Kate
Daredevil had spent so much more time in the underbelly of New York that he could anticipate what Kate was looking for before she even knew to ask. Between his information and what she could access from the crew’s computer, it sped things along. But she still had to hunt for the actual evidence, which Kingpin was careful to cover.
It wasn’t enough. She was getting nowhere quickly. The amount of time she had before Natasha or Yelena found her was dwindling. She was moving hotels almost every day now. Every time she went out to meet Daredevil she braced herself to be followed by a widow.
But if Kate couldn’t find evidence, perhaps she could find leverage. She kept coming back to the detail of Fisk or Marianna flying to Burlington every weekend. She just needed to figure out how to get up there without Yelena realizing what she was doing.
So on a Tuesday night in November Kate went to JFK and bought a ticket to Madrid via Paris. The flight left 45 minutes later, giving her enough time to make the flight, but hopefully leaving anyone tracking her credit card or passport scrambling. As she passed through security, head down, she glanced at her watch, hoping everything came together. Twenty minutes later she was through, running for the gate, her flight already boarding. She got there as the main throng of people moved to board, and inserted herself into the crowd. Once her ticket had been scanned, she moved towards the jetway and let her bag drop and spill slightly. As she bent down to scoop up the few things that had fallen out, she scanned the area. No one was paying attention to her. Slipping on a brand new Mets cap, she pulled off her jacket and moved away from the jetway. Moving casually, she stopped in one of the stores and flipped through a romance novel. After a few more minutes she let herself get lost in a mass of people who had just deplaned, letting their movements carry her down to arrivals. She walked past the luggage claim and hailed a cab.
The cab took her back to the crappy hotel she’d been staying in. It was the most disgusting one yet, but Kate still forced herself to sleep, even though anxiety gripped her. What if they didn’t buy it? What if they realized she hadn’t gotten on the plane? Worse, what if the TSA realized something was fishy and she got put on some sort of international most-wanted list?! Her thoughts went round and round until she finally fell asleep.
In the morning she packed up everything. Catching a train into the city, she dropped one of her bags in one of her locker caches and took out more cash. She walked over to Penn Station and immediately ducked into one of the restaurants. Taking a seat at the bar, Kate ordered a beer and some food and settled in to wait. The burner phone she’d bought a few days earlier was burning a hole in her pocket. Finally, she pulled it out and quickly bought three train tickets. One to Harrisburg, one to DC, and one to Burlington. They all left between 2:10 and 2:20.
At the last possible second she got on the train to Burlington. She found her seat and settled in for the long ride, crossing her fingers that her plan would work.
No one was waiting for her train in Burlington, which seemed a bit like a miracle. Having a phone again made everything easier. While she waited for her Uber to show up she started her search for a sleazy motel that seemed like it would take her fake name and lack of ID for extra cash.
The next day Kate started her search in earnest. She hadn’t been able to find any actual evidence of any sort of school near Burlington. All the boarding schools she’d found had been further away. But Kingpin’s private jet was small enough to land at airports closer to those schools, so she eliminated them as options. She had the crew’s computer searching satellite feeds for anything that looked like it could be a school. Thus far it had only noticed public schools and the universities, but Kate still had her hopes up. The only thing left to do seemed to be to ask around, wander the area, and, if worse came to worst, tail whoever got off Kingpin’s plane on Friday afternoon.
She started her search at the best hotels around the city, flirting shamelessly, albeit clumsily. Nothing. She moved on to some of the nicer restaurants, flirting her way through lunch, coffee, three snacks, two dinners, and one dessert. Still nothing.
By Friday afternoon her only option was to try and tail someone from the airport. She requested an Uber from Church St. to the airport, crossing her fingers that the driver would be down for an adventure. For the hundredth time since she’d left the penthouse, luck was on her side. The person who picked her up seemed down for everything when she explained what they were doing.
At the airport she had the driver wait near the parking for the private terminal. The computer was able to show the flight tracker for every flight in the world, so Kate waited until she could see the correct call sign coming in, watching as the plane actually landed. Slipping the computer back in her bag, she pointed out which plane she was watching to the driver. As they waited the plane pulled into a small hangar. A car pulled out a few minutes later. In her excitement Kate pushed into her driver’s shoulder, pointing out their car. The driver whooped and put the car in gear.
Following the car, they wound out of the city and into the surrounding countryside. They drove for almost 20 minutes, finally turning off on a private drive. Pulling out the computer again, Kate tried to search for information, but the property was listed as a farm. Biting her lip she debated: should she try to sneak onto the grounds and get more information, or hope that she’d be able to dig up enough on her own? And if she did sneak onto the grounds, did she trust her new stoner friend with Maria’s laptop while she did it?
Yelena’s admonishments at her recklessness echoed through her head as she made a decision. As she packed all her gear into her backpack, it pained her to realize that it had been days since she’d really sat down and thought about Yelena. Sure, she’d thought about how to evade her, but that was the thought of prey for a predator. The moments when she stopped to think about Yelena’s smile or her laugh, or the way she cared about Kate, made Kate want to crumple. And she couldn’t, wouldn’t - she needed to avenge her mother’s death.
“Alright, I’m going to leave this here,” said Kate, patting her backpack. “Can you meet me back over there-” she pointed to a driveway a quarter mile away on the other side of the road “-in three hours? I’ll pay you $500 plus the ride fare if you can.” The person nodded, and Kate crossed her fingers, climbing from the car.
As the car pulled away she waved before disappearing into the woods. The sun was setting, and the temperature was dropping rapidly. She wasn’t really dressed for night time in November in Vermont. Cutting through the forest, she tried to follow the driveway while keeping an eye out for security measures. It seemed crazy to treat the place like a fortress, but it would be stupid to not be careful.
The forest opened up into a sprawling campus, with a cluster of connected buildings reminiscent of a chateau. There was a parking lot in front of the main entrance, packed with cars, including a few that looked like the one they’d followed from the airport. Once Kate got to the parking lot, she pocketed her beanie and joined the people walking from the parking lot towards one end of the biggest building. Inside there were families everywhere, along with dozens of students in uniforms. As she passed through the crowds, she tried to read the crest on their blazers. Good- someone bumped into Kate and smiled and apologized, trying not to draw attention to herself. A few feet later she caught another glimpse. Good Samaritan School, with a jumble of Latin underneath.
She ended up at the end of the hall of rooms and turned a corner to find what could only be thought of as an entrance hall. Trophies lined one wall, with a list of donors on the other. Near the top was a plaque with the names of Wilson and Vanessa Fisk. Bingo. Footsteps echoed down the hall coming towards her, and she ducked back into the dormitories. As she walked the halls she tried to read the name plaques on the doors, hoping to find something useful. The hall she was in ended in a T and she glanced to the left. A newly scarred Wilson Fisk stood halfway down the hall, smiling down at a woman kneeling in front of a child. He started to glance up and Kate pivoted, turning right as though she’d meant to do so all along. Her heart beat in her throat and she resisted the urge to look back.
It wasn’t evidence of anything other than Fisk having a child. But it was leverage she could use. Children were always a weak point - that’s what had gotten her mother into Kingpin’s clutches in the first place. If she hadn’t had Kate, she could have sold the penthouse, paid off Kingpin, and moved on with her life. But she hadn’t, and now Kate had one more piece of leverage.
----
Sunday morning she waited until the last possible second and bought two train tickets. One departing from Burlington, one from Essex Junction, both headed for Penn Station. It was worth waiting the extra day in Vermont to get tickets that arrived in New York only 40 minutes apart. She got on the train from Burlington and reviewed her options. She could get off in Yonkers, but if someone was waiting for her there, she would have limited options. She could take the train into Penn Station and get off there and hope they’d split up, one person in Yonkers, one waiting for the later train, and one at her track. But it all depended on who ended up where. If Yelena was waiting at her track, it would be futile to try to escape.
She had seven hours to debate. When the train got to Yonkers, Kate glanced out. The stop was only supposed to be a minute and if she wanted to get off she had to decide immediately. Yelena was moving along the platform towards her, scanning the train. Kate ducked back behind her neighbor’s newspaper. A few seconds later she could hear Yelena arguing with the conductor, but then the train began to move. Kate glanced out again to see a scowling Yelena already pulling out her phone. The distance from Yonkers to Penn Station was 35 minutes. It would take at least that long by car, so at least she wouldn’t have to face Yelena in the city.
As the train came to a stop in Penn Station Kate got to her feet, pushing her way to the door, trying to ignore the curses of those around her. As soon as the door opened, she took off at a run, heading right for the escalator to the main concourse. Jumping the stairs two at a time, she flew up. When she reached the main floor she veered right, passing a only-slightly-surprised Maria at the top of the stairs. Hoping her longer legs would carry her long enough, she headed for the subway, trying to run down the escalator, dodging people the whole way. She pushed a few near the top so they would stumble and slow Maria down, mumbling quiet apologies the whole way.
Running through the whole station, Kate didn’t look back. She knew Maria wouldn’t dare have a weapon in the station, so she was safe as long as Maria didn’t catch up. “Kate!” yelled Maria, further back that Kate expected. “Kate, please!”
Kate made her way down to the tracks, running along the waiting train. If she got on too early Maria would just follow her on. She was almost to the end when the doors started to close. She jumped on, turning back as Maria slammed into the outside of the closed doors.
“Kate!” Kate looked carefully at Maria, drinking in the small connection to her former life. Her face was grim as she watched Kate. The train started to move and Kate put her hand in a silent goodbye. Finding a seat she put her head in her hands, trying to hold back the tears. For a moment she wondered why she was doing all this. The sight of her mom’s battered body rose to the forefront of her mind and she remembered. She was doing this for Eleanor.
----
Once she knew what to search for, Kate easily found the records of Wilson Fisk’s son. Richard Marion Fisk was born in September of 2018, less than a year after his parents’ marriage. He was enrolled at the Good Samaritan Boarding School in Vermont under the name Richard Marianna. His mother visited him every weekend, his father going to Vermont as often as possible.
She also found records from the Christmas before of an anonymous man matching Fisk’s description going to the ER with injuries consistent with what she’d seen from her brief glance in the hallway. She hadn’t injured him, but someone else certainly had. The report stated he’d had a gunshot wound to the eye. He’d been wearing an eyepatch at the school but she could still see a lot of scarring on the side of his head, especially since he still shaved his head. Did that make him weaker on one side?
After her brush with Maria and Yelena she was exceedingly cautious in her movements. She went back to tailing members of the Italian Mafia and meeting with Daredevil, but it felt like she was never going to find anything. Running had been a temporary solution - she’d hoped it would be easy to bring down Wilson Fisk, and the longer she was in the whole mess, the harder she realized it would be.