5533/BlackSky: About a Job

BlackSky: About a Job
Date of Scene:	10 October 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Matt puts Kate on the trail of an elusive hacker. He also inadvertently puts her on the trail of his own secrets as well.
Cast of Characters:	Daredevil, Hawkeye (Bishop)
Tinyplot:	Black Sky

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Daredevil has posed:
It was an effort of will to pick up the phone and dial when all Matt wanted to do was stay in bed.

//It isn't how you hit the mat. It's how you get up//

He can hear his father's words in his ears and makes himself sit up. He's bare chested, dressed in his boxers, the same as he's been since coming home in the early morning and stripping off his costume. He picks up his phone opens his contacts and select's the tenth one by memory. The voice system says, "Kate", and he selects text, speaking slow and clear.

"Kate, it's Matt, can you come by my place need to talk about a job."

He sends the text and stands. He keeps the phone with him as he hits the shower, then finds some relatively clean clothes to wear, in this case a battered old Fogwell's Gym hoodie and a pair of sweats.

While he waits for Kate's reply he forces himself to pick up his Daredevil suit, left like a shed skin on the floor and pack it away carefully. It was something to do, and he needed to keep busy, if he stopped the grief caught up and he couldn't afford time to mourn. Not when there was payback to get.

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate.. was underwhelmingly not busy. In fact, she'd lost three games of tic-tac-toe to herself that morning before Matt's text came in. Frankly, at that point, and given her week - hell, the past month - she'd have taken a job from Kingpin if it had come in.

Well, mayben ot /him/ per se, but it was getting bad. She was beginning to rethink this PI gig and..

The 'and' was always where it got her. What else would she do?

So when Matt's text came in, she wasn't sure if it was a legit job, or his way of inviting her over to chat about things on his mind, but Kate didn't care.

<<Gimme an hour to get my butt there. Natch. 20. You like coffee? Of course you like coffee. Donuts? Or do you like those bagel things better? I'll get both.>>

Minutes later, a second text:

<<Heh. Bet you wonder how I'm getting there without your address, right? I'm a PI, remember? (don't sweat it, you're in the phone book. *duh*)>>

19 minutes and 33 seconds later, there's a knock on Matt's door.

Daredevil has posed:
"Sure coffee's goo..."

The next text comes. Matt plays it, years of working with Jess making him parse every word for sarcasm. Reasonably sure there isn't any, he deletes his first text and dictates a new one.

"Uh sure, don't put yourself out. Whatever you bring is fine."

He puts his suit away and hrm. What else was there to do... listless Matt just paces his apartment until there's a knock on the door and Matt goes to answer it, grabbing the sunglasses off the breakfast bar on the way to the door. They're in place when the door is opened.

"Hey Kate, come in," he says stepping aside and getting out of the doorway. He's still got the long stubble he did from the night at Josie's and the apartment behind him is large and relatively well kept if only due to the fact he'd been away for the tourney and sleeping and running the streets since he got back.

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate pushes her way in, likely with a cheerfulness that Matt probably isn't in the mood for, but may well need. She holds up a bag, "So, it's breakfast sandwiches, because the bagel place was insane. At any rate, these were cheaper, and omg, they smell so good. Oh! And coffee. I guessed. Cream and sugar?"

She looks about once she's entered, and gives a low whistle. "Nice place. Who'd you kill to inherit it? Seriously, I didn't think pro-bono lawyers made this kind of money. Mind if I sit?"

She doesn't wait for an answer before settling in a chair, and unloading the goodies she's brought onto his coffee table.

"In the words of someone's Italian grandmother, mangiare. Mangiare!"

Daredevil has posed:
Matt just stands there stunned for a moment as whirlwind of sunshine bursts through his door depositing breakfast sandwiches and coffee in her wake.

When she finally settles, Matt lets the door swing closed and pads in after her.

"You can't see it now, but there's a big neon billboard across the street," he says gesturing to the offending window. "I'm told it's rather jarring."

The words were, easy, rote, ones he'd spoken many times in the past. "And yeah, cream and sugar's good."

He takes a seat across from Kate, he looks tired. "Mangarie?" he asks. "I'm afraid both my grandmother's were Irish."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate rolls her eyes. "I can't believe I have to translate. You have to have walked by an Italian neighbourhood. Two things come out of their mouths - curses that will melt your toenails off, and admonishing everyone to eat! Eat!"

She grins, and pushes both food and coffee over for him.

"A great blaring neon sign, huh?" Sounding like 'how bad can that be?' before she shrugs. "No matter. Still a nice place. I'm betting my apartment could fit in here twice and invite a friend over and you probably pay less than I do."

He's regarded: freshly showed, but still looking haggard. Stubble. The rather stunned look of the man.

"So, is this really a job, or are you just having a bad day and needed some company. And no worries if it's the latter, because I have to tell you it's been a dead few weeks. I may have to take on a side job if this keeps up. You don't look happy. What's up?"

Daredevil has posed:
Matt manages a half-hearted smile. "Is that what that means?" he asks trying to make it light.

Leaning over to grab the food and coffee he says, "Thanks," before putting the sandwich in his lap and pulling up the safety lid on the coffee and taking a sip. He needed that little nip of caffine so bad, he almost shivers like a junkie taking his morning fix.

"Good stuff, where'd you get it?" he says conversationally before taking another longer sip. "It pulses, and flashes a buch of colours, but yeah I got it on the cheap," the cheap in this case eating through most of what was left of his father's life insurance, the settlement from Stockgen and the money his Dad had won betting on himself in his final fight. He might not have been aware of it at the time, but he was sure there was a part of him that knew his place would be one part home, one part secret lair, hence the space and rooftop access.

The last question makes him take a second to think before answering. Was that what this was, him reaching out to one of the few people unlikely to yell or snark at him who wasn't neck deep in their own drama?

"Maybe both, I don't know. The last..." he'd lost track of the days. "However long have been rough, I lost someone I cared about, recently. She was murdered, and I need to make the people responsible pay."

But only part of him. The rest of him wanted to curl up and try to will the world away.

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate watches until she's sure he's got his food and drink, and is in no danger of spilling on himself.

"Oh, this little place I paced by on the way here. Mercutio's? Nice little Italian couple run it. I had to argue with the wife that I wasn't wasting away into nothing. She was trying to stuff biscotti into the bag.. actually, she may have managed that. I didn't look to be honest. She did seem a little smug while handing it to me after I paid."

Kate grins.

"Well, I suppose you can get used to anything." Of the pulsing and flashing. "I know folks who sleep through trains going overhead." Only by the time he gets to the bit about his friend being murdered...

"Oh, wow. That sucks. Holy crap. I mean," he tilts her head at him. "I was going to say did you need help finding out who, but it sounds like you already know. So, what is this all about, then. The making them pay. I mean, that's not really a PI job.." Her voice drifts off. "And about that, actually.."

Daredevil has posed:
Mercutio's what were the odds? Matt knew the place and would have recognized the coffee by taste and smell but Mrs. Scalveze usually put nutmeg in his, changing the taste. What was in his cup was still good, and he could do without it tasting exactly like he remembered. It would be a reminder of her, of Elektra.

Matt reaches down and shakes the bag, "I think she got you. Mrs. Scalveze usually gets her way," he says a tight smile appearing for a moment on his lips.

As to the murder, he doesn't seem to react except for his eyes to go distant and sad. Visible as much in how the muscles behind his sunglasses twinge as his eyes themselves. "Yeah, it sucks..." he agrees before he makes himself look up and carry on. "And I'm not looking for you break anyone's knees or anything, but there's a guy, he's got information that can hurt these people, legally, I need your help to find him."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
The shake of bag reveals a handful of biscotti, indeed, neatly snuck in while Kate was paying. "Why am I not surprised? I actually think the propriator undercharged me, but he said it was almost time to switch to a later morning menu." She laughs. "Do I look like such a waif?" Then laughs more. "Right. Look who I'm asking. Sorry about that. I don't think I look like a waif."

She listens as he goes on, frowning. "Kneecap breaking I'm down for. I don't go for that dead thing, though. It kind of rubs me the wrong way... And a guy, you say? Who can hurt them. I can be down for that."

Though she is a tad disappointed in the fact that there won't be pulling out her bows and arrows and stretching her avenging wings that way. Then again, it's not like Matt /knew/ about that side of her, right? How would he even think to ask.

Daredevil has posed:
"That definitely sounds like them," Matt comfirms, it was hard not to smile. The Scalvezes were good people.

As to the other question, it does bring a smile. a quick wry one to his lips as he says, "You don't sound thin and waif like? You have too much energy to be starving."

Of course given how his senses worked he could basically quote Kate's measurements, but the point was still valid, nobody who was that much of a dynamo was starving.

There's a look of surprise at the leg-breaking. "Really? Didn't think you did that sort of work," there was no judgement there. As for the killing: "I wouldn't want you to kill anyone, Kate. This revenge, I don't want it to cost anyone their soul," he says. "But if you find this guy, Victor Ivanov, he goes by Genus sometimes, he's got information that can really hurt these people and make sure what happened, doesn't go unavenged."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"Decent people, huh? I'll have to remember that. And the energy is a necessity. If I gave in to the blahs, I'd become a perma-fixture in my office, or worse, at home on my couch."

She grins a lopsided grin.

"I keep myself busy. I have a few pet projects I like to look after." Like keeping the streets decently clean in and about her neighbourhood. Night patrols and the like. That on top of the day job, charity appearances, and the occassional actual social obligation. Her father, she was sure, invited her out of spite. She attended because the contacts were absolutely necessary.

Plus, you couldn't make fun of people if you weren't there to see the nonsense they got up to.

"Uh.. yeah," Kate says quietly. "No danger of me killing anyone." At least not on purpose. She was very, very careful about that. Inventively careful, but careful. "And the leg breaking is.. you know.. just a thing you say."

Not. She is so not telling the truth. Anyone else would believe her, but Matt isn't anyone else.

"So, this Genus person, this Victor Ivanov - what do you know about him that would help me track him down?"

Daredevil has posed:
"I hear you," Matt says about the energy as he takes another sip of coffee. "When I started Nelson and Murdock with my partner, we had to grind to survive too," hell they had to now just to get out from under their caseload, thanks to the fund paying their client's way. Though Foggy was doing the lion's share of the grinding now with Matt caught up in, what did Claire call it, 'Kabuki ninja bullshit?', she had a way with words. "Anyhow, things are a bit different now, but there still not a lot of time for sitting on the couch." Despite him doing exactly that.

"Good," Matt says about the killing, before frowning at the leg-breaking part. He could hear the lie in her heartbeat. "Right, of course," Matt says of it being a thing you say. "Though, you can handle yourself right? I mean these people we're after, they're dangerous."

It was a gentle probe at her lie and genuine question at the same time. The Hand thought Genus was dead so they weren't looking for him but the hacker hadn't gone underground without a reason.

As for Genus' history... "He's a hacker, one of those guys in the Rising Tide who got out before the Outage," he says, it was a lie, but one close enough to the truth. Matt sets aside his coffee and sandwich to stand and go to the ltitle table by the kitchen, he feels along the files, touching the little braile tags Karen lovingly appeneded to them. Finding the right one, he takes it back to the living room and hands it over to Kate. "This is what I have on him, but in addition to the Rising Tide, he had some sort of ties to the Russians over in Brighton Beach before another criminal organization snapped him up. He escaped them, faked his death and then went underground shortly afterwards, but not before giving somone a encoded drive that exposes everything about the organization that grabbed him. I need to find him so he can decode it and let law enforcement take them down."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"I wish I had your problem," Kate sighs over her coffee, flipping the lid flap back. "I know what the crime rates are in this city. You'd think I'd be doing a better business. I don't get it. My business model is sound. My advertising is witty and catchy, and.. I don't know. But I hear you have to do a solid year, sometimes two, before things really start to pay off. Unless you get one of those dream cases."

Kate hadn't had a dream case. Yet.

"Ah, don't worry about me, I'm pretty good thinking on my feet. I've had a bit of training here and there that comes in handy from time to time. You should see me on a throwing range." As though thrown weapons were her forte. However, thrown weapons were on the hot list right now, so they suited the story better.

"Hacker, huh? And Rising Tide? Wow, you sure know how to pick them. But one of the good guys." Kate nods to herself, already formulating an idea of what this all might look like. She takes the file Matt hands her and starts rifling through it.

Matt wasn't kidding about her needing to be on her toes if she took this on. She'd want her weapons nearby, just in case. Or something.

Daredevil has posed:
"You do good work, keep doing it, and people will notice, it'll take time but people will come," Matt says taking a sip of his coffee. "But in the meantime I can pay you for tracking down Genus, and I'll pass your details around the court houses, a lot of lawyers need PI's for their clients."

It wasn't much, and it wasn't likely to provide Kate a dream case but it was a start.

Listing to what she has to say about her training, Matt nods, it rings true and leaves him feeling a bit relieved. He didn't expect there to be much trouble but he wasn't comfortable with the possibility and Kate being without training.

"Thrown weapons huh?" he asks, as she looks over the file. "I would have figured staffs with how you handled that pool cue," he say in attempt at levity. "But glad you can handle yourself."

She can see why as she reads the file.

"Odds are good the guys who took him before aren't looking, but we want to find this guy fast. Think it's doable?"

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"Staves?" Kate scoffs, though she'd used them before. They just weren't her style. "Nah, I'm a bow girl if it comes down to it. Something thrilling about taking that sight, and centering yourself and letting an arrow fly."

She grins, and dips at her coffee.

"But I do have to admit, there's this real primal feeling to throwing axes. I don't know. Maybe there's viking blood in my family or something. Oh, god, don't tell them I said that. My father might have an aneurism on the spot."

She closes the file. "I see what you mean, though. Your friend knows a lot of people who are, frankly, trouble. I don't want to pry, but is he going to be safe after this? I mean, it could be he's off the radar because he wants to be, you know?"

She does look pleased about the offer to pass her name on, though. "That would be a *great* help."

Daredevil has posed:
Matt twinges inwardly at the mention of bows. Just the word made his fingers ache in the memory of his training. Stick had made him work a bow until past when his fingers bled and until he could just sense the target, fire and strike what he was aiming at. It had been hard practice but rewarding. He'd hadn't picked up a bow since, there hadn't been cause but that training had helped him become as accurate as he'd become throwing his batons and other weapons.

"I heard archery can be intense," Matt observes, "Is that why you call it Hawkeye Investigations? An archery thing?"

Though the mention of throwing axes gets a raised brow, "Axes?" he asks a little amused despite his pain. Kate's verve seemed to be contagious. "Can't say I've tried those, you should bring one to a family dinner, I'm sure your father would love it."

"It's a theory," Matt agrees about Genus being gone because he wanted to be. "And once he's been found he'll have choices, go back into hiding, or take government protection, but he needs to decode that drive, Kate. It has to happen."

The swell of intensity in his last words passes quickly. "And no problem. As to this case, whatever your rate is I'll pay it."

The Fund gave him enough to live on and he hadn't donated his usual half back to the Fund yet, meaning he had a bunch of extra cash in hand, hopefully enough to pay the bill.

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"Oh, my father would give birth to a high rise, and not in the pleasant way either, if I announced I was doing axe throwing at a family gathering." She adds her wince to his. "I'm guessing you've heard of my family. And yes, it's fun. Not something I'd want to do for a day job, but the difference in perspective is important. Otherwise you get set in your ways and lose your edge."

There's a smirk when he makes the connection to her PI Agency.

"Clever, huh? Most people don't really put it together, but lets be honest, I'm not exactly the world's greatest at keeping that little secret. I'm the better Hawkeye, though. Don't let that blonde haired monkey tell you otherwise."

Daredevil has posed:
There is a chuckle for the mental image Kate's words conjure. "Probably worth avoiding," he says grimacing a little. "Yeah, I read page six sometimes," the society page, which rich person was seen wearing what where, and so on. Mostly he'd bothered to see if there were any references to Elektra or Danny. The rest of his friends weren't the sort to end up there.

"And I hear you, over-specialization is slow death, got to branch out to learn and survive," he says remembering hearing similar from Stick, even if the old man did hold onto that katana of his like it was a safety blanket.

"Wait, secret," he'd thought it was a homage, but then there were two Hawkeyes. "Huh," Matt says, "And he hasn't yet, I know him a bit, okay, we spoke on the phone once, but a friend of mine is dating him."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"Surprise?" Kate makes a small face, a wry expression there, not that he can see it. "Look, it's not like you've seen my office, but yeah, that might have been a giveaway. I mean it's a secret, but it's not a SECRET if you catch my drift."

There's a huh of surprise at the fact of Clint dating Matt's friend.

"Small world. He's actualy one of my best friends. We've worked together in the past. But like I say, he's got nothing on me other than an oversized ego. And your friend is dating him?"

There's a resigned sigh - one that doesn't seem to be entirely focused on the matter of her words, "I can't really charge you for helping out a friend." But darn it, why does it have to be that girl's friend she's heading out to save. And why..

"Wait.. why isn't he looking for this Genus? I mean, if you know him, and it's her friend, why isn't he helping?" She's a bit confused, and to be fair, she doesn't know that he isn't helping.

Daredevil has posed:
Matt makes a face of his own, "Sort of embarassed not to put it together sooner," he admits. Really he should have, but he took that as a sign of just how distracted he was by other matters. "Anyhow, your somewhat open secret is safe with me, I won't go spreading it around."

The revelation though, that changed how he 'saw' Kate. She was one of them. Like him, like Danny, like Spider-man. "Guess I shouldn't worry about you being able to handle yourself then?" he says with a bit of wry humour.

He takes a sip of his coffee.

"Yeah, she seems to be really into him, it's sort of nice. That world, hard to find people you can connect with. Or so my mask wearing clients tell me."

"But Clint seems like a good guy, I didn't tap him for this because he's got some troubles of his own, to secret stuff. Plus, you must have heard the Avengers Mansion vanished..."

He shakes his head, reason #477 he stayed clear of the big teams. Too much weird shit.

"And I am totally paying you Kate, that's not even up for discussion."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate grins impishly, peering over her coffee, which she holds two-handed. "I don't know, it was kind of cute you worrying like that. No offense taken. I hold my own, though. Man, I should add that to my business cards."

For a moment she's distracted, then returns back to the conversation.

"Yeah. He really did sound like he had it bad for that girl." Kate, herself, sounds saddened by that. "Why are guys so stupid? I mean, okay, you're a guy, but you're blind. How can a guy go around with you day after day and not notice that.. Oh, nevermind. It's stupid at this point."

Kate nods at mention of the mansion. "Heard about that. Great gaping hole where it once was. Figure they must have it all worked out or something since there's not been some declaration of a state of emergency, but just how do you lose a mansion?"

She argues, then, "And I am not taking money to find someone for Hawkeye. That would be rude." Even if he's a dummypants and she's angry at him.

Daredevil has posed:
"Probably would help," Matt says of adding superhero to Kate's business cards. "Just don't use the phrase 'Hero for Hire' I think Luke owns the copyright," the joke coming with a small wry smile.

If the saddened tone wasn't enough the aborted question cinched the deal.

"So, how long have you had a thing for him?" Matt asks point blank. He wasn't one to pry usually, but in this case propriety was a victim of his need for distraction.

"Just glad it was their mansion and not somewhere else, I mean, no disrespect to your friend Hawkeye, but the Avengers tend to leave a lot of wreckage in their wake."

Reason #2 why he stayed clear of the big teams. The Incident, the moment that brought the Avengers together, also left Hell's Kitchen in ruins.

"Anyhow, I am sure they'll figure it out."

"You're not finding him for Hawkeye, you're finding him for me, and you're getting paid."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"I think it only fair to warn you at this juncture that I'm a very stubborn woman. You can pay me, but you can't make me take the money."

Because regardless of who was doing the asking, it still came down to Hawkeye. For some reason or other, this all involved his girlfriend, which made her back get all up and honorable about the matter. Besides, she kind of liked this Matt person too, and her gut told her this was the right thing to do.

Yeah, she really had to overhaul that business model.

"How long?" Kate sighs and makes a vague shoulder gesture of rising and falling. "I don't know. Long enough? It wasn't like I'd planned it. He was something of my best friend, and then he wasn't. I don't think you plan for those things. At any rate, he has no clue, and I'd like to keep it that way."

She gives a softly wry chuckle, "This would be easier if I had a social life of my own."

Daredevil has posed:
"That sounds like a challenge," Matt says with his lips threatening a grin.

"I don't know if anyone's ever taken someone to court to force them to be paid, but I figure there's a first time for everything," that was a tease. Matt understood the principles behind it or, rather he could guess them. If the tables were turned he'd likely be the one stubbornly refusing to be paid, but still, the same stubborn sense of propriety demanded he see her get something for her time.

Unstoppable force, meet unmovable object. The payment battle was only just beginning.

"Your secret is safe with me," Matt promises and means it. By his measure neither she, Skye or Clint needed that drama in their lives. "I'm good at keeping secrets." If only she knew.

"So, the lonely life a superhero isn't just a comic book cliche?" he asks. "And guessing those parties I read about you going to on page 6 aren't for fun."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"Is that challenge accepted?" Kate questions with a wicked glint in her eyes. "I should add that besides stubborn, I've a keen sense of character, and have convinced more people than you've likely defended to part from their money when they had no intention of doing so. I think that this could be very interesting."

Oh yeah, this battle was only beginning.

"The lonely life of a superhero might be a comic book cliche? I confess, I don't read those. But it sure is hard to get a date once a guy figures out you can stand up to him on any front. I don't get the simpering idiot cliche any more than I understand th lonely life of a superhero. And, I guess I have Lucky. He's a bit hairier than I'd like, but who am I to complain. He doens't hog the covers or leave the toilet seat up."

"Oh, gosh, those parties. I outgrew them by the time I was six," Kate laughs. "Occupational hazard of being an heiress. Had to do the whole debutante thing too. More pink taffeta than anyone wants to see inn their lifetime."

She shudders at the memory.

Daredevil has posed:
Nodding, Matt says, "Yep," with a faintly smug turn to his lips. Challenge most definitely accepted. "Well, we'll just have to see won't we."

The battle was beginning. Matt might be tired, but he needed something like this a battle where the fate of lives, the city and his soul weren't on the line.

"Really?" Matt says of men being turned off by the whole superhero thing. "I figured that'd be a turn on." It certainly had been for him, all the serious relationships in his life had been with woman who could more than hold their own in any fight. He lifts a shoulder in a shrug. The talk about Lucky gets a 'heh', "Your dog?" he asks, knowing she had one by the faint scent he'd left on her clothing. I was unmistakably canine.

The last part earns something like a genuine smile along with a sympathetic shudder. "Sounds horrible, never one for fancy parties, but you should have seen what they made us altar boys wear at Holy Cross on Sundays, might be the only thing to make me wish I'd lost my sight earlier."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate full on laughs. "You, an altar boy?" She head tilts at him, as if trying to imagine that. Not that she has much of anything to go on about him - but she will after this meeting. Oh, she most certainly will be checking him out.

"Yeah, Lucky the Wonder Pizza Dog. Long story that mostly comes down to Clint wanted him, so I had to steal him first. Stupid, huh? And you'd be surprised how hard it is to get a date in this town."

Daredevil has posed:
"My dad made me," Matt explains. "Figured it' set me on the straight and narrow." When really it just got him into more fights when kids teased him about it. Still, his dad's heart had been in the right place.

As for checking him out, a few pictures from those days exist to be found and used for blackmail, along with the story of his father's murder, and the accident that took hus eyes. His mother though was a slightly less documented mystery. Maggie Murdock was a hard woman to find.

"You stole his dog?" Matt asls brows raising with the question. "Ouch."

"And I don't know, I've done okay getting dates," which was true enough, at least until Elektra came back to town and he had lost interest, though with one or two exceptions those women had been a temporary balm for his lonliness, one that was inevitably disapointing because they had to be kept at arms length because of his double life.

"Though it sounds like you have busier nights than I do, with the whole hero thing," he says. "Mind if I ask you why you do it?"

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"Well, it wasn't quite stealing?" Kate draws the words out. "The dog lived in an alley. Clint was trying to entice him with pizza, and next thing you know, I was saying he liked me better, and was stopping at a pet store on the way home for supplies."

She shakes her head, laughing at herself. "You know, I'm slowly going broke with all this philanthropy. I told myself I could make a go of my business and not touch my trust fund. What a joke."

The wry amusement with herself lingers when Matt asks her why she does it - the busier nights, that is.

"Why? I guess because I can. I don't know how people look out over the world they live in and not want to do more. I guess if I'd never learned to use a bow the way I did I'd be pushing fundraisers, sipping champagne at some, and pink lemonade punch at others, feeling like something was missing." She sighs, and tucks her head down, considering it further. "I feel alive when I do it. Maybe not powerful, but like I have meaning. I don't get that from being an heiress. That was just an accident of birth."

Daredevil has posed:
"Ah well if you got to him first then he's your dog, the case law is pretty clear in finders keepers v. losers weepers," he says making a face at his own lameness, but hey, the joke was out there and he was going to own it. "Lucky sounds like good company though, while the men of New York get around to figuring out what they're missing."

There's a nod, "Phlantropy's hard when it's your own money, ever think of starting a fund? Convincing people to chip in, get some firm to manage the money, make it grow. I've seen it done, seems to work pretty well."

As for not touching her trust fund, "Well if you took money from certain well-meaning lawyers who need your help, maybe you'd have better luck."

The levity fades as Kate offers her answer to that last question. Why did she do it?. He finds the answer familiar. The unwillingness to let the world be someone else's problem. The sense of meaning the work gave her, that all could be said of him. "Too many sirens," Matt says. "That's why I try to make a difference with what I do, I hear too many sirens at night and know each one means people are suffering. I can't shoot a bow, but I do what I can to try and help them. To try the world just a little bit better. Sounds like you do the same."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"Oh, low blow Murdock. For a blind man, your aim is impeccable. Should I be watching my back?" Kate laughs at her own joke. "I'm too busy with my own work to head up a fund." She does enough charity work that she may as well be running a fund, but she might argue that. "Plus, funds get weighed down in politics. I want to be free to choose where my acts of goodness go. Like your friend, and Clint. This Genus guy. I wouldn't feel right taking money for it. Not if all the things you said and I've seen are true."

His words about wanting to make his own difference earn him a soft smile from the young woman. "You do pro bono work. I know that much. Though be warned, now I have a lot more reasons to look you up. And shooting a bow isn't the only way to help someone." Nodding. "yeah. Those sirens get to me, too. I think, just one. I'll just help with one tonight. Then I'll have earned that good night's sleep."

She shrugs. "It doesn't always work that way, but what else can you do?"

Daredevil has posed:
The joke earns a smile and an innocent one at that, as if to say, 'who me?'. "I don't know what you mean," he protests of her having to watch her back.

He lifts a shoulder in a shrug. "True about the politics, as for the other, hmm, half-dozen of one six of another, sounds like you do a lot of work already, anyhow it's a suggestion."

The way he turned things back around on the money though earns a faint smile and a "Touche."

Kate's promise to look him up, gets a smile, "Why should I worry? I'm an open book," he lies smoothly. Curious just how much Kate might find out on her own. His sense was he could trust her, but, on the other hand her digging might be a good test of how well his secret was burried.

"Then it's one more, then one more after that, right?" Matt says knowingly. "Same with case work, I'll just work on this little bit for this case then go home, oh, maybe go over this deposition one more time, then before you know it it's morning and there's a whole day of work ahead of me."

"And yeah, I get it, if not you taking care of it, who else is going to step up?"

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"It's like potato chips," Kate agrees. "You can't just eat on. Or take down one crook. Or, I guess in your case, one more deposition."

Oh, she'll dig. If it's findable, she'll find it. She might be the PI without profanity, but she wasn't above some judicious bending of the rules to get what she needed when it came down to it. And something about the way he said he was an open book tweaked her in all the 'this is more than meets the eye' way.

"Of course, you could save me the trouble of hunting whatever that open book business is about. I'd hate to have to bill you for my time in digging up your history."

Daredevil has posed:
"Exactly," Matt agrees. "Once you pop you can't stop," he says dating himself with the old Pringles slogan.

Kate's suggestion that he just volunteer the information is met with a smile as he lifts his glasses to rub at the bridge of his nose. "Knowing you, you'd refuse payment," he says unable to resist the jab when she left him an opening like that. He lowers his hand, and pulls a knee up infront of him on his chair. "And aren't there rules about people incriminating themselves?"

Though for all the teasing and the tired and the hurt that it hides, he says, "What do you want to know?"

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate smirks, and reaches for her coffee, "Oh, no. I will charge you for that." Even if she can't rightly - after all, she's the one who wants to know what it is that's in his closets.

When he outright asks her what she wants to know, Kate is taken aback.

"Wow, that's just like the skipping first base on a date, huh?" But she has to admit, she's the one who opened that barrel of fish. "I'm not sure. I just get the sense that you're saying things, but they're not matching up with the meaning I'm supposed to be getting. Like the way you talked about hearing sirens at night. It wasn't lying awake hearing sirens at night. Then on to trying to help them. It was just clever. Pat. It could mean anything I needed it to mean. You know? Like not a lie, but a lie."

Daredevil has posed:
"Good to know," Matt counters as he takes a sip of his own coffee to mirror her. "If my payment turns out to be roughly equal to what I'd owe you for the Genus thing, it's a coicidence. Trust me."

"I'm easy," Matt says about skipping first base. Then the joviality fades and Matt suddenly finds himself regretting his offer. He hadn't expected her to cut right to the heart of it like that. Though he was still a lawyer, "What do you think I meant then? I'm confused."

The lie didn't sit well with him but it was part of the act, part of what he needed to do to keep his lives separate. Kate might be able to only half-hide her ID, but Matt couldn't be that careless, his being Daredevil would throw all his cases into question, lead to his and likely Foggy's disbarment and lead a host of enemies to his door. He couldn't afford that, so despite his need to let someone in, who wasn't going to judge him he stuck by the lie.

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"We'll talk if you see a bill," Kate says sagely. "And I don't know what I think you meant. It just is niggling. Like you're sending a coded message. Or maybe I've just read one too many detective novels."

Daredevil has posed:
Matt lets the billing matter go at that taking a sip of his coffee, settling back in his chair.

"Might be a case of when you're a hammer everything looks like a nail," Matt says. "Mysteries are eveywhere when it's your job to solve them."

"Honestly, my life is pretty routine, you'll see what I mean if you look me up like you said," the lies make him feel like shit. He /liked/ Kate, felt a kinship given their shared hobbies, but the stakes were too high to just blurt it out.

"Anyhow, you'll take the job?" he asks. "Billing disputes aside."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate starts gathering the mess they've created, plus any bits she finds besides, "I'm on the job. You knew that when you asked. As for billing disputes, I can't help it if things like invoices and cheques just keep getting lost in the mail. It's one of those things."

She stuffs the garbage into the bad she brought, having first taken the biscotti out and leaving them for Matthew. "Treat yourself. And sure, hammer. Nail. Likely just that. But I have to say, I don't usually get that feeling unless something is up." And she didn't. It was a good sense to have, and it had saved her butt more than once. "First time for everything, right?"

And she'd see about that routine life of his.

"Garbage shute on the way out?"

Daredevil has posed:
"Figured," Matt says as he stands, making sure to grab up his sandwich as he does. He'd have it later.

"Thanks," he says about the biscotti, and nods to the rest.

"Yeah, I am sure it happens to the best of us," he says of the intuition misfire.

"And yeah, thanks Kate," he says meaning for more than taking the trash out.