Chapter 2
Matt clenched his fist, before turning around to face the girl. He hadn't heard her shift or rise to her feet, and how she had hidden the gun still perplexed him.
"Thermal clothing, the pockets are great for hiding just about anything." Her steady voice answered his unasked question. The way that the girl's voice had the same source as it had when they had been speaking earlier indicated to Matt that she was still seated on his sofa.
"What do you want from me?" The girl shifted in her seat, and clicked the safety of her gun, off and on, off and on. A warning.
"I think you already know," Matt felt his temper flare, he was in no mood to play games tonight and this girl was asking impossible things of him.
"I'm not for hire," he snarled.
"Believe me, I know. What I need your help with is, actually, right up your alley." There was an assured cockiness to the way the girl spoke and it only made Matt even more irate. He felt his jaw clench and had to rein in his temper. "First, I need to know I can trust you. And, you need to know if you can trust me." Matt let his guard down the slightest bit as he heard her shift again.
Click.
The safety on the gun was off.
Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam.
The four bullets hit Matt straight in the chest and he stumbled backwards from shock. Then, he paused, there was hardly any pain, just a light burning sensation similar to agitated skin. Matt touched his chest and his hand came into contact with wetness that smelled of latex. She had shot him, with a paintball gun.
"Wow, you guys really are dramatic aren't you?" The clatter of aluminum hitting the ground alerted Matt to the fact that she had tossed her paintball gun to the floor. She lifted herself from the sofa and walked slowly towards him, without her cane, to stand before him. "See, I have nothing to hurt you with, I have no way to get you to comply to my demands. I'm just a civilian asking for help in protecting this city. I need your help Daredevil, there's no one else in this city who can do what you can. No one else who's willing to die for this city." She handed a towel to him and patiently stood before him as he wiped at the paint on his shirt.
"What do you need me to do?" He could feel the breath she released in relief. With a speed he wouldn't expect a cane user to have, she spun on her heel and walked back towards the sofa.
"Like I said, its right up your alley. Tomorrow, your senator candidates will be revealed. One of them will be a man named, Andrew Singh, and I bet you a thousand bucks he will be your future senator." The girl's voice had relaxed and she was shuffling through things in her bag until she had found her laptop which she booted up.
"This is important why," Matt asked as he took the seat across from her on the arm chair.
"Singh runs an international human trafficking ring. The only reason why he's even remotely interested in Hell's Kitchen is because-"
"The docks, they lead directly to international waters." The rapid shifting of air indicated to Matt that she had enthusiastically nodded her head.
"Exactly! Singh will turn this city into his main base of operations if someone doesn't stop him." She began typing as Matt attempted to learn something about her.
"How do you know all of this? Isn't sixteen a little young to be a crime fighting mastermind?"
"I'm nineteen, and I don't think there's a specific age you have to be to fight crime. Let's just say that when I'm bored I go to places I'm not allowed to, of course with these guys," she gestured at her legs, "my idea of a prohibited place happens to be online."
"Don't you have parents or family that's worried about you?" Matt couldn't understand this girl, or her reasons for doing what she was doing.
"My mother's dead, and my father...my father's a criminal. So, no, no family." Any questions Matt had left died on his lips, and he found himself empathetic towards the girl. Her story seemed to be just as heartbreaking as his own. "Here we go, Andrew Singh will begin his campaign tomorrow morning at Desiree Park. Before this campaign is over we have to reveal him for what he truly is. We have to stop him before he takes over the whole damn city, and destroys Hell's Kitchen."
"This is great and all but, uh, how do you plan on actually stopping him?" The girl didn't seem to have thought through her grand crime fighting scheme and Matt feared that she would end up putting herself in danger instead of helping the city.
"I'm going to find hard evidence to prove him guilty while you are going to keep any and all of his forces from entering this city and begin planting their roots. I'll text you details of incoming criminals and organizations." With a quiet snap she closed her laptop and began packing up her things before reaching for her cane.
"Wait, you don't even have my number," the girl was halfway to the door before Matt could stop her.
"Uh, yeah I do. How do you think I found your address?" The 'duh' was painfully evident in her voice. Matt resisted the urge to respond with more snark.
"Where are you going right now?" For an unknown reason Matt felt intensely protective of the girl and worried about what sorts of trouble she would get herself into.
"I'm gonna go find myself a cardboard box to sleep in, Villy. Huh, I think I'm gonna call you Villy, short for Daredevil. Whaddya think?" The lightheartedness in the girl's voice had Matt shaking his head even as he smiled.
"What should I call you then?" She paused for a moment, her hand on the doorknob of his front door. Matt realized that the rain had stopped and took comfort in the fact that the girl wouldn't get drenched again.
"Josie, you can call me Josie." Matt didn't doubt for a second that she had given him a fake name.
"You know Josie, I have a sofa that's a touch more comfortable than whatever cardboard box you're planning on sleeping in." If Matt could get Josie to stay with him, it would be much easier for him to keep an eye on her. It wasn't that Matt didn't trust Josie, he just didn't believe Josie understood exactly what sort of danger she was getting into.
"Thanks Villy, but... I don't sleep where I work." Then she was gone.