1964-08-31 - The Redhead and the white haired guy.
Summary: Murdock finds his new client a bit unsettling.
Related: If there are no related logs, put 'None', — please don't leave blank!
Theme Song: None
matt-murdock hope 


The wheels of justice sometimes turn slowly. They tend to turn especially slowly when the people involved are unimportant, or else unconnected. Even more slowly when they have no ID, can't be found in any system, and have a crazy story about coming from the future to stop some sort of mutant antichrist. Four men who came through the portal after Hope survived. One was wounded and didn't make it. Two were so hysterical they've already been committed.

The last, though, was a little bit smarter than his fellows.

William Chester was a military man in his own time, before he retired after a few accusations of inappropriate actions against mutants. After his discharge, he joined a small town police force in Texas. It's where he first ran into the Purifiers, and found quite a lot he agreed with in their teachings. So when most of his people were killed or disbanded during the grand attempt to off the girl, he took what was left and went underground.

When a new mutant manifested in his small town, though, and the news stations started covering it live, he knew it was a sign. This was his chance to take out the mutant menace for good. He gathered his men, and he attacked. He wasn't planning on ending up in the sixties, though.

Luckily for him, he's a middle-aged white man who knows how authorities work. So after he and his friends were brought in, he shut up and waited for a lawyer.


Once the large, grey cell door opens it's the cane that Chester will see first. Matt Murdock slides in, pretty graceful for a blind guy. He's wearing a simple charcoal suit with a black tie. "Mr. Chester, my name is Matt Murdock. I have been assigned to be your attorney." Though he is not often a public defender, he will sometimes get calls if the office is over run (always) or if someone thinks that the case deserves closer scrutiny. "May I have a seat?"


The man pauses when Matt enters, eyes narrowing. A blind man. Is that meant to be some sort of insult? Doesn't really matter. At least he's white. And well enough off to wear a suit. So that's something.

"Yes, sir," the man nods. "I'd pull out a chair for you, but." He raises his hands, a rattling of chains the tell-tale sign that he's been restrained. "So. They tell you what happened?"


Matt chuckles and nods, "I don't mind." He pulls up his own chair and reaches to a black leather satchel where he slips out a notepad. "They did," he replies, his low voice quiet, calm, but still gravely. "But I'd sort of like to hear it again. From the top. It's pretty unvbelievable.


"Sure is, isn't it?" Chester replies mildly, leaning back in the metal chair. He's calm - almost too calm, really. But he's a man who thinks he knows he's got an out, and there's a confidence that comes with that. "The way the police tell it, me and my friends, we showed up and started shooting up the park. Big older guy with white hair and and a redheaded girl mixed it up with us, took some of us out, and then the cops started showing up. Thing is, I hear they didn't happen to recover any of these…fancy guns the witnesses claim we had."


"They haven't actually shared anything with me during the discovery process as of yet, so I only have what I have heard, and your story, Mr. Chester," Matt says. Though blind, his circular glasses hover over Chester's face as Matt listens to his heart beat, attempting to determine any deception. "If that's the way the police tell it, how do you tell it?"


It's not that Chester isn't lying, per se. It's that he's not saying enough to lie. He's building his case. "Doesn't really matter how I tell it if they can't prove their side, now does it?" he replies to Matt with a sly, nasty little smile. Oh yes. This is a man who knows the system. "Seems to me like the police got a little spooked by a couple of freaks starting something with some fine, upstanding citizens and then just picked up the people who were left on the word of some confused bystanders."


"So, you are saying that your defense is a lack of evidence," Matt says with a raised eyebrow. "Did you try and kill those two people? If so, why? And who are they?" Matt puts his pen down and leans back in his chair with a tilted head. "And if you're guilty for none of it, do you know who is?" That is another route of defense: It couldn't have been me because it was him.


"Couldn't try to kill them if I didn't have a gun, could I?" Chester starts to pull his hands back, a habit of wanting to cross his arms over his chest, but the chain between the cuffs on the table stops him. "I'm not some mutant, killing people with my brain or some sort of freaky energy blast. And I'm not the one they should be after." He leans forward, gripping the edge of the table. "The big guy and the girl. They're the ones who started the trouble."


"Big enough trouble to have someone want to kill them?" Matt raises an eyebrow. "Any idea who they are or how to find them? If they're wanted by the law, then maybe we can throw them under suspicion for whatever they've done." Pause. "Mr. Chester, it's in your best interest to be as forthcoming with me as possible."


"If anyone did, it'd just be self-defense." Chester narrows his eyes as he considers the lawyer, weighing his options. Sure, he can just wait it out. There's no proof. He'll probably get off. But then he's still stranded in 1964, with no resources. Could be worth it to get someone on his side. "You ever met a mutant, Mister Murdock?"


"Met quite a few of them to be honest," Matt says with his eyebrows raised. "In my neighborhood there were quite a few. Especially these days." He folds his hands across the table, trying to remain patient as his brain races to figure out what this man's story is.


Chester shakes his head, looking toward the hallway. "Never realized it started so early, you know? Mutants all over the place. They're a threat, you know. Dangerous. Start up with all sorts of powers, never know when it's going to happen. Innocent people get hurt. It's no different from living next door to a bomb. Never know when it might go off, but one day…one day it's gonna."


Matt does his best acting performance in order to refrain from making a face. "I'm sure you believe that, Mr. Chester, and though I do not agree with it I value your right to your own opinion. That being said, our time here is limited. I need to know more about these people and your connection to them if I hope to get your exonerated."


Chester makes a disgusted noise when Matt disagrees with him, falling back against the back of the chair with a shake of his head. "It's no wonder it gets so bad. People always making excuses for them. They're trouble, the both of them," he says. "The big guy? He's a stone cold killer. I've seen him take out entire units worth of men like it was nothing. And the girl? The girl's worse. The girl's going to be the end of the human race, Mister Murdock."


"That's a pretty big thing to accuse someone of. Do you have any evidence of either of their treachery? Or, perhaps, something else to go on?" Matt clearly doesn't believe this guy and is now wondering about how he might wash his hands of this case, given that he believes him about zero percent.


Chester's no fool. He knows when something's a lost cause. And in this case, he's determined that Matt isn't going to be the sympathetic ear he's looking for. "Mister Murdock, I can tell you're a man of reason. And that's a pity. Because some things, they just take faith. But this case? No faith needed. The people your witnesses say we attacked haven't showed up, have they? And the guns we're supposed to have used are gone, too. So if the judge wants to slap me with some disorderly conduct for causing a disturbance in the park, well, I'll serve my…what is it? Thirty days? And be on my way."


"Thirty days might be a bit much," Matt replies. He stands abruptly and gives the man a faint smile, "I think we're at a bit of an impasse, Mr. Chester. I presume that someone of your situation may be looking for a different type of attorney." Though he intends on removing himself from the situation, he is already looking at ways of potentially tracking down these mutants from some of his contacts in the city. And rather than a grey suit, he plans on wearing a red one.


Hope quirks a brow as Matt stands. "Well, if you can get the DA to let you off, then I guess that's your favor to burn, Mister Murdock. Me, I'd take the easy win. But it's your life. Seems to me like I won't be here too much longer." He twists, raising his chin toward the guard to indicate that things are finished here.


"Perhaps. I wish you the best of luck." Matt nods to the guard and gathers his belongings.


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