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Matt isn't surprised that the first time he meets any of the Avengers is when he's being Matt Murdock, attorney at law. They're not the sort of people to get their hands dirty after all and Daredevil is all about that. No way would they bother to track him down and meet him or help him out... No, they just wait for their enemies to stand in the middle of the street killing obviously before they take action.
Okay, so maybe Matt is annoyed about Fisk. He's not alone. Foggy is breathing deeply, a sure sign he's two seconds away from yelling and Karen hasn't risen from her desk yet.
It doesn't seem like Tony Stark has noticed. The woman - Black Widow maybe?- has, her breathing changed slightly but Stark is definitely completely oblivious to how the atmosphere in the lawyer's office has changed in the two seconds since he walked in.
'Hey! You guys free for a chat? Good, glad to hear it-'
'We're not, actually,' Matt says as he moves to his doorway. He can hear Foggy nod in agreement and Karen's relieved sigh. 'We have a lot of clients and I'm afraid we're not looking to take on new ones at this particular moment.'
'Oh hey you're blind. That's cool. Don't need to talk to you, just want to talk to these t-'
Foggy moves forward. 'Okay that's it. Matt's just told you, not interested.'
'And that's great as I'm not looking for a lawyer. Got loads of them already. Too many but Pepper tells me I can't fire them as we need them. Somehow.'
Karen bites at her lip with a small sound before speaking. 'Why are you here then?'
The woman, who is definitely the Black Widow by the nearly silent way she moves, steps forward. 'We're investigating the vigilante known as 'Daredevil'. We just had a few questions, for all of you.' She gives Stark a slight tap as she passes him and he flinches. Good.
'Why us?' Foggy asks, the confusion in his voice nearly perfectly faked. Matt's sure only he could detect the note of fear there.
'Because you're some of the few people to have seen the man, without being a victim of his.'
Oh of course. The police reports. Damn it. They'd ended up having to talk to Brett, after Karen had mentioned they’d been looking for Hoffman and then Hoffman had admitted Daredevil was the reason he was alive to turn himself in- and that the place he’d been at was the place Karen had identified as his location. Matt had had to pretend Daredevil had confronted him on the way to the precinct and he'd passed on the information about where to find Hoffman then, along with corroborating Foggy's story of meeting Daredevil in an alley near the precinct to know to look for him in the first place. It was a web of minor lies that Matt hated.
But at least Brett and the police had believed them when they said they'd not seen his face or recognised his voice. Clearly the Avengers weren't convinced.
'None of us know who he is.' Karen says, a hard tone in her voice. Matt focuses and yes she's probably glaring. It's hard to tell.
'We're aware. But you still might have information you don't realise you have that might help us find him. We just wanted a quick word. May we sit?' Widow - Matt has to try and remember her name- asks and moves towards the conference room without being answered.
Foggy sighs and makes a gesture. 'By all means.' Matt takes a deep breath and follows them into the room. He's careful to be obvious about his blindness; he can feel their eyes on him as he sits.
'I am afraid that we can't help you.' Foggy takes the seat beside him as he speaks and Karen is hovering in the doorway. 'You are wasting your time.'
Stark laughs. 'Maybe. Maybe not. What do you know about this vigilante?'
'He's a hero,' Karen corrects from the doorway.
'He beats up people in alleyways. How's that a hero?'
Foggy shrugs, the movement making his arm brush Matt's. 'Same thing you do really, just smaller scale.'
'What can you tell us?' Romanov - that's it Natasha Romanov - asks.
Matt gives them his blandest smile. 'Nothing. He was wearing a mask the whole time.'
'Accent?'
'No.'
'Did he-'
But Matt's had enough. 'No. Whatever you're asking, no.' He stands and moves to the door causing Karen to move into the room to avoid him. 'The door is over there, I trust you can find your own way out.' He keeps going, headed for his office.
'You're not going to help us?' Stark calls after him, disbelief in his voice. 'We're the good guys here.'
'Not from where I'm standing.' And Matt knows he's shocked them both at that. Stark rises but it's Romanov who speaks.
'You don't like us.'
Matt has paused in his doorway and he nods. 'I don't like you. If I have to pick between a lawless vigilante and the Avengers, I'll take the vigilante any day. At least he's here in my city doing something. It's more than you ever did.'
'We saved the city.' Stark bites out, breathing heavily. He moves into the main part of the office, Romanov at his side.
Foggy and Karen follow, moving past the Avengers so they're standing beside Matt now. He can hear them nodding at every word he says, as silent support. It's nice.
'You also destroyed it.' Matt glares, knowing it's not visible behind his glasses but needing to do it anyway. 'You destroyed it and then you left it to suffer the consequences of your actions.'
'I gave as much as I could-'
'No, you threw money at it and gave nothing,' Matt interrupts. 'As if throwing money at a problem makes it go away. All it does is bring more problems. Problems that killed people, good people.'
There's a long moment of silence. Then, 'You won't help us.' Romanov confirms, no question in her tone. 'You'll protect Daredevil.'
Matt smiles. 'Yes. I'm a lawyer, I work to help the innocent. He protects them too so I'll protect him from the likes of you.'
She nods, which Foggy narrates, and then drags Stark out.
The whole office breaths a sigh of relief.
********
The second time is completely different. One, Matt's in the mask. Two, it's not two of the Avengers.
It's all of them.
Matt would have run, would have disappeared into the darkness the moment he heard the six heartbeats surrounding him but he's a bit busy right now. Ten armed men with frightened hostages in a relatively small warehouse and even Matt's finding it a bit difficult. He doesn't have much of a fuck to spare for the arseholes approaching him.
'Need a hand?' One of them calls. It's not Stark or Captain America - Matt knows those voices - and not deep enough to be Thor so Matt guesses it's Hawkeye calling. The twang of an arrow comes a moment later, forcing one of Matt's opponents to the ground and confirming his thoughts in one go. His voice is up high so he must have come in through the roof and is standing on one of the walkways up there.
Matt ignores him and moves onto the next man.
'Seriously, need a hand?' Matt shakes his head and knocks a fourth man down as Romanov moves into the room. She immediately moves to free the frightened women, accompanied by a lighter male. Must be Banner. The Hulk.
He kicks the next man instead of kicking one of the Avengers. How dare they bring the Hulk into his city. Even if he's not Hulked out, it's still a risk they shouldn't have taken when they're here to fight him.
'That was a nice move.' Captain America says as he drops into the fight. Everyone pauses for a moment and Matt uses the distraction to punch another of the men, dodging the bullets the man in the corner fires with a backflip.
'Not as good as that one. Could you do that Cap?' Stark asks in the mechanical voice of the armour he wears. Matt grits his teeth to avoid yelling at these idiots to go away.
Captain America shrugs. 'Maybe. Would need practice I think.' He knocks the last of the men out with what Matt assumes is his shield - it's a bit of a blank spot in his senses - and Matt favours him with a small nod.
But then Romanov moves towards him and Matt backs up, wary of her motives.
'Hey, we just wanted to talk. Seems you've got a bit of a following here,' she says and Matt just stares at her. 'Everyone we've talked to doesn't seem to know anything about you. Lawyers, police, nurses... no one knows anything.'
'Not for you.' Matt grumbles in his lowest, most unlike himself voice he can manage. Neither Romanov's nor Stark's hearts pick up so they've not recognised him.
Good. Now to keep it that way.
'What do you want?'
'Like she said.' Banner returns to the room. 'To talk.'
Captain America nods. 'We just want to know your motives. You're doing a lot of work here and we're not sure why. That's all.'
Matt glares at him. 'I'm protecting my city. Saving it from the damage people like you do.'
'You're actually saying that to Captain America?' Stark lands and pats Captain America on his shoulder. 'Wow, you've got balls. This man couldn't hurt a fly.'
Matt turns to leave. 'Tell that to the people who died because of what you did to Hell's Kitchen. Then you can judge me.'
'We're not done.' Captain America calls out as Matt darts outside and jumps up onto the fire escape furthest from Hawkeye's position. Footsteps indicate he’s following Matt out.
'But we are.' Matt replies, pitching his voice so it is still audible to those inside. 'I've nothing more to say to you. Stay out of my city and I'll stay away from you.'
They let him leave. It's a start.