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Ben's files - the few that Fisk didn't take - were all left to her. It's not much - not nearly enough to replace the man she'd come to respect and maybe even love - but one of the things left is the Jack of Hearts Ben'd used to indicate the Man in the Mask... Daredevil.
Karen holds it in her hand for a long moment, imagining Ben before her. Where do I start?
Start with what you know and work from there. She imagines him saying and smiles.
Then she pins the card onto the cork-board in her living room and gets to work. She has a theory to prove.
Pieces of evidence that prove my boss is Daredevil
********
One: His injuries
It's this particular incidence that starts her investigation but later Karen will think back and wonder what she missed. What she ignored or overlooked.
But on this day Foggy comes into work with a bandage around his hand and Karen notices before he's even fully through the door. She's at his side in a second. 'What happened?' she cries as she gently runs her hands over the injury.
Foggy carefully removes his hand from hers and gives her a smile that looks like he's trying to be self-deprecating but falling far short. 'I'm an idiot who decided to catch a falling knife.' His tone is almost too light; like he's trying too hard.
'Did you go to the hospital?'
'Nah, wasn't that bad.' He heads for his office as Matt enters the firm and draws Karen's attention. 'Almost a paper cut.'
It's only because Karen's looking directly at him that she sees Matt flinch along with the look of absolute terror that flashes across his face.
Which. What?
As Matt goes into his office with a mumbled greeting, Karen's eyes land on the newspaper on her desk.
Specially, her eyes land on the headline: Knife-wielding manic back-stabbed by Daredevil
She runs her fingers over the story of how Daredevil stopped the man who'd already killed three people - saving a fourth victim who'd disappeared before police arrived - and wonders.
Could it be?
********
Two: He has (almost) no alibis for nights when Daredevil is active
She knows from the start that there's a major hole in her theory. Well more than the fact Foggy seems to dislike exercise but that could be a cover.
But the fact that she's Foggy's alibi for the Hell's Kitchen bombings is a bit of a major issue. She spent the night before the explosions with him and she'd been with him when he found out about the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. It had all looked genuine.
...And maybe it had been? After all the Devil of Hell's Kitchen, the man who'd been blamed for the bombings, had taken hostages. While he'd been cleared of the bombings, no one was quite sure if he'd been framed for those or not. Maybe he had been, by a copycat in a mask. One of Fisk's men.
Okay, so this was an issue. She's working on it. But she's definitely sure Foggy has no alibis for a lot of Daredevil's recent activity.
Take for instance the other day, not three days after he came in with the knife injury. Foggy wanders in, Matt trailing in his wake, and heads straight for the coffee pot. Karen clicks out of the live-stream of the morning news she has up, just as it goes back to reporting on the three arrests Daredevil had assisted with last night.
She raises an eyebrow as he pours a cup that's mostly coffee and barely any creamer unlike his usual half/half. Karen raises the other eyebrow when he gulps down the coffee in one swig and pours another, slightly weaker cup.
'Long night?' she asks as he turns to face her.
Foggy shrugs. 'Had work to finish and lost track of time.' He salutes her with his cup. 'Just so you know, this is not an endorsement of your coffee but I'm too tired to care.' He heads into his office and Karen catches a glance of his bag by his chair and his laptop on the desk above it.
...Which meant he must have left it here last night because Karen might not have exactly made it home and he never came back after he left. He's lying. Her heart pounds in anger at the lie.
She looks up and for a moment there's a look of confusion on Matt's face. Then he's smiling. 'You should've seen him studying for finals our first year of law school. He made his coffee so strong I could feel the effects just from smelling it.'
And even as she laughs at the image Karen finds herself wondering Does Matt know?
********
Three: Matt is worried about Foggy, more than ever
This is kinda self explanatory. There's no one incident to point to but ever since their big fight and resulting makeup, Matt's been on tenterhooks around Foggy. And she's seen a look of absolute terror flash across Matt's face on numerous occasions, often after someone mentions Daredevil.
A part of her wonders if this was what their fight was about... but no, Matt had claimed it was his fault.
Unless he thought it was his fault because he got injured because of Daredevil and reacted badly, driving Foggy away? Or even just because he got injured and Foggy had reacted badly, and Matt blamed himself for getting injured. She knows he wasn't in a car crash, no way did he get those injuries from a car crash so this theory makes so much more sense.
********
Four: The connections between Nelson and Murdock and Daredevil
This should have been number one but she's only reminded of it two weeks after she starts noting down evidence for Foggy being Daredevil.
They've been working on a case for a lovely lady by the name of Mrs Grant who's in a similar position to Mrs Cardenas but with a more accessible slumlord. In that there's been threats against everyone at Nelson and Murdock, if a rock through their window is a threat and not just an annoyance.
So when a bunch of armed men invade the office on the night Karen chased Foggy and Matt out early while staying back herself to do paperwork, she's not exactly surprised. She starts screaming, even as she goes for her mace.
She's just ducked down when Daredevil comes in through the window behind her. Wide eyed, she watches as he throws himself at the man closest to her and has him on the ground in a moment. The other three men pause and that's more than enough for Daredevil. Exactly like she remembers, he flips and kicks one in the head.
The man hits the ground and the other two decide they've had enough. They run for the door but only one man is fast enough to make it. The other is caught by Daredevil and thrown at the ground then laid out with a swift series of punches.
'Call Brett Mahoney,' he growls before he takes off, running after the fourth man.
Heart pounding, she makes the call.
That night she looks at her board, with its three pieces of evidence and adds a fourth. But it's not just this time. It's also the time he knew she was in danger even though only her lawyers had really known about the case or that there was someone trying to kill her. And then there's the details she'd picked up from Hoffman. About how Daredevil had saved his life and known Brett could recommend Nelson and Murdock.
How'd Daredevil known where to look if he wasn't a part of Nelson and Murdock?
********
Five: His (and Matt's) lying
Now she's remembering old connections and cases, the memory of Foggy attempting to lie about meeting Daredevil won't leave her mind. At the time she'd thought they were lying to cover up the fact he'd interrupted them doing something awful - she firmly believes they have at least a friends with benefits relationship - and been amused.
But now she knows they were lying to cover up that Foggy found out while in the mask and that just makes her mad. She'd always thought her bosses were awful liars but now she realises that was always a cover.
Or maybe not. No one could hate someone as much as Foggy seemed to hate the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. She's glad that was just a (overacted) cover.
Three weeks after first realising Foggy might be Daredevil, she's ready to confront him.
********
One piece of evidence against:
'Can I come in?'
Foggy seems surprised to see her knocking at his door but he smiles and waves. 'Sure! Come in Karen!' He's speaking louder than usual and Karen frowns but doesn't comment. 'Take a seat. You want anything?'
'I'm fine.' She takes a careful seat on his sofa and waits for him to sit down in the chair across from her. His flat is about half the size of Matt's and she can see why they had her stay at Matt's.
Other than the fact that Foggy might've had issues being Daredevil if she hadn't.
'What can I do for you?'
She takes a deep breath. 'I need to ask you something. And I want you to be completely honest with me... No more lying.' He freezes, eyes wide. Her heart skips a beat.
'Karen?'
'Promise. No more lies.'
He stares at her for a long moment. 'Okay,' he says finally. 'No more lies. But... I won't tell any secrets that aren't mine to tell.'
That throws her for a moment because what? But she shakes her head. 'Okay. That's fine. Just. Don't lie.' Foggy nods. 'Right. Okay. Okay. Foggy. I... Are you Daredevil?'
Foggy starts to cough violently but it stops nearly instantly. 'Am I what?'
She digs into her bag for her list. 'It's the only thing that makes sense! Daredevil definitely has connections with us; he's been doing too much of the work in our cases to not. And you come in injured or tired the day after he made arrests and-'
He takes the list from her, puts it on his coffee table and looks her in the eyes. 'Karen, I'm not Daredevil.'
Anger surges through her at the lie and she's on her feet. 'You promised not to lie!'
'He didn't,' a voice says from the window and she turns with a slight cry. There, just inside the window, is Daredevil. He's got a slight smile on his face, like he's highly amused by Karen's claims.
'But... how? It doesn't make sense!' She turns back to Foggy. 'Everything points to you!'
'Wait, everything?' Matt asks and she throws up a hand in outrage.
'Yes, everything!' Karen turns to look at the bedroom, the only place Matt could've come from without her noticing him but pauses. He's not there. Confused, she spins around looking for him. Foggy's standing by the chair he'd sat in; Daredevil's by the window with his mask off and there's no on-
Daredevil's by the window with his mask off. Karen spins back to look at him and meets Matt's unseeing eyes. For a moment she's frozen; then she's launching herself at him.
He takes the first slap to the cheek without moving. But when she goes for a second, he catches her hand without looking at it. 'I'm sorry,' he says softly as she struggles against his unbreakable grip. Then Foggy's at Karen's side and Matt is releasing her hand.
'How?'
Matt sighs. 'My accident. It blinded me but my other senses were... enhanced. It's enough that I can do what I do.'
'And the fighting?'
'I was well trained.' Foggy makes an annoyed noise and Matt rolls his eyes. There's definitely a story there but Karen's running through her list of evidence in her head.
'Your injuries-'
Matt shrugs. 'I was a bit out of practice. I've gotten better.'
'The knife wound Foggy had?'
It's Foggy who answers as he leads her back to the sofa. 'Exactly like I said. I was an idiot who tried to catch a falling knife. It's just the knife was the knife of the man who'd tried to ki-' Matt growls, '-mug me and been stopped by Daredevil.'
It clicks then for Karen that Foggy must have been the fleeing victim the paper'd mentioned. 'Why didn't you say that?'
'Because I kinda panicked and hoofed it the moment Daredevil showed up. Matt had to chase me down just to get me to his place to stitch me up.' Foggy shrugs.
Everything is suddenly making sense. 'You're tired because you stay up waiting for Matt.'
'Yeah. Sorry, you're probably going to join in on that now. I'll bring the booze.'
Matt sighs but before he can say anything, Foggy throws a pillow at him. 'You apologise and I'll hit you.'
'Like you could.'
Karen sits back and watches them banter. She's going to get the rest of the story out of them later but for now, she's content to relax in their care.
My other boss is Daredevil.