direction of what he assumed was her apartment. He listened to the pounding of her heart as she made her way home. Listened to her checking on her one— no, two— kids as they slept peacefully in their beds. Then she slipped into bed herself. He heard her greet a man, her husband based on the ring that he had heard her twirling anxiously on her finger when she stood in front of him just a little while ago. Once assured that she had returned safely, Matt continued on his way.

To orient himself to his current position, Matt ascended to the rooftop of an apartment building. He let himself open up to the bustling, raucous noises of Hell's Kitchen's nightlife. For a little while, it was oddly peaceful. A voice in the back of his mind laughed at the irony of Matt feeling uneasy about a brief moment of peace. He wondered what time it was. As if on cue, the chiming of a grandfather clock sounded in one of the apartments below him.

2:45 A.M.

Exhaustion whispered into his bones, but he tried to brush it off. Part of him contemplated sneaking back into his apartment for some coffee, but he knew deep down that once he stepped through the threshold of his rooftop door, he wouldn't bring himself to come back out. Hell's Kitchen needed its masked protector more than Matt Murdock needed sleep, after all. Only a couple more hours, then he would go to sleep for a bit before joining Foggy in their daytime hunt for clients. God, he hoped they would catch a break soon. He wasn't sure how much more his bank account could take.

In the distance, he tuned into the rapid beating of a woman's heart. She seemed young, maybe a bit younger than Matt. She was sprinting through the alleys below him, winding left and right through the web of dark lanes. Finally, she rounded the corner of an alley that was one building to his left and barreled out into the sidewalk of the busy street. Her shoes slipped on the rain-slick sidewalk as she tried to counteract her momentum.

"Hoooly fuck, oh my God," Her voice came out breathless. She just... ran into someone?

"Watch where you're going, you little bitch," a gruff male voice snapped back at her, shoving her hands off when she tried to help him up.

Her cheeks, already flushed from her running, burned even hotter at his words. "I- I am sorry, sir, believe me," her voice had a distinct lilt to it. Matt realized with an internal eye-roll that she was not a Hell's Kitchen native. Probably some tourist who got lost on her way back to... wherever she came from. But why was she running so fast? Her heart was beating faster than would justify a simple run. He could practically smell the anxiety rolling off of her.

The older man stalked off without another word, muttering some unsavory words under his breath as he went.

Matt found himself walking closer to where the young woman was now standing. He could hear her breathing start to level out, her feet shuffling. Why was she so damn nervous?

"Where the hell..." she trailed off and back-stepped into the shadows of the alley she had practically fallen out of mere moments ago. A few beats of silence, and then he heard a humorless chuckle slip past her lips. "Didn't see that one coming," she muttered. Her head whipped around, presumably trying to take in her surroundings, and he heard raindrops whip themselves off of the bridge of her nose and the point of her chin.

Matt's brow furrowed in confusion. What was that supposed to mean? She definitely wasn't blind, though her grotesquely delayed reaction time to the street ahead of her would suggest it. Call it momentary boredom or curiosity, but the young woman's new movements spark his interest once more. Where was she going?

And why do I even care? Matt thought to himself. He considered abandoning her entirely and turning in early for the night. Just a couple more hours, he reminded himself.

The woman began jogging through the alleys, keeping to corridors that were a small way away from the central streets. She eventually scaled up the side of an apartment building using a rusty fire escape that creaked and groaned beneath her weight. He heard her cringe at the unsafe method of ascent, but she carried on before finally reaching the rooftop. The curiosity that had been simmering since the moment he picked up on her heartbeat finally boiled over, and Matt crossed the rooftops between them to reach her.

Her head whipped around to face the sound of his boots crunching across gravel. Her heartbeat, which had slowed minutely since she left the older man, skyrocketed once more. The sweat that had begun to cool on her brow perspired anew.

She's nervous. Matt noted internally. A moment later, No shit, you're a masked man dressed in all black, stalking silently up behind her at almost 3 o'clock in the morning.

"Are you okay?" Matt asked across the rooftop. You sound like a stalker, Murdock. They were on opposite corners of the building, but he could tell it didn't feel far enough to her.

"What are you doing, sneaking up on me at 3 o'clock in the morning?" Touché, Matt thought. Her voice was loud and snappy. To anyone else, she would have sounded entirely fearless. But Matt could make out the slight tremors of her hands.

"Come closer, you're all shadows and it's freaking me the fuck out that I can't see you." Her heart skipped a beat as she said it. A lie for which Matt could not conjure a logical explanation. Any other sane person would want this random stranger as far away as possible.

Nonetheless, Matt obliged and began slowly closing the distance between them. As he approached, Matt tuned in his senses to her appearance. Athletic build, strong legs, tense shoulders. Her clothes, which Matt could tell fit snugly over her limbs, clung even tighter with sweat and rain. The woman trailed slightly closer, pausing between steps once Matt reached about halfway. Then, her heart skyrocketed once again. She stood, frozen for some unknown reason. Her boots crunched back and forth on the gravel as she seemed to snap out of a stupor. Then, she broke into a sprint to her right.

It happened so quickly that Matt scolded himself for getting distracted with what she "looked like." She catapulted herself to the next rooftop and landed in a roll, then kept pushing forward. The woman's legs were pumping so fast that Matt wondered for a moment if she had some form of enhanced abilities. The pace of her feet mixed with her skittering pulse into a cacophony of thundering adrenaline. A part of Matt was tempted to shout at her to stop running if only to ease the burning of his lungs.

Matt Murdock was by no means out of shape. So how was this lady, who was arguably around his age, so fucking fast?

Do I need to do more cardio? Is kickboxing and chasing criminals every night not enough?

Finally, Matt's opportunity to gain the upper hand appeared in the darkness. A loose stone on the next rooftop. Small enough for her to not see it shrouded in the darkness of Hell's Kitchen's moonless night. Matt prayed that she didn't see it.

The resounding smack of her body colliding with the gravel as her foot caught on the rock's jagged edge was his answer. Matt finally reached the rooftop, but by the time he'd gotten there, she was up again. In a flash, Matt launched himself at the young woman with a well-aimed fist. He hit his mark on her jaw and almost felt bad for the speed with which she hit the ground mere moments after picking herself up from it. The shriek that slipped past her lips echoed through the city's noise, and Matt prayed once more that none of the residents of this building stirred at the noise.

The young woman scrambled to her feet and arranged her body into a fighting stance at a commendable pace. Especially considering the throbbing pain Matt could hear in her jaw. That would definitely be a bruise in a few hours if the thrumming of her blood pooling in the area was any indication. Should he apologize? His fight-or-flight instincts stopped roaring in his ears for a moment and allowed the lawyer to realize he had just struck this woman technically unprompted. Shit. So much for a peaceful approach.

"What the fuck was that for?" She barked at him, fists hovering in front of her chest.

"Why did you run?" was Matt's only answer.

"I-" her fists wavered for just a moment. He heard her heart uptick ever so slightly, and he cocked his head to the side for a split second as she stalled.

Impatience and a sliver of fear seized Matt once more, and he lunged for her. They hit the floor, Matt's arms coming to press her own by her head. At this proximity, he could smell the sweat that had dried on her before the rain started. How long has she been out tonight? How long has she been running? What has she been doing? Was she with Fisk? Question after question raced through Matt's head, but he didn't know why his instincts told him to not let her go.

"Would you stop fucking attacking me? Maybe that's why I ran, you asshole." The distinctive twist of her words made Matt realize that she was Southern. Based on the heat rising in her neck and cheeks paired with the feeling of her eyes on him, Matt could guess that she was currently leveling him with a lethal glare. She thrashed under him, but he held fast onto his position over her.

For the record, Matt thought to himself, I didn't attack you until after you ran.

"Answer the question," Matt snapped back, perhaps a touch harsher than was necessary, but he had no idea who this woman was or why his gut was telling him that she was important.

She sputtered for a moment before replying, "What question?"

"Why did you run?" Matt repeated, voice cold.

He felt her go still for a moment and sensed the intensity of her gaze on him. Then, her heart picked up once more. He really should have seen it coming, but before he could begin to react, the woman beneath him had launched her left leg up and over him, using the momentum of his weight to roll on top of him, arms slipping out from beneath his grasp to shove away at his chest so hard that the air escaped his lungs. Matt's back hit the gravel and he drew in a harsh gasp before reaching up to deflect a blow from her. The woman practically catapulted herself off of his body and backed up several paces. Matt sprang up in kind and tuned in to every signal her body could give him for what her next move would be. Her heartbeat was fast but steady. The rain still pouring onto both of them dripped down her arms and face, and he could tell she was shivering. Whether it was more from adrenaline or the temperature, he couldn't be sure. As he continued to listen, Matt felt his head tilt to the side slightly, arms remaining tense at his sides.

There it was again. Matt felt her eyes practically burning a hole in his head with a laser focus that surpassed a normal observation of one's opponent. If he weren't trying to figure out if this woman wanted to murder him, he'd be worried that there was something stuck in his teeth. She stared and stared, and Matt could sense every part of her body focusing on whatever she saw in him. A small hitch of her breath reached his ears.

Then, she advanced in a flurry of blows that Matt could hardly sense before they made contact. She seemed to be using whatever reserve of energy she had left. He began to deflect and attempt to drive back, but she met every strike a split second before it could hit its mark. She was undeniably on defense now, but she was doing it flawlessly. Frustration grew in Matt's chest when he continued to miss with what should have been sound blows and jabs. As he back-stepped repeatedly, he realized that she was closing in on him quickly despite never lashing out with a punch of her own. Then, in a strike so quick he didn't even sense its approach, she slammed her open palm over Matt's ear so hard that it knocked him to the side.

Suddenly, the world was screaming and shrieking. Matt drew in a gasp, hand shooting up to his ear as his knees hit the ground.

"I'm sorry," she whispered so softly that Matt almost didn't hear it over the roaring and ringing in his ear. Then, her knee made contact with his other ear, and Matt fell forward onto his forearms, jaw working back and forth futilely to relieve the sharp ringing that was overwhelming every one of his senses.

For a terrifying moment, Matt Murdock was in a dark world with no sound but shrill ringing, and he could feel nothing but the gravel digging into his arms and knees and the rain pelting against his back like shards of glass. Is this what eternal damnation is like? It could have been minutes or hours, he wasn't sure, but eventually, the ringing in his ears subsided, and he oriented himself to where he lay on this damned rooftop. He hesitated to move just yet, but Matt listened around and realized that the woman was gone.

In the distance, a grandfather clock chimed four times.

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