1964-01-15 - Difference of Method
Summary: Danny runs into Daredevil and provides commentary on his methods.
Related: None
Theme Song: None
danny daredevil 


This isn't likely to be pretty.

The wind whistles through Hell's Kitchen, signs that colder weather is on its way. Daredevil, perched where he is atop a building, doesn't mind. The wind is his guide; there's a pattern to the way it bends around the buildings, moving in from the Atlantic and through the concrete jungle that is Manhattan Island. It ebbs, it flows… it rides, and it pauses. There is stillness, difficult to time, but possible to predict. Especially when the man can hear the wind a mile out.

In his left hand, Daredevil lightly grasps a collection of shuriken. One is clutched in his right. He waits… patiently… until the wind dies down over Battery Park.

It slows through Wall Street.

Comes into a sort of silence through Chinatown.

The moment that stillness hits the Kitchen, Daredevil moves with speed and efficiency. The shuriken are flicked, one after the other, across the avenue below and through windows that shatter upon impact. Each one finds its home in the flesh of a different Italian gangster, until his hand pauses quickly; for the wind is back, and the groans and cries of bleeding mobsters are coming from the building across the avenue below.

*

Hell's Kitchen isn't Danny's usual hunting grounds. Given her choice, she's usually in Chinatown. But since the community center borders on the neighborhood here, she takes the time once or twice a week to patrol the area, making sure that no one delays construction with any underhanded fighting.

She doesn't hear as well as the Devil does, but she's attuned to certain types of sounds - shiruken and screams are definitely two of them. Her feet pound swiftly and lightly over the rooftops, flipping her from one building to another until she comes to a stop on the roof of the mobsters' building, peering down to figure out who's been hurt.

*

What Danny might be able to see is a figure in red, leaping from the opposing rooftop. Daredevil chooses his positions strategically, and in this case, has chosen the position with the least amount of natural or manmade lighting. He doesn't fall far; instead, a hook finds cable, and with a quiet whzzzzzz, he slides down the line and through a broken window, tumbling upon impact in the hallway beyond.

Bootsteps hit the ground in a flurry, and whether Danny chooses to follow or not, there will come then shouting, the sounds of fighting, and objects being broken from inside the building.

*

"Son of a-" It's not that Danny thinks these are good people inside. Chances are very high that they aren't. It's Hell's Kitchen. Thus far she's always seen the Devil to be a relatively good person - or at least with the right motives. But she's the Iron Fist, and the Iron Fist, while a warrior, is also a protector. Which means she's got to go down there.

A flip, a hop along a pair of windows, and she tumbles through the window herself, already reaching out with her chi to sense where the people are in the room, where the flow of energy moves through living beings.

*

What Danny finds certainly isn't pretty, but it isn't exactly a bloodbath. Daredevil has left a slew of mobsters in his wake already, but most of them are curled up, groaning with blunt head injuries, broken legs, crushed fingers, or shuriken sticking out of fleshy, non-lethal places. He certainly does seem to be brutal in his efficiency, but there's clear signs that he isn't here to kill.

The sounds will be easy enough to follow. Down one hall, bend to the left, and into a larger room. That's where all of the shouting is coming from, and there's no shortage of cacophony. Sounds like someone is really fucking up a mob dinner party.

When she arrives in the large dining room, she'll be able to see the fight first hand. The Devil is making work of mobsters one after the other, using a pair of billy clubs when he isn't relying on sweeping kicks or brutal headbutts. The dinner table is a mess; food everywhere, goblets of wine and platters broken. The fight will be easy to join, but a keen eye will notice one of the well-dressed capos pulling an old Tommy Gun out from a cupboard at the far end of the room.

Suddenly, the room is filled with gunfire, coming from the scarred, glaring face of Lito Frankie Binnoreli, who cackles madly behind teeth clenched on a thick cigar.

*

"You should really rethink-" Before Danny can finish chiding the Daredevil on his choice in attacks and technique, there's a much greater threat. Wild gunfire is a danger to the neighborhood outside, let alone to the gangs and the heroes inside. That's not going to work for her.

While the gangster is busy shooting at Daredevil and his compatriots, Danny closes the distance between them, fists trailing golden light as she cracks a hand on his wrist - to numb his trigger finger - then again across the body of the weapon. "You're an idiot." Toss up as to who she's talking to.

*

Being tagged by friendly fire is never a fun thing, and it does happen to one poor fuck. A nobody within the family construct, nothing more than a bellhop. Daredevil is able to prevent another one from getting hit by shoving the mobster bodily out of the way, but it isn't until Danny's fists glow that she catches his attention. Until then? She was just another bogey.

"Wait!" he shouts, hoping to stop her before she can put Capo Binnoreli out for good. He runs right for them, whipping up a vase from the table and throwing it toward a mobster who was brandishing a knife. Bullseye, right in the face. It'll take a few precious seconds to close that distance, though.

*

"You're also an idiot," Danny continues to Daredevil (clearing up who she was talking to the first time), "If you think I'm the one who's going to do something they can't take back." As the gun falls, she grabs the gangster's wrist, twisting it with another crack and snapping a foot into the back of his leg to bring him to his knees. A twist, a pull, and her forearm is across his throat, squeezing just enough to cut off the blood flow.

*

"Cool it, bird," Daredevil quips while drawing up. "Hell's Kitchen ain't always a gas." He draws short when she pulls the gagging capo to his knees, at which point Daredevil kneels down and slaps the fellow across the face, lightly, just to get his attention. "Hey!" he shouts. "You the one that ordered the hit on Nelson & Murdock?"

Binnoreli rolls his eyes Daredevil's way, grunting and gagging. He barely manages to squeak out, "Si."

"Those mutants," the masked man presses. "They work for you? You pay 'em? Cause way I hear it, they aren't getting paid." He grabs the mobster by the thinning hair and yanks. "Here in the states we call that, 'slavery'."

*

Danny is at a loss. The problem is the that people who attacked the lawyer's office didn't get paid? "What, so now you're the fair wages for illegal activities guy?" She eases up on her grip around the gangster's throat, giving him enough air to answer as she reaches for the discarded gun, in the interest of dropping the ammo.

*

"Word on the street is mutants are being kidnapped," Daredevil answers Danny, with no shortage of annoyance. That should be enough to explain why he's here. "So?" he asks the capo. "Give me the juice, or that hangover's gonna be a lot worse."

"N… not us." answers the capo. "We… got 'em from the Bonnano's."

With a heavy sigh, Daredevil releases the capo's head and stands up. "Lovely," he murmurs.

*

Danny loosens her grip, but not before she applies a much more targeted pressure along the gangster's throat, cutting off blood to his brain long enough for him to pass out. Once he's down, she straightens up, tossing the ammo to one side of the room and the gun to the other. "Maybe calls someone for help before you head to the next family," she suggests, brushing her hands off. "Just a thought."

*

The masked vigilante regains his ready posture until the mobster is snoozing happily on the floor, at which point he slackens just so. Daredevil wipes some blood from his mouth before turning a red face toward Danny. "Didn't realize this was your turf," he quips in response, before shaking his head. "Sorry." The slightest of grins appears on his face, though his tone remains dry as ever. "Rough day. Don't suppose you have any idea where the Bonnano Family likes to hide out? Seems they're the quiet ones." He turns to look toward the mobster again, frowning again. "Now I think I know why."

*

"Come on, man. My turf's on the other side of the planet," Danny snorts softly. "Kind of filling in here wherever I'm at. Also, I've noticed you seem to have a serious death wish. That shit's not good for you, you know." She gives him a searching look, trying to figure out just where he's headed. "I don't know the families around here. I'm just responding to the sound of breaking glass and people getting their asses handed to them."

*

That remark earns a rueful smirk, one that comes paired with a scoff. "What, China?" he asks. "Long flight." Turning away, Daredevil begins stalking the wounded, retrieving some of his shuriken by pulling them right out of various legs and arms, some of which are followed by grunts of agony. "You'll be running from the sound of sirens soon," he tells her. "Heat's on its way."

No normal human ear could hear that, but yes. Matt knows they are coming. Takes them a while, sometimes, especially in this part of town.

"Might be more worried about who else is coming. I think one of these Guido's made a phone call." A pause. "That could go poorly. Anyway, trust me. These fuckers had it coming, this time." He shakes his head, then jerks a thumb toward the window. "Fire escape."

Turning, he runs toward the window, stopping short enough to haul it open rather than just breaking it.

*

"Close enough. Really long flight." Danny tilts her head at the warning for sirens, listening. Although she can't hear it, she's seen enough of this man to trust that he's probably right.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm a living weapon, you know," she grouses as she follows him out the window. "For the record."

*

"You too, huh?" asks Daredevil, before climbing out onto the fire escape. He then proceeds to scale it in a reckless manner, leaping and clawing and climbing his way down until he reaches the alleyway beyond. He pokes around behind a dumpster, reaches to feel for a door, then pauses there for a moment. He seems to be listening for something, before turning and bashing his shoulder into the door, breaking it.

This leads into an apartment building, the hallway abandoned save for a junkie lying on the floor in some kind of opiate induced stupor.

*

"No, like. It's official. It's like a real title. I had to fight a dragon for it." Why Danny feels a need to share this is less than clear. But he's being interesting, and she's still not sure he isn't going to cross some sort of line. "That came out wrong. Sort of. I mean, it was a fight with a dragon, and beating the dragon is how I got it, but it's not like the dragon was the previous title holder. Although that might not be inaccurate…"

*

This whole story brings Daredevil pause. He stills, looking away from the junkie for a moment, before turning his neck to glance in Danny's general direction. "A dragon." Another pause. "Let me guess. His name was 'Puff'."

Daredevil shakes his hand before she can grow offended, or so he hopes. "Just a joke. A year ago I'd have said you were crazy, but… now?" Well. He's… seen things.

"Case you haven't noticed, there's a mob war going on in my neck of the woods. I'm just trying to figure out why. It's not like I have any love of the mob, but… hell, I'm only beating some answers out of 'em. They're the kind to pump each other full of hot lead. Something's gotta give around here. Too many innocent people getting in the way."

He turns away then, eyeing the junkie with a frown. "There's… something about the mutants they're using. I can't put my nose to it."

*

"Shou-Lao the Undying, actually." Danny doesn't seem bothered by the joking. More like she's just ready to say it out loud to someone.

"I've noticed the issues." It's why she's building a community center, after all. "Just seems to me like there's only so much you can get out of punching people. Lots of gangs. Lots of victims. Have to change the balance." Her eyes narrow slightly behind her mask as he mentions mutants, taking a closer look herself. "What about them?"

*

"Doesn't smell right," he explains in turn. "I… don't know how else to explain it." Daredevil suppresses a sigh, then turns back to face Danny, arms folded across his chest. "You know, in a match? The boxers do a lot of dancing. Biding time, watching, observing. But in the end? It's all about punching someone until that balance changes. In your favor, or otherwise. The thing is, if you wait too long… then you get the shit beat out of you before you get it. That happens? It's all you can do to keep standing."

*

"Yeah. It's not just boxing." Danny's taken more than her share of beatings. You don't climb the ranks of fighters in K'un Lun for the opportunity to earn the title of Iron Fist without taking a few beatings in the process.

"Smell wrong how?" She doesn't entirely wait for the answer, moving toward the junky in the hall and holding a hand over him. Chi is a funny thing. And other people's chi is still something Danny's working on. But it's a chance to pick up on anything strange.

*

Daredevil shakes his head. "Not him. He doesn't… have it." Matt sighs, knowing that this all sounds a bit vague. "It literally smells wrong. Pungent, bitter. Other mutants don't have it." Beneath the mask, his face seems a bit screwy. But then, the sounds of police sirens become audible to normal ears.

"Listen, bird… that's my cue." He turns and walks back toward Danny, and appears to be studying her for a moment. While he can't see her, there are other things. Her scent, the rhythm of her heart, the sound glowing chi power makes. That is a sound unique enough on its own.

"Call me Daredevil. Now, if I need help, how do I call you?" A rueful smirk forms on his face. "Payphone? Don't tell me you're a HAM radio operator."

*

Danny's heartbeat is slow and steady, measured. Whoever she is - whatever she is - she's in good shape, and she's balanced. "Call Jeryn Hogarth," she answers after a moment, chin tipping up. "He can reach me. Tell him you need to get to the Iron Fist."

Just why a big-time corporate lawyer is the contact? That's another question entirely.

*

The surprise simply can't be fully masked from Daredevil's face. Hogarth, of all people? Murdock will have to vet the man, make sure that he has no ties to organized crime. For a corporate lawyer, that will be… challenging.

"I'm glad I won't have to ask for Slayer of Shou-Lao," he answers goodnaturedly, before turning away. "Be careful. Plenty of the fuzz on mafia payroll."

That said? He darts off down the hall and disappears into shadow.

*

"Not too worried about it," Danny smirks faintly. "But thanks for the heads up." For a big-time corporate lawyer, Hogarth is relatively clean. At least for the last five years. Lots of work with Rand-Meachum industries.

Once Daredevil is gone, Danny heads down the hall, slipping off into a different set of shadows.

*

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