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He’s fighting three would be rapists - their victim already having fled - when he hears another heartbeat approaching the alleyway. A woman by the sound of her heartbeat with a strong scent of whiskey hovering around her. Probably from what seems to be a bottle in her hand. She’s now hovering in the entrance to the alleyway seemingly watching the fight.
‘Huh,’ she says and moves towards them. Matt ducks under a punch and throws his baton at her feet, just enough to discourage her from coming in. She stops. ‘What was that for?’
‘Stay out of this Miss,’ Matt replies, ‘I’m fine.’ He doesn’t quite manage to duck the next punch and stumbles a bit from the blow. He recovers quickly, the armour taking most of the force of the punch but it’s enough to get a scoff from the woman.
‘Certainly look like you are.’ She picks up his baton and throws it badly. It misses everyone and lands…
Lands the other end of the alleyway after clanging into the wall. Matt hears the brick crumble at the force of her blow. Which, what?
He throws one of the men over his shoulder and dodges the punch of the second man. The third one is on the ground, already unconscious. He kicks at the second man, just as the first rises to his feet.
Matt’s already elbowing behind him when the woman grabs the first man and throws him after the baton. While he doesn’t make the length of the alleyway, he gets very close. Matt pauses in shock and nearly gets a punch to the face for it. He dodges, falling into a crouch, and the woman takes that opportunity to punch the second guy.
He goes down. Matt slowly rises from his crouch, head cocked as he listens to the breathing and heartbeats of the men. They’re unconscious, and Matt is reluctantly impressed. This woman is -
Is attacking him. Even though his back is to her, Matt still hears the movement of her clothes as she throws a sloppy punch. He ducks it and in a fluid movement grabs it, pinning it behind her back. Only she’s stronger than him; far stronger. She breaks his grip just by moving her arm and throws another punch. Matt darts out of reach and her punch lands in the wall behind where he was.
He hears the brick crumble again and freezes. ‘Quite a punch you have there,’ he comments mildly.
She turns to look at him but doesn’t attack him again. ‘Not like you can talk,’ she says and Matt can hear the smirk in her voice. ‘You saw my attack coming from behind you. Not like there’s a lot of reflective surfaces in here.’
Shit. Matt needs to leave now. ‘We all have our quirks.’ He moves down the alleyway and feels around for his baton. The second his hand closes on it, he tucks it in his belt. ‘Nice meeting you Miss-?’
‘Jones. Jessica Jones.’ Oh damn it. That PI who’d been involved in that mind control case. Matt’d followed it as much as he could but he’d never managed to be in a position to help. Not that he’s sure he would have been much help but that’s not stopped him before. At least he believed them, unlike Foggy who could get his mind around blind ‘ninja’ with supersenses but not mind control.
‘Miss Jones,’ he says and jumps for the fire escape. He’s on the roof in moments and about to leave when he hears her jump.
She lands on the roof beside him and Matt only just manages to hide his flinch. ‘Was there something else you wanted Miss Jones?’
‘Call me Jessica, please. The way you say my name makes me sound like some kind of romance book heroine, all formal and shit.’
‘Jessica. Was there something you wanted?’
She sighs. ‘That’s not much better. You’re very formal for a guy that likes beating up idiots in alleyways.’
‘I find it helps my image,’ Matt snaps. ‘Is there something I can do to make you go away?’
‘That’s better. Thought you were some prim and proper asshole for a moment there.’ She takes a gulp of whiskey from her bottle.
Matt has to bite back a hiss, his anger rising. ‘There are people I could be helping, so really is there some way I can make you leave?’
‘Ah, nah. Not really.’ He growls in anger and is sure she’s smirking by the way she shifts and the note of amusement in her voice. ‘Just wanted to meet Hell’s Kitchen’s superhero.;
‘I’m not a hero,’ Matt snaps. ‘I’m a man trying to make my city a better place.’
She seems taken aback by this. ‘Wow, you’re idealistic.’
Matt manages not to flinch at how close her words are to Fisk’s but it’s close. ‘So I’ve been informed. Now since there’s nothing I can do for you, will you let me leave?’
She shrugs. ‘Sure. But I do wanna know one thing.’
‘What?’
‘Your abilities. Where’d you get them?’
He manages not to visibly react. ‘I’m not sure I know what you mean.’
Suddenly Jessica sounds serious and sober. ‘You’re good at hiding them. Very good. I bet most of the world thinks you’re just an unusually gifted fighter but if you know what you’re looking for it’s kinda obvious.’ She holds up a hand and starts counting down fingers, ‘ Half the time you move just before your opponent does, as if you know what they’re going to do. You meet attacks from behind exactly like you do attacks from in front, as if you see them coming. And I’ve seen you track people. You don’t bother with maintaining a line of sight, you just follow them. It’s half the reason why you terrify people.’
Matt is reeling from the sheer amount of evidence she’s managed to collect but he’s most disturbed by the realisation she managed to follow him and he didn’t notice. But evidence is useless without a conclusion. ‘And what does all this make you think I can do?’
She shrugs. ‘Not a hundred percent sure. I’m thinking some kind of precognition - bit far fetched but hey, so was mind control.’
‘Mind control still seems far fetched to me,’ Matt says, deciding he’s going to play the Devil’s Advocate here. ‘Sounds more like a justification for murder.’
Her heartbeat skyrockets and Matt can sense the anger in her posture. ‘Then count yourself lucky that’s still an option for you.’
Okay, that might’ve been a dick move. Damn it Murdock. ‘My apologies. I didn’t mean to imply your experiences were invalid.’
She pauses. ‘You do believe me, don’t you? You’re just being a dick about it. Why?’ Matt shrugs and does not answer. ‘No, you’re trying to get me off the discussion of your abilities. Dick.’
‘What abilities?’
‘I will figure them out you know.’
Matt snaps and steps into her space, trying to tower over her. ‘There’s no reason for you to know.’
She doesn’t back off, instead pushing at him and forcing him back a few steps. ‘Relax. I don’t want to out you. I’m just curious. It’s a professional hazard. There’s not a lot of us around.’
‘Us?’
‘People who can do weird shit. So far I’ve only met two and one of them was a piece of human garbage. You’ll be the third.’
More people like him, beyond those ‘big name’ people running around calling themselves the Avengers. People who might understand what it means to be different, to have to hide parts of yourself. A part of Matt softens and he sighs. ‘I’m the third?’
‘You’d be the third yes, if you have powers.’ Jessica sounds extremely smug and Matt feels like walking away.
Well he doesn’t have to give her everything. A hint maybe. ‘If I, theoretically, had powers, precognition would not what I’d call them.’
‘So you admit to it?’ She shifts and brushes her waist. Ah so there’s some kind of recording. Well that’s a bit rude but Matt understands the need for evidence. Still doesn’t mean he’s impressed.
‘I admit to nothing, for the record,’ he says with a nod at her waist. She cocks her head at him, clearly surprised he noticed. ‘But if there was something to admit to, precognition would not be it.’
‘I will find out. On the record.’
Matt steps back into her space. ‘Do your worse M- Jessica. I look forward to it.’ A small nod from her. Challenge accepted.
She doesn’t say anything as he turns and jumps onto the next roof along. Nor does she follow him but Matt is sure he’s going to have to keep an ear out for her in future.
Jessica Jones doesn’t seem the type of person to give up easily.