5835/Black Sky: Of Bases and Tall Tales

Black Sky: Of Bases and Tall Tales
Date of Scene:	22 November 2018
Location:	Foggwell's Gym, New York City
Synopsis:	Matt and Kate talk plans and get another visit from Jessica Jones.
Cast of Characters:	Daredevil, Hawkeye (Bishop), Jessica Jones
Tinyplot:	Black Sky

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Daredevil has posed:
Matt had sent a text to Kate to meet him at Fogwell's gym on 9th Street in Hell's Kitchen. Arriving early, Matt lets himself in, propping the door on the first floor open to let Kate up, then headed up the narrow stairs to the gym on the second floor. He opens this door too, with a key, and walks in. The gym is quiet and still, the smell of sweat and rubber is old.

The old gym had fallen on hard times and was on the verge of closing it's doors before an angel investor swooped in and bought out the building. The gym had closed anyhow, but only for 'renovations', or at least that's what the investor said. Regardless of the truth of that it made sure the building was empty and free of civilians.

Not to mention prying ears and papparazzi.

Which made the place perfect for today.

Grabbing a spot on one of the benches, Matt sits and waits.

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate had been busy. Jessica hadn't been kidding when she had said the meat and potatoes of her business was cheating husbands and angry wives. It was all surveillance, all the time, and Kate had to wonder just what it was those men saw in those women. It was all so superficial.

Then again, that's pretty much what had Kate abandoning the jet set for her ever so thrilling (she said with an eye roll) life of crime prevention and private eye-ateering.

She'd stopped for coffee on the way over, bringing a cup for herself, and one for Matt. She was careful to unprop the door on her way in, and headed the slightly foreboding stairs.

"Now, see, if the guys I was spying on were meeting in places like this, my job would be so much more exciting. But, nope, it's all Motel 6 all the time. Like that's so inventive and a brilliant new thought. Like that's not 90% of Motel 6's business - cheating men, and bored housewives. Heck, I could make a mint going into the matchmaking business based on just the people I've spied on in the past two weeks. I just don't get it."

She waltzes into the gym and looks about. "Uh, nice place, I guess? Hey Matt."

Daredevil has posed:
Matt smiles when he smells the whif of coffee as the door bangs closed behind Kate down below. "Come on up!" he calls getting to his feet.

The remarks about their surroundings earn a "Heh," from Matt. "I take it Jess has you on surveilance duty?" he says. "I never understood cheating, either be serious with someone and stick with them, or don't be and see other people, it's not that hard."

He gives a shrug. "But other than knowing the way to all the Motel 6's in the tri-state area, how's working for Jess going?"

"And thanks," he says of gym, a touch of irony his tone. "Lights are on your left."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"Has she ever. I swear she's trying to convince me the error of my ways in my career choice. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd think my father was paying her to make things as boring and as tawdry as possible so I'd just give up and go attend Radcliff or some other suitably snooty school so I could hang my pedigree up on the all instead of my PI liscence."

She makes a small face of disgust as she fiddles about trying to find the light switch. Which she does find, sending a sputtering of light into existence in the room. "You know, if you're inviting someone over, you could have turned the lights on yourself. Just saying." Her admonishment is lightly teasing as she takes his coffee to him. "Not like you didn't know where they were. And they're flickering. You might want to get that looked at. At least I'm supposing you're the new owner?"

Supposing, nothing. She's been following his moves.

Daredevil has posed:
Matt can't help but tease, "Right you know how those people with Ivy League degrees can be," he says with a laugh before moving on to matters of Jess. "Nah, that's just what Jess' work is most of the time. Long stretches of sleaze punctuated by saving the day. The good news is if your dad ever did ask her to run you off, you'd know because Jess would need a new door again." Meaning most likely that Derek Bishop would have been thrown through the old one.

"Fair point," Matt allows. "I honestly forgot," he says of the lights which speaks to Matt running himself a bit more ragged than usual.

Then when Kate asks her, not-a-question, question, Matt looks surprised. "Wow, and here I was trying to be all mysterious? Taking time to tail me when not making runs to the Motel 6?"

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate gives a non-challant shrug, and finds herself a perch on the edge of the fighting ring, loosely looping her arms through the ropes to 'lean' on them and regards the man. "Kinda? Besides, you know me, rich girl. Has to vet all potential suitors in case they're just after her for her money."

Which was laughable. It was her father who would do such a thing, and even then, to add insult to injury, he'd be as likely to hire someone like Jess as well as his high priced detectives and bevy of lawyers. Derek Bishop was a man of many means, and he trusted nobody. Not even his own people.

But Matt did have a point, Jess would have likely thrown her father out for suggesting such a thing.

"I guess I kind of knew it was long stretches of mind numbing boredom with the odd bit of superhero thrown in. Just my faith in the human ability to for relationships is really being tested."

She sighs.

"What I couldn't figure out was why you bought the place, though. Nice job of hiding the deets, by the way. I don't think anyone else really would have picked up on it." Not unless they were really looking. "Nostalgia?"

Daredevil has posed:
"Well, I can see why you'd look, guy who leaves Landman and Zack to work for peanuts in his old neighbourhood, just screams gold digger," he says taking a sip of coffee and dropping easily into one of the chairs facing the ring. He sticks his feet out.

"I bet," Matt comiserates. "I've worked a couple divorce cases that made me question why people even bother with marriage," he says. "And that's coming from a Catholic."

There's a smile for the last bit.

"Hope the work hasn't made you question the sanctity of our fake relationship. Ran into Lauren Remington Platt the other day at the courthouse, she was definitely fishing for a date." Platt was the heiress to the Remington arms fortune and a mainstay at all the parties Kate tried to avoid.

As for why he bought the place, Matt gestures with his coffee to a poster on the wall declaring a fight between "Battling" Jack Murdock and Carl "Crusher" Creel back in 2008. "Nostalgia played a part but thinking of using it for now as a headquarters against the Hand. Figured, if we're going to draw heat may as well draw it to an empty building."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"You're the worst kind of gold digger," Kate teases, in shades of When Harry Met Sally. "You're a gold digger who doesn't think he's a gold digger."

But of course Matt wasn't one.

"I don't get it. You're Catholic, right, but you obviously slept with her. So, how does that work? You do all the things that you're not supposed to and confess it, so it's all okay?" She pops open the tab lid on her coffee so that she can take a sip. "And of course I'm questioning the sanctity of our fake relationship. We have to make it look real enough that people don't question it, but not so real that we fall for our own BS. Speaking of, I tried having a talk with Jess and Claire about you. You know, the whole how do I make him notice me or say yes when I ask him out. Let me tell you, they are not the world's greatest matchmakers. But you can be happy your friends are pretty darn loyal. I'm actually surprised I wasn't given a boot to the curb for even asking."

She nods to his reasoning about using the gym as a base. "So you're going to go after them, huh? I wondered. I mean, I figured you would, but to be honest, for a bit there I kind of also wondered if you were going to become a couch cushion. You looked pretty bad there for a bit."

Daredevil has posed:
Matt laughs. "That's from a movie, right?" he says. "With Billy Crystal?" the man had a distinctive voice.

"It's not that simple," Matt says. "It's less about sinning all I want and then confessing it away, that doesn't work theologically anyhow, you need to be contrite for confession and pennance to mean a damn. I guess I am a bit of a cafeteria Catholic, and figure God's not going to sweat the small stuff and I only seek confession for the things that truly burden my soul."

If he planned to go on it doesn't get beyond Kate mentioning telling Claire and Jess. "That had to be an interesting conversation," he remarks before having a sip of coffee to buy time to see if he could hold off his curiosity. He couldn't.

"So what did they say exactly? And good points about our relationship, I figure we've covered the making it seem real bit, we go to parties, we retreat back to one of our places, and get seen, as for falling for our own BS, think that's a danger?" Matt asks toying with the lid of his cup.

"That's the idea, hit them while SHIELD and the Feds round up their allies, try to drive them out of the city at least. I'll leave the rest of the world to Stick his allies and a few others." As for being a couch cushion. "It was rough, actually, it still is, but with the war it's easier to keep it buried. Turns out punching ninjas is pretty good therapy," he jokes dryly, even if he doesn't quite sell the good humour there.

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate considers Matt's reply. "I guess? I wasn't ever really bit on religion. Where I come from, money is its own religion. Kinda like yours, only less forgiving when it comes down to it. I don't really get it. I mean, you don't kill, right? I get that. Killing is something you don't do unless you absolutely have to, and even then you think twice about it. Why do you nee someone to tell you it's wrong?"

She'd had enough psychology, though, to understand the importance of confession. She might not agree with it, but she understood it.

"I always figured sins were just the things we couldn't justify to ourselves. And them? Oh, I don't know. Something something about you just lost Elektra and cut you a break, crossed with let you know I was interested, but not so interested you spooked. At least I think that's what they said."

Kate considers a moment, frowning over her coffee. "I thought about it, you know, not mentioning her name. I think pretending she didn't exist is a bad policy. Just in case you were wondering. And I guess if we want people to think this is real, we find a point to bond on that we can sell to the public."

He has a valid question, though.

"I think I'm kind of done with men right now. You're cute and all, and I have to admit, the avenging angle really is kind of my thing, but I don't know. I'm not her. I don't want to be her. And - oh! - that was the other thing. They said I wasn't bossy enough for you. No.. dangerous enough. I think if we'd met in college or something we'd have gone on a couple of dates. You to hang out at cool parties. Me to defy my father. We might have slept together, but ultimately we'd have figured out we're two different people."

Annnnd there was still that small little matter of the heart she wore on her sleeve for one Clint Barton.. who, as it happened, had a very steady girlfriend, and even when he hadn't, had only ever seen Kate as a cute, and sometimes annoying little sister. That, too, was another reason to be off men. She was always someone's daughter, someone's bank account, or someone's little sister. She still hadn't met someone who saw her, and until she did, it wasn't worth the effort.

"Pretty sure you're safe. But we still have to make it real. You know, with all the touching and stuff. I mean, if you'd always had money, sure, we could sell the we're doing this 'because money' angle, but I can't sell that to my dad. And I have to sell this to my dad. At least long enough for us to have a breakup I can use to swear off men for a longer period of time and make him feel bad for even suggesting such a thing, you know?"

His punching ninjas comment gets a grin, and a soft laugh. "So, we're punching ninjas, huh? Or, at least you are."

Daredevil has posed:
Matt gives a nod to Kate's response. "Yeah, money's a pretty popular as far as religions go, most of the guy I get locked up are followers," he says. "Sadly, it's not just a faith for the rich." It was bad enough when people that had money were obsessed with wealth, but when people who didn't caught the same sickness things got desperate quick.

"And it sounds like we're more or less on the same page when it comes to sin. I mean I'm way off of doctorine here, but yeah, I look at sin the same way: things I can't rectify with my conscience. Which, like you said includes killing. Even when there's no other choice, it's still a sin, at least to me."

Matt nods when Kate mentions 'her' and so he gives voice to the name. "Elektra," with the name out there he nods, "And I agree, better to just say her name and not try to pretend she didn't exist." It would be impossible for him at least, her life and her death still weighed heavy on his mind.

He considers a point to bond over. "Defiance of social norms?" he suggests. "I'm the new money guy from the wrong side of the tracks and you're rebelling against your moneyed background, seems like the story writes itself. Just need to meet up at a party and leave together to get the stories going."

"I can understand the feeling," he says of Kate being done with men. He felt similarly about women albiet for different reasons. There is a snort for the description of their would-have-been relationship. "Are you sure I didn't date you in college?" he says with a smirk. "Because there are a couple relationships from back then that went that way" he jokes.

"And for my part, I'm not him and don't want to be him," he says meaning Clint. "So, that's me covered. As for the break up, we'll make sure it's suitably dramatic."

Then there's a smile for the ninjas, "Yeah, among others, we have a long list of kicky and punchy guys who need arrows in their knees and their sordid secrets dug up."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"Not sure I could," Kate says thoughtfully, of killing someone. "I always wonder if I might if push came to shove, say to save someone else. But I keep thinking, isn't there always another way? I mean, I've done some pretty not nice stuff, but killing someone is pretty hard to undo."

Okay, she wasn't entirely sure *everything* she had done was undoable, but she was really sure she hadn't killed anyone, and she could live with the rest of it.

Even she has to ask if they dated in college. "Oh, I'd remember someone like you if we had dated. Besides, I'm not your type, remember?" There's a nod from the young woman as she sips her coffee. "He never really saw me, you know? I guess everyone gets to have one of those stories in their life. I'm just not in a hurry to rewrite the tale with someone else." But even she has to admit his proposal for how to get things off on the 'official' footing makes sense. "I can make sure you're on a couple of lists. We just have to pick one of those parties to make it all happen. Your friends already know I'm sort of interested. Mine will eat up the rebel thing."

More coffee. "Got room in that ninja hunting party for someone who prefers to stay out of punching range?" Which is pretty much her answer to kicky and punchy guys, as he puts it. "I could see myself taking some target practice."

Daredevil has posed:
There is a nod for that too. "I haven't been put in that position yet," Matt admits, meaning killing to save a life. "Wonder the same thing, but you're right you can't undo death and the dead can't change, can't redeem themselves." As for not nice stuff, he adds, wryly. "Though guys is traction can."

He'd been there, doing less than nice things to bad people. It pulled at his conscience sometimes and others, though he hated to admit it, he enjoyed it, felt the primal rush of inflicting justice on someone with his bare hands.

But that was 'The Devil' talking.

Finding his hand had squeezed his coffee cup too tight, he muters a curse and grabs an old towel to dab at his hand.

"Right, so not a lot of blind guys on your dating roster?" he asks with a smirk about remembering him. Then there's a nod for the plan for getting them together. "Well you know the parties better than I do, pick whichever one that you think is best, probably something with lots of press."

As for Kate taking part in the ninja hunts. "We could definitely use someone with some range," Matt agrees. "And I've got to admit, sort of assumed you'd be on the team."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate was a lot less worried about the redemption part of things. She just wasn't sure she could live with the ending of a life on her conscience. Then again, if it was their life, or the life of someone she cared about, she supposed that might be quibbling at the finer points of the matter. Unlike Matt, though, there wasn't anything primal to her actions. Something of amused satisfaction, maybe, but no primal urges or surges of power or pleasure. Not that she knew how it was for him.

"I have to say, I almost thought you'd have run into that sort of situation before. Especially hanging out with Elektra. She wasn't really nice people, was she?" Kate's query is cautious. "Though I never met the woman. I can tell you that Claire has a real hate on for her. Or at least the ninjas. You'd think they'd stollen her baby or something."

In truth, Kate didn't know why Claire was that upset with them. It bordered upon unreasonable.

"No. No blind guys. Just deaf ones." Kate gives a wry grin, and a shrug. "And, according to him, it wasn't a date. In fact I never even told him it was. You know when you hit that point it's obvious they don't get it, and your choices are open your mouth and make it awkward for both of you, or you keep it shut and it's only awkward for you? Yeah. That." She tilts her head at Matt. "She's nice, though? The girl he likes? She's nice?"

It seems to matter to Kate. And while she /could/ just have looke the woman up herself, it seemed she'd been unable to. As though finding out matters about the woman he loved would make it all too real. As it was, this was bad enough.

"And of course I was always going to join the team. D'uh. But you know what they say about assuming, right?" Lips turned up in amusement, and eyes joining in with a sparkle of their own. "When you assume, you make an arse of you and me."

Daredevil has posed:
Kate's remarks hit right on the crux of his relationship with Elektra. "It never came up. She's killed, but never in front of me so I didn't have to act to stop it." He pauses. "No, there was one time not that long ago, she was going to kill someone from the Hand and I stopped her, even though it put her in a bad spot."

A very bad spot as it turned out and potentially exposed his identity to the Hand.

"Anyhow, Claire's deal is complicated, that fight where I stopped Elektra, it got Claire cut, I think that's where she started hating Elektra," he says.

Happy to change the subject Matt groans with sympathy. "You took him out on a date he didn't realize was a date? Ouch.," he says putting on a smile. "And Skye? Yeah, she's a good person, one of my oldest friends, we grew up together for a few years, same orphanage, only years I had competition for being assigned the most Hail Mary's."

There is a fond smile for that. A rare, good, childhood memory.

"I've heard the line, and good, we could totally need your help."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"Oooo," Kate laughs of the Hail Mary competition. "That's kind of like the Catholic Superbowl rings, huh? So she's one of those? A troublemaker, I mean?" She nods to herself, trying to consider the other woman in this light. In what it is Clint might see in Skye that he didn't see in Kate, only it was a pretty fruitless endeavour, other than if Matt was saying she was a good person, and Clint liked her as he seemed to, then.. then Kate really would be all sorts of horrible to interfere in that. "Darn. I was hoping she wasn't someone I could like. I mean, it would have made things simpler."

She lifts her coffee cup to Matt. "Yep. Date that wasn't a date. He thought we were putting in extra target practice. It was supposed to be a movie, only, you know how these things go. Got sidetracked on the way, missed the opening, and he fistbumped me like I was one of the dudes. I mean, I was wearing a dress even. He just.. it wasn't, you know? Totally oblivious."

"Wait, you're not going to tell him, are you? Because that wouldn't be cool. I mean, not cool even past messing things up for him."

Daredevil has posed:
"Pretty much," Matt confirms with a sip of his coffee. "And yeah, Skye was a troublemaker, sort of came natural to her," he says. "Missed her when she shipped out."

There's a shrug and another nostalgic smiles. "And yeah, she ended up a good person, as much as I'd love to tell you she's horrible."

The date story has Matt flinching and chuckling. "Wow, he missed a /dress/? He really needs a new codename."

There is a shake of his head after that.

"And no, that's all your business. I am not going to get involved."

Jessica Jones has posed:
You know what really sucks about good P.I.'s like Jessica Jones? Sometimes she gets hunches, sometimes she just wants to get to the bottom of things, and sometimes she's very good at tracking, tailing, and keeping out of sight. Particularly when she already knows she's dealing with people like Matt, who could easily tell she's there without proper distraction at key steps.

Following Matt, she managed to get herself into the gym through the roof, and has been eavesdropping to much of his conversation with Kate. Testament to Jessica's patience, she didn't reveal herself until now, even when some points of the conversation really had her wanting to do just that.

But how to properly reveal her presence? Why, super hero landing of course! Down from the roof she falls into a near perfect super hero landing pose, because why the heck not? Okay, you want a real reason? She's not that great at landings.

"So...I love it that you guys are getting on famously together and all that jazz, but, Kate, Matt, you guys seriously think it's that important to keep stuff secret from me? I can keep secrets good damnit, I can keep'em so well SHIELD doesn't have me locked in a cellar somewhere off the globe. Honestly, I'm offended."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"Totally missed the dress," Kate groans. "It was new. I had my hair done. Heels. The whole thing. And there we were, running down an alleyway, trying to stop some guy who'd stolen this lady's purse. She's screaming after us not to get hurt while telling us to 'Get him! Get him!' and he's telling me to take point while he gets a shot lined up, and the whole while I'm thinking, duuude, I didn't bring my bow, what did you think this was?"

She laughs at the memory.

"Hopeless, huh?"

She's about to say more when *tada!* there's her boss, and yeah. Cat. Out of bag. Or so it seems.

"Secrets? What secrets?" Kate tries to be coy.

Daredevil has posed:
Matt can't help but laugh. "Sorry, I know that can't have been fun, but, the mental image it paints..." he takes a moment to get his laughter under control. "And yeah pretty hopeless. The guy definitely sees you as a friend."

Then there's Jess with the superhero landing.

Matt's surprised but recovers quickly, "Hey Jess," he says saying nothing of secrets himself.

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jessica peers for a moment in Matt's direction, then back at Kate, "nothing good ever comes of dresses," naturally, she's referring to the time she and Matt were a married couple, with a husband who couldn't remember his own daughter's name. Poor Alice turned April.

Jessica waves at Matt, one would assume it's an empty gesture aimed at a blind man, but by now Jessica is pretty sure Kate is within the crowd that knows better. "So...what's all this, 'I have a crush on Matt help me Jessica you fucking love guru you'," she does the mock whiny voice and everything. "What are you idiots up to anyway?"

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"Ouch," Kate complains. "I didn't sound like that. And fine. I wanted to tell you, but it was all give the guy a break, and you're not his type. I have my pride. Besides, what did you want me to do? Just spit it out? If I recall, I was testing the waters with Claire. You just got roped into the whole mess."

Noooooot that Kate intended on telling her boss the truth if she didn't have to. Truth was Plan B. Plan A was lie through your teeth and make it look good.

"It gets complicated if everyone knows," she points out. "KISS, you know? Keep it simple, stupid? Best lie is fewest people, and mostly truth."

She casts a glance Matt's way. "I really did want to know what a girl needed to do to get his attention. Because how else am I going to sell it? The crush bit was selling it. And I told you I didn't have the hots for him, so it was only a tiny bit of fudging."

Daredevil has posed:
The dress comment earns a wry shake of his head and a sip of coffee, when the cup is lowered again he says, "Kate, did you ever tell you about the time Jess and I were married."

That ought to get a reaction.

As to the rest. "It's a smoke screen, the news I have Elektra's money has the Park Avenue scent sniffing around, I figure a ready made girlfriend from that world will help keep that in check," he doesn't mention Kate's reasons for doing this; it's her business not his.

Jessica Jones has posed:
"Best lie is the truth, d'uh," Jessica snorts, having her opinion in the matter already made. "Still hurts that you'd not include me, I thought we were friends." Judging by the tone of her voice? No, she didn't. Rolling her eyes, Jessica groans, "I already knew it wasn't serious, christ, you're not Matt's type. Everyone can see that." Tapping her foot somewhat nervously, she mutters, "peace offering, Kate, is there a video of that whole dress fiasco? Sounds fucking hilarious." So...was that a tease? Maybe.

She then turns to face Matt when he's being more helpful than her employee. "So this is all about Matt 'Will Work For Thank You' Murdock becoming Socialite Matt, rolling in the money and living the life?"

Jessica doesn't sound too convinced, the thoughts clearly turning in her head, before she asks, "how does this tie in to the Hand again?"

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate gives Jessica a long look as the other woman launches into what is possibly a bunch of leg pulling and teasing, but it's really hard to tell, and ponders the best avenue of reply. She employs a few sips of her quickly dwindling coffee before muttering, "No. No pictures of the whole dress fiasco. I even donated the thing the day after. Cried a whole weekend. Ate a tub of chocolate ice cream by myself and watched really sappy movies on television. My mother thought it was that time of the month and cooed all sorts of annyone crap at me that pretty much decided that I was never moving back home again if I could help it."

For /all/ the reasons.

"So now you know my other big secret. Love of my life sees me as the annoying little sister he never had. And it wasn't Matt's idea. It was mine. I know the socialite set, they'll be all over him. Good looking. Newly into money. Looking like his puppy had just been run over by a bus? Someone had to save him. And I needed a smoke screen. Figured we could act as one another's beards until some of this blew over."

She looks over at Matt, then, and laughs, "And you pretended to be married to her? How much alcohol was involved?"

A teasing tit for tat, it seems.

Daredevil has posed:
There's genuine sympathy writ on Matt's face at the picture of Kate's date aftermath, though he doesn't comment more than to say, "Solid choice," of leaving home. Not that he knew much about it, it wasn't like he'd move back into the orphange even if he wanted to.

"And this doesn't involve the Hand, it's just keeping our nights clear for fighting them," Matt explains.

"No drinking," Matt says of his 'marriage' to Jess. "We were both sober and Jess wore a dress, we broke up when I mixed up the name of our daughter," he says pausing a beat. "April was still the better name."

Jessica Jones has posed:
"If it helped, the guy I was crushing on in high school didn't know I existed, and then only talked to me for the first time to tell me he felt sorry for me because my parents died, and I was the poor little orphan all of a sudden...so, yeah, we're both champions," Jessica rewards Kate by sharing just a bit of truth about herself for once. Could that be something Matt never even heard before? Maybe. Jess rarely opens up about anything.

But then 'the incident' is retold in parts, and Jessica grumbles, crossing her hands, leaning on the rings' ropes, "come on, you know I was the perfect homely wife for that one, Kate," and here comes the peppy almost cheerleadery voice, "an eager to please homemaker who just wants the world for her handsome husband and beautiful gifted daughter, Alice," she turns to look at Matt, and adds in her normal condescending tone of voice, "because April is a stupid name for reporters in yellow jumpsuits." Did she just take a dig at a certain Channel 6 reporter? You betcha!

Still, the explanation was good enough for Jess, Matt did enjoy pummeling Hand ninjas. "Fine," she sighs, "just, know that it really hurts to have you of all people keep secrets from me. I know how to play along, ok? Hell, I'd give you cologne suggestions and bullshit like that."

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
"Ouch?" Kate says again at Jessica's tale. "I guess I shouldn't complain? That or my coffee should be laced with something stronger than cream."

She finishes the last sip and looks forlornly at the cup. "April sounds exactly like the kind of name an absentminded husband would try to cover his butt with. April. Alice. They both start with A. They all probably felt sorry for you for being stuck with some guy who was so disengaged he couldn't remember his own daughter's name, and you'd had to drag him into the school trying to - well, whatever it is you were there for - and he'd just made a mess of it."

"Sorry about the secret thing. I.. we hadn't talked about details. I was feeling out the water with Claire. I figured it wouldn't be this huge surprise for everyone if I started setting it up. Then you wandered in, and I wanted to say something, only things got out of hand way too fast. You still can help. Not really sure what people expect of you, but we still have to sell this story. Not just to our friends, but to the press."

She offers a peace offering. The opportunity to give exclusive stories to the press about how she knew them both when!

Daredevil has posed:
As it turned out Matt hadn't heard the story. "Huh, sorry to hear that, Jess," he says sending a nod in her direction. "And I'd share my tragic love story but you guys know it already. And Kate, the old owner used to keep scotch in his desk," his nostrils flare slightly taking in the scents of the gym. "And yeah, he left it behind, totally fair game."

"O'Neal? Hey, she's nice. Though I didn't know about the yellow though, yikes," he says with a smile. "And I am not sure I'd say you were homley, I mean, I don't think Matt Nelson would settle like that, even if he can't bother to remember the name of his eldest." He gives a firm nod then shakes his head.

As for the secrets, Matt flinches, "Sorry, Jess," he says earnestly. "It was very much thrown together plan."

Jessica Jones has posed:
"Setting it up was smart, Bishop," Jessica approves of Kate's execution in that regard, as she starts towards the door proper, "I'll leave you lovebirds to do your thing, and don't sweat it Murdock, I get it." Looks like she hit her limit at one private story a lifetime.

Hawkeye (Bishop) has posed:
Kate slips from underneath the ropes of the fighting ring, and carries her cup to the garbage bin. "And I should head out and earn my pay. Just let me know when you need me and what to bring. I'll be there with bells on."

Or, you know, a bow. Much better than bells in a ninja fight.

And she, too, is gone.