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In the last few weeks, there's been an unusual sight in Hell's Kitchen - a person with money who seems to actually care about what's going on in the neighborhood. And one with no good reason for it, for that matter. Danny Rand, of Rand-Meachum Enterprises, has been sniffing around the area lately. There's a tenement building her lawyers have supposedly pulled some papers on. She's shown up in bars, buying rounds for the locals.
Now she's standing outside another battered old building. Once upon a time it was a gym. Not a great gym. But when boxing was more popular, when fights brought in the money? The gym was a bustling place. Now the logo's worn off the wall and the fights in the area are less for sport and more for blood. But the building is still standing.
Wearing a light blue blouse and a pair of dark blue wide-leg trousers, Danny walks along the edge of the building, leaning up on her toes to look in the windows and see what's inside.
*
Catching a familiar scent Akihiro scuttles up the side of a building, creeping along rooftops until he catches sight of Danny. Carefully he climbs down and sneaks up besides Danny, suddenly pressing his face against the window beside her. "We looking for jaws to break?"
*
The perceptive eye might notice a car that seems out of place, in as much that it's cleaner and newer than any other car parked on this street. A man in a nondescript jacket walks out of a deli across the way, brown bag tucked under his arm. He approaches the car with a lopsided grin, and raps on the driver's side window.
*
"Son of a-" Danny jumps when Akihiro pops up next to her, just barely catching herself before she can throw an elbow at his face. "Do you always creep up on people?" Stepping back, she brushes herself off and gives him a long look as she runs through her options. She recognizes him. How would he recognize her? She'd been wearing a mask. Maybe the jaw-breaking comment is just a coincidence. Yeah, sure, that's it. Coincidence.
"I've heard that's how business gets done sometimes in this part of town," she replies, flashing a smile that's only a little bit forced. "But it wasn't how I was planning on doing things, no."
*
"It does." Akihiro nods. "And no, the last time I tried to be sneaky I got shot. And well, we both know how that goes." He turns around to lean on the building, gazemoving over and falling onto one car in particular, though he soon turns his attention mostly towards Danny, leaving his ear in the direction of the vehicle. "Don't remember if I ever introduced myself but," he offers a hand, "I'm Akihiro."
*
The driver's side window rolls down, and the man outside leans down to offer that brown bag to the man in the car. A quick nod, and he backs off, disappearing into darker places.
A moment later, the passenger side window also rolls down. Then, a series of flashes come from the car, paired with the eruption of gunfire. Bullets begin to pelt the building between Danny and Akihiro, the latter of which finds his clothing torn apart by rounds that pierce his flesh.
*
"I don't actually know how being shot goes." That may or may not be true. Danny's not telling. But she does reach out to take the offered hand, grip firm and suspiciously callused. "Danny," she introduces herself. No sense in lying about it, after all. "Nice to meet you, Akihiro."
Oh, hey. So that's how being shot goes.
For weeks, Danny's been walking around the neighborhood like she isn't afraid of anything. Now someone is shooting at her. That escalated quickly. But even as the first shot is being fired, she leaps into a backflip away from the bullets, twisting midair to land in a crouch that faces the car.
*
Akihiro immediately moves into action, flipping over so he's in front of Danny. In doing so several bullets find their way into his chest, one grazing his cheek and blowing a portion of his ear off. "Alright," he growls, his skin knitting itself back together like nothing happened, "now I'm pissed."
*
"Go! Go now!"
The car lurches into gear and takes off down the road, tires screaming and leaving a brief trail of molten rubber tracks. A handful of pedestrians scatter, and another car comes to life a block down the road. This one accelerates, headed in pursuit after the first car.
*
"What, they're just going to shoot and run?" You'd almost think Danny was disappointed. Pushing up from the concrete, she gives Akihiro a careful look, especially where the skin is knitting back together. "Nice trick. Makes me feel a little less guilty for getting you caught in the cross-fire." She pauses, brows furrowing as another car takes off after the first. "Then again, maybe I wasn't the one they were aiming for."
*
"Maybe. Maybe not." Akihiro says, bringing his nose up to sniff around. "Wanna go throw your mask on and show them what happens to assholes while I still have their scent?" That may explain why he was able to pick Danny out without the mask.
*
Not quite. Another series of blasts come from the car, also aimed at Danny and her compatriot. Seems these goons are out to deliver a message, Kitchen style.
Of course, there's someone else who likes to deliver a message in the Kitchen. His style is a bit different.
A figure dressed in dark maroon drops into the hood of the pursuing car. The vehicle swerves from side to side, forcing the vigilante to grasp hold and ride it out, but he manages for now.
Its worth noting that there are a couple of unoccupied cars and a motorcycle parked nearby.
*
"No idea what you're talking about," Danny deadpans about the mask, though she's not shy about ducking behind Akihiro when more shots ring out. No need to get shot, after all. Or do anything too eye-catching. "Although that's a mask." As the figure in red drops, she peeks out from behind Akihiro, tensing to make a break for it. "My car's a dozen blocks out, not going to make it there. Don't suppose you brought a ride?"
*
"Somebody else did." Akihiro replies, bullets working theirway out of his body to clink against the ground. He wastes no time running over and rigging the motorcycle to work. "Wanna ride, or you running?" Thankfully he doesn't seem too worried about stealing said motorcycle. Good ol' chaotic neutral.
*
The car continues its swerving, keeping Daredevil occupied. The man riding shotgun leans out of the passenger window, tommy gun in arm, and takes aim. He shouts something in Italian, but before he can pull the trigger, his jaw becomes separated from his skull by way of a heavily swung billy club.
The shooter screams wildly, firing his gun aimlessly across the front of the car. Daredevil falls off to the side, grasping hold of the hood, while his boots scrape across the asphalt that whips past below.
*
By the time Akihito's picked out he motorcycle, Danny's already jumping on behind him. "They shot at me," she says, leaning around him to keep an eye on the chase. "You can bet I'm going to find out why." Not that she doesn't already have her suspicions, but it's the principle of the thing.
*
"Maybe this is just how they flirt out here." Akihiro offers helpfully, kicking the motorcycle to life and tearing off after the car that currently has a masked man hanging from it. "Should probably make sure he doesn't die while we're at it."
*
Lets not fail to mention that there's blood all over the side of that car. Some of it even whips back to smack their pursuers in the face.
Meanwhile, Daredevil uses the asphalt to his advantage. With a grunt, he hauls himself bodily upward, swings his legs fast, then pumps twice against the passing street to leverage a vault up and back onto the hood of the car.
The man inside is yelling profanities by now, mostly in Italian. In answer, Daredevil vaults his head forward and bashes out the windscreen with his forehead. Glass goes everywhere, cutting the driver's face in many places.
The car swerves hard to the right, cutting in front of a delivery truck before straightening again. The slowdown is temporary, but it'll give the pursuing motorcycle a chance to catch up.
*
"Worst way to get someone's number, that's for sure." Danny starts out holding on to Akihiro, but as they start to draw closer to the car, he can feel her weight start to shift behind him. Not much - she's too balanced to upset the bike - but enough to give him a hint about her plans before she has her hands on his shoulders, crouched on the back of the bike. "How close can you get?" she calls down to him, bracing herself to jump.
*
"Well, if I learned anything at bible camp, it's pursuit and evasion. So, hold on." Akihiro sort of warns, before veering over the sidewalk and pulling next to the driver. His hand actually comes off the accelerator long enough to put his fist through the driver's window and rock his jaw. "Think this'll do?"
*
Daredevil looks up as Danny and Akihiro draw close. There's a moment of brief confusion, before he flings himself over the hood of the car. His legs swing around to the passenger side, colliding with the gunman and sending him skittering off across the sidewalk and into a wall. Curiously, without his tommy gun.
*
"That'll do," Danny calls back to Akihiro, waiting until they've swerved closer again to hop lightly onto the top of the car herself. "Hey. Sorry to interrupt, but I'm pretty sure these guys were trying to shoot me," she informs the man in red. "So I'm going to have to have a chat with them."
All of which would be strange enough, except that as she speaks, one hand starts to glow golden as she focuses her chi into it. Even stranger, once she's ready, she slams her fist into the roof of the car, ripping through it like paper to grab the driver's shoulder and pull him up into the roof.
*
Akihiro keeps alongside the car, waiting to see where Danny bails. "Alright, let's see what he knows. " he calls over, taking a moment to try and spot the other car.
*
"Fair enough," Daredevil quips, before hauling himself upright and snatching the wheel before the now-roofless car can swerve off into a building. He doesn't look over to Akihiro, but he does call out to him. "Two blocks ahead, take a left. I'm right behind you."
See, it might be foolish for a blind man to drive a car, but with the unique sound of a motorcycle as a guide… well, for this blind man, that's another story.
Danny's prisoner screams as she grabs him, turning fearful eyes to the street as it passes below. "Let me go!" he demands.
*
"Mmmm, no." Danny gives the man a good shake, like an unruly kitten. "Who sent you, and why?" Can't fault a girl for being forthright.
*
"Can do." Akihiro calls back. He hits the accelerator and darts off ahead of the car. Two blocks practically fly by and he hooks a left, only to almost hit a person. The bike swerves and while he does miss hitting them, the bike turns sideways and throws him off, knocking him out and sending him sliding face-first across asphalt.
*
"Fuck you, I ain't squealin' to no mutant broad!" the mobster spits back.
"Hang on," Daredevil tells Danny before she can respond, and presses the pedal to the floor. The car lurches forward in pursuit of the motorcycle, but when the car swerves into the left hand turn, Daredevil can hear the telltale sound of Akihiro's body sliding along behind the overturned bike.
"Shit!" He slams on the brake, but it's too late; the car goes 'thump thump!' as it runs right over him.
*
"First of all, that's rude." Danny jabs stiff fingers into the soft spot at the mobster's armpit, still keeping a harsh grip with her other hand. "Second of all, not a-" But then the car is swerving and there's a tell-tale bump. She winces, looking back over her shoulder. "He'll be okay!" she calls down to Daredevil, though there's a muttered 'probably' after it before she looks back to the mobster. "Not a mutant. Much scarier. Something you'll never recognize as different."
*
Akihiro comes to, just as a car drives right over his midsection, "Mother fucker!" The brake hits right before the rear wheel drives over him, causing him to literally split in half. There's a moment of panic as he collects his insides and pulls himself together, literally. But he doesn't look like he's out of the woods just yet.
*
"Jesus Christ!!" the mobster gasps, looking on as the gory sight plays out behind him.
Daredevil's not entirely convinced of Danny's assurance, considering the squelching his ears have just witnessed. The car comes to a stop, and the masked vigilante dives out of the car and scrambles over toward the wounded man.
"Gambino!" the mobster cries. "Carlo Gambino!"
"Hey," Daredevil says to Akihiro, crouched by his side and feeling quite helpless. "What… Jesus. You…" What he's hearing, the gruesomeness of it, can't be real. "…what can I do?"
"The family's makin' a move on the Kitchen! They…" The mobster looks to Daredevil and Akihiro, before turning wide eyes back upon Danny. "They // want// that spot, okay??"
*
"Ah, well, if they want it." Danny shifts from her crouch to sit on the edge of the roof, legs hanging over the side as she holds on to the mobster. "You know, the buddhists say that desire is the root of all evil. If you just stop wanting things, then you save yourself a world of pain. They have a point. People cause all sorts of pain out of wanting. Me, I'm not much for wanting. I see something I want, then I either find a way to have it, or I let it go. Unfortunately for you, you are not something I'm letting go." She doesn't give the man time to protest after that, reaching in with a thumb to hit a pressure point on his neck and knock him out.
*
"Just give me a second." Akihiro says a little hurriedly. Another thirty or forty seconds go by, and he pushes up to his feet. "Alright, I'm fine. Aside from some minor emotional scarring, but it's hard to keep the Wolverine's son down." He heads over to check the motorcycle and make sure it's still running. "So I think I'm gonna go have a chit-chat with Carlo Gambino. And the other goons that figured shooting me was a good idea."
*
A grimace, and Daredevil nearly recoils. His mind might be reeling over this one for a while. Still, he fails to miss the conversation between Danny and her prey, even as a short lived cry of pain comes before the thug passes out in her arms.
"Dangerous game," he tells them, concealing the tremor in his voice. "Word is he's got mutants working for him. Even without them, he's dangerous." The masked man looks from one to the other. "You make this personal, it'll get ugly."
A pause. "Not that I'm complaining." His mouth, the only part of him that's exposed, forms a rueful grin.
*
"He shot at me," Danny points out, hopping down from the car. "He sort of already made it personal. I don't suppose you carry cuffs?" she asks, looking between the other two as if it's a reasonable request.
*
"Trust me, if I'm not dead yet, a couple of mutants won't change anything." Akihiro replies, lifting a hand to extend his claws. While normally unnerving to watch, it gets worse when you can actually hear them cut their way out. "And I don't have any handcuffs. Really should at this point, getting shot when I go outside is starting to be a given."
*
"I usually just leave them unable to move," Daredevil admits, before turning his head sharply to the right. There is a pause. "The fuzz."
Of course, to normal human ears, no sirens can yet be heard.
*
Danny sighs, looking back toward the man by the car. "Well. I could, I suppose. If the police are already on the way." She doesn't question how he knows that. No doubt there's a reason. But instead, she trudges over to the downed mobster, making a few quick jabs near his joint. The pressure points will wear off in a few minutes, but it's enough to give them a chance to get away. "That bike's a loss. I'm going to head back and make sure the owner gets reimbursed."
*
"Nah, what was a loss was my face. Be glad you didn't have to see /that/." Akihiro says, climbing back on the bike that needs a new paint job. "Gonna come looking for you again." This is aimed at Daredevil, "Imagine it'll be easier than shaking down all of Gambino's men." With that he kicks the bike to life, which sputters and smokes for a few moments before everything smooths out, mostly.
*
The man in red takes a moment to really focus on Akihiro's voice, the smell he carries, even the sound his footwear makes against the ground when he moves. "Good luck finding Carlo," he says. "And, no offense, but… between the three of us? I think there may be bigger problems at hand than a little shoutout."
Without another word, he withdraws one of his billy clubs, aims it upward, and fires. Three seconds later, the man in red is rising up and out of the dim streetlight into the darkness of Hell's Kitchen.