cuts ✧ matt.murdock

late night walks

I was taking a walk, something only the brave souls of New York would do at this time of night. I needed to clear my head after a long gym session. Normally that was when people did those sorts of things, but I needed to breathe the fresh air of the city.

The sun had set hours ago, and I was enjoying the serenity that seemed to swallow the busy city. They say it's the city that never sleeps, but I find that only partly true. I had abandoned my infamous leather jacket for leggings and a black jumper; easier to blend into the darkness.

I wasn't carrying my gun, because I had been trained to kick ass without it. I only brought it about to intimidate people, and to seem like a normal detective. Performing a few martial art tricks on a perpetrator wasn't something people liked to see too often in the police force.

--

My walk had been pleasant until I heard the screeching tyres and the screaming.

"DADDY! HELP!" These words had filled my brain. I ran to where the sound was coming from, but by the time I arrived there was only a man laying on the floor with an empty car beside him. I ran up to him, but not before I heard another sound. It was similar to the sound I had heard the other night, in Page's apartment. It was coming from the rooftops.

It was the man in the mask.

He was going too fast, but I could make out his shadow on a nearby rooftop. I tried to follow but ended up losing the car that the man's son was in. I went back to the injured man on the road and leant him up against his car.

"You're gonna be okay." I assured him calmly, checking for signs of concussion or any other injury that needed to be dealt with. By the blood coming out of his nose and other orifices, I gathered that he had internal bleeding and a few broken ribs.

The damage the kidnappers had done to him was almost deadly. If he got to the hospital right away, he may have had a chance of survival.

"Just breathe deeply..." I told his barely conscious body as he slumped lower and lower. "Keep your eyes open!" I demanded, placing my hands on his chest. After a minute of me doing so, he sat up, fully healed.

"How-what..." He felt his chest area, not feeling pain as he prodded on his previously broken ribs.

"Magic." I sincerely smiled. Of course, I wasn't going to tell him the truth.

"Where is my son?!" The man quickly remembered what had happened and jumped up. He cried out his son's name, but I didn't pay much attention after that. I was too busy holding back my own cries of pain.

That was the rule. I could heal people. Yes, I had been able to for... A long time. But my healing came at a price. One that I was willing to pay. It caused me pain, according to how serious the injury I healed was. It wasn't fun, and it hurt like a son of a bitch every single time, but I was willing to do whatever it took to help people in pain. I wanted to relieve their suffering because I knew what it was like to suffer. It was the least I could do. I needed this man to be okay because he needed to reunite with his son. That will remain the only reason I ever use my 'gift'. No on could force it out of me, though... Many have tried.

This caring form of ability doesn't make me hate people less, though.

This time it took a lot out of me because the man I healed was suffering from life-threatening injuries. It could've been worse, but I hadn't healed like that in a while. The more I rested and saved up my power, the stronger I would be when I had to use it. It was pretty self-explanatory to those who were used to unanswered questions.

"Why didn't you save my son?!" The man screamed at me, taking me out of my daze.

"I-" I almost choked on the pain.

He grasped my shoulders and shook me violently, not letting go until I pushed him off.

"I'll find your son..." I reestablished my self and continued. "Go to the nearest precinct. Report your son missing, but tell them... Just tell them somebody is handling it." He swiftly got into his vehicle, tears were streaming down his face. He wanted to find his son, so he listened. It still didn't make me like him.

He drove off as I walked over to the nearest lamp post. I sighed as I leaned against the post. I rubbed off the sweat running down my forehead.

I wasn't expecting my night to turn out like this.

--

After walking a couple of blocks to where I thought the kid had been taken, I saw a trail of blood leading somewhere around an apartment building. I poked my head inside, immediately hearing a Russian voice.

Russians were prone to kidnapping and selling young kids, so I guessed that he was working with whoever kidnapped my kid. He was speaking frantically, and the words he was saying weren't regularly used in everyday conversations.

As he reached the bottom floor, I ran over and slid to the ground, knocking him off his feet. He grunted as I landed a hard blow on his head, knocking him out. Just as I did so, the sound of an extremely heavy object dropping from floor up above filled my senses. I jumped out of the way as a fire extinguisher landed next to me with a very large bang.

I looked up to see a man in a black mask and a lady standing next to him.

"You again." I sighed loudly, speaking to the two shocked people on the other floor. I hoisted the Russian man onto my back and started to walk up the stairs whilst cursing. Why do I keep on bumping into this masked guy?

"What do we do know?" I heard the girl on the high floor ask the man in the mask. The man pushed her back, however, lowering his voice.

"There's someone else watching us."

"What?" The girl asked another question. "Other than that crazy girl you almost killed down there? Is she on our side?"

"No. The kid above us. Oh no, he is young. He is scared." I just made out what he said. He had lowered his voice, probably so I couldn't here. Unfortunately for him, I had above average hearing.

Great. Now we were bringing a kid into this.

"Oh don't you worry!" I sarcastically yelled up to the others. "I totally got this." Normally I would have, but I had used a lot of my energy in helping the man before.

I laughed as I thought of the consequences of this night. I'd have a lot of questions to answer when I got back to the precinct. Just what I didn't want.