Chapter Text
Snippet 1: Procedural Due Process (Marvel Comics)
This little Snippet kind of possessed me. I guess this is Marvel Slice of Life? The story arc in question is my take on a Marvel SI (though it's not really an SI). I guess it's completed with a satisfactory ending for now.
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I turned to take in the girl clinging to the wall almost as soon as the shift in the breeze alerts me to her.
"Hello." I say, opening the window fully. My mind processing the tween girl hanging from a wall by her soles and palms.
"Please! You have to help me!" The girl yelled. "He's trying to kill my dad!"
My mind snapped into action.
"Where?" I asked.
I wasn't a Superhero, but I wasn't about to leave a girl who looked like she might be 10 at most outside in need of help, powers or not.
"He's trying to get me! He wants to hold me hostage!" The girl shouted.
"Come inside. I can protect you and we can call your parents to tell them you're safe." I motion to the girl across the way calling on my elemental gate to summon a small folding ladder made of hollow aluminum bars and chains and tossing one end to her.
The girl's eyes widened at the sight of my powers. The more obvious signs of which I usually concealed.
Still the obvious use of my power preemptively calmed the girl's worry over whoever was hunting her.
She caught the ladder and swung to my building on it from the building across the way and clambered up into my open window into my office.
I closed the window and folded up the ladder, tossing it into the trash more out of a desire to conceal it than dispose of it. The ladder would only last 10 minutes anyway.
"Right then, you're safe in here. "Now, who is trying to grab you?"
"A lion man!" The girl replied. "I don't know his name but he wears a lion!"
Wears a lion? There weren't many people I know of that did that. Lion hides were illegal to even possess! Who would openly wear something like that?
A supervillain. Which meant Kraven the Hunter, a villain obsessed with Hunting that Spider-Man had fought a few times here and there when he tried to hunt Spider-Man or one of his animal-themed enemies.
I'd initially thought the girl a mutant on the run from a purifier, or some other gang or racist. But with this information...
"Kraven. So you're Spider-Man's kid." I decided looking at her.
Red hair. Blue eyes.
"You know my dad!?" The girl asked shocked.
"Everyone knows your dad, kid." I answered not clarifying what I meant as I handed the girl my cell phone.
"You know your parents' number?" I asked.
She nodded with a firm set on her still somewhat pudgy face. It looked more adorable than stoic or fierce.
A few seconds later the phone was ringing.
"Daddy! Are you okay!?" The girl asked.
I couldn't hear the answer.
"I'm fine! A nice man let me into his office! I'm hiding now!"
I waited.
"Daddy wants to talk to you mister!" The girl handed me my own phone. I put it on speaker-phone.
"Spider-Man, I assume? You're on speaker now." I asked to make sure the man on the other end understood just who I knew him as.
"Ah... You have me at a disadvantage Mister..."
"Ferris Franklin. Attorney at law. Your daughter was running from Kraven on the building across the way. I let her into my office to hide." I explained. Partly to assuage his fears and partly to establish a mutual understanding of the situation. "I have her out of sight on the 10th floor of the building on west 4th and 6th ave. across from where the McDonald's used to be."
I waited a second for recognition then sighed as I figured out a better way to identify it.
"You know, the one with all the fights?"
"Oh! Right! I had to break up an egg McMuffin attack there once! I know the place."
"Your daughter is safe for now. And I feel fairly confident in my ability to protect her from Kraven. I'll be here until 8 working on a case. You can come by or send someone else to collect her at your leisure."
"He has metal powers dad! He made a ladder appear out of nothing!" The girl chimed in.
Spider-Man sighed heavily. "A lawyer?"
"Civil suits. Torts mostly. Personal injury litigation." I explain. "I'm not a prosecutor." I assured him.
I could hear the sigh of relief. "Right. I'll send someone over as soon as I can. Thanks for helping her."
He sounded exhausted. The sort of exhausted that you only reach after running for your life for days without sleep.
In that moment I didn't see the towering monolith who could lift the wreckage of a building singlehandedly to rescue the survivors, nor the vigilante menace that Jameson over at the Bugle was always ranting about in his editorials.
Instead I felt pity.
I decided to extend a hand.
"No problem. I'm going to save your phone number under Spider-Man. Feel free to call me if you need something, or if you're going to take longer than 8:00."
"Right." He replied. It didn't sound like his brain was fully engaged. "Right. I'll take you up on that. Send the other guy."
It wasn't that hard to figure out who he meant. For the last month or two there had been a second Spider-Man hanging around. Shorter and dressed in black and red instead or red and blue, but with pretty much the same powers.
The city had been pretty worried for a bit. The last time there were multiple Spider-Men hanging around they'd ended up fighting each other in a pretty big public battle. And the last time Spider-Man wore black we got that creepy space alien Venom.
But knowing that Spider-Man's powers were genetic and that he had at least one kid it became pretty obvious what was happening. The other guy must be his son.
"Got it. Send him to the Front desk. I'm at the Law offices of Franklin and Franklin. I'm going to keep her out of sight from the window just in case."
"Right. More super-powered lawyers. Do all lawyers have super powers?" He asked and it almost sounded like an attempt at a joke; and much more like a desperate attempt to hold onto reality in the face of not enough sleep.
"Not all of us, no." I replied. "Go get some rest. You sound exhausted."
Spider-Man just laughed at that. "Right. I'll do that as soon as I can. Behave for the nice Lawyer, okay Honey? He'll keep you safe until someone gets you."
"Gotcha dad! Go beat the Kraven! He sucks!"
"Yeah. He does. Love you a bunch honey!"
"Love you too dad!"
The click from the phone indicated that the man at the other end had hung up.
"Right. I'm going to pull down the shades so Kraven can't see in." I decided, moving to do so. "You need anything to eat? I have half a corned beef sandwich from lunch. And a bookcase full of law books."
The girl looked at the law books dubiously.
"Right. Kid." I realized, grabbing a pen off my desk and grabbing some printer paper from the printer tray. "How about some drawing instead?"
The girl took the paper and started to draw.
"I'm gonna call you Spider-Girl, okay? Don't tell me or anyone in the office your real name, okay? It'll make your dad nervous if you do."
"That's fine, Mister!" The girl replied not even looking up from the paper.
Well, if she was suitably distracted I could go back to work. Those billable hours wouldn't bill themselves.
The call came from the desk downstairs at 7:30. The younger Spider-Man had arrived and was asking for me.
"Send him up." I replied. Anna at reception had already gone home for the night so I packed up my stuff, looking mournfully at the remains of my sandwich; a towering pile of perfectly sliced corned beef and mustard on seeded rye utterly demolished by a girl who had to use her powers just to keep full hold of it.
The pickle was untouched, pushed off to the side early on. I grabbed it off the place and savored the delectable crunch. Before gathering up Spider-Girl's drawings in a folder and bringing her to the reception area.
The other Spider-Man was in bad shape. He looked like he'd gotten into a fight with a tiger and only barely won.
Which given who was hunting his sister and dad, was actually a possibility. I still remember when Kraven let all those zoo animals free in the Bronx.
Well, 'free'. He had decided to hunt them for sport.
The shorter Spider-Man's costume was ripped, showing dark skin beneath it, very much unlike Spider-Girl's.
Different mothers? Well, it wasn't exactly any of my business anyway.
Still, I didn't exactly want him bleeding all over my nice wooden floors. I detoured behind the reception desk to grab the first aid kit before I opened the door.
"Wait a second. You're not bleeding in my office. Let's get you bandaged up at least.
I wasn't exactly a trained Physician, but I did have all my first aid certifications. A requirement for anyone working in our office, if only because I had instituted it.
I was the sole partner at the firm I'd inherited from my Grandfather. The requirement had been put in place after my Grandfather died, and for that reason. I wouldn't have anyone dying like that in my offices ever again.
"Right. Thanks, man." The boy replied. And he was a boy. A kid. Barely older than his sister.
"You were bleeding. Blood's annoying to clean off the floors." I replied bandaging what looked like a claw swipe on his bicep. "Is Kraven dealt with?"
"He's being deported as we speak." The kid Spider-Man answered.
"Really?" I asked. That was unusually fast for someone with his criminal record who had escapes from jail on his rap sheet. "Usually foreign criminals have to serve their time before they're deported."
At that point the elevator dinged.
It shouldn't have, it was 7 :30. The office was closed, and the only people here were me this kid Spider-Man and Spider-Girl. But it did.
Immediately I reached into my kinetic gate and summoned my kinetic aura filling the air around me with paper clips and staples as sheets of rusted and bent metal were pulled from the plane of metal to cover my body in an ugly sort of carapace; a steel shield forming in my hand. Beneath my armor my body shifted into something more in the nature of steel as my elemental gate overflowed, spilling the metal elemental energy into every cell of my being. My arm crackled with electricity as it shifted into a shape more like a sword than an arm.
"Wha-!"
"Get her and get behind me!" I shouted, as the elevator started to open and Spider-Man moved, scooping Spider-Girl up and out of the hallway.
The man who walked out of the elevator was badly beaten. He looked like he was standing only through the sheer unstoppable force of his own will.
He stared at me with Vibrant green eyes as he readied his spear.
"Vibranium." I realized staring at it.
It would easily tear through my armor, but in this form I didn't exactly have vital organs any more.
I could do this.
"Kraven the Hunter? You are trespassing. Please leave." I announced.
"No." The Russian man replied. "You are not my quarry. You will move, I will have the child and kill this Spider-Man before I kill the other one."
New York City didn't have a stand your ground law. You were expected, even mandated by law to retreat when faced with threats of violence.
But of course, there was some nuance to that.
Self-defense was allowed if you were unable to retreat, and it was also allowed in defense of others. Though of course the self-defense needed to be proportional to the threat.
A Vibranium spear was a hell of a threat.
Still, a negotiation was a negotiation.
"The children are under my protection. Leave and you won't be harmed. But if you try and harm them I will be forced to respond."
Kraven laughed. "A lump of rusty metal seeks to threaten Kraven The Hunter!? You have gall. I shall spill it."
The almost conversational tone of the threat left me on the back foot when he charged at me.
The spear landed directly in my chest, effortlessly piercing through both my armor and my sternum.
It hurt. It hurt a lot!
But the pain wasn't paralyzing.
With I gathered the metal in my aura and flung it at him.
With Kraven so close and his spear still lodged inside me, there was no chance to dodge. The metal hit him hard tearing at his flesh.
"Still alive?" Kraven blinked. He almost seemed concussed.
That didn't make him any less dangerous.
With my blade hand I stabbed him right back, catching him deep in the shoulder, and then I pulled my weapon back, leaving the open wound leaking copiously.
I stabbed at him twice more as he tried to get his spear free, missing each time only for a black and red clad flying foot to sail from the ceiling directly into Kraven's face, knocking him away and deep into the floor of the hallway.
I stared waiting for him to get up.
When he didn't, I pulled the spear free and grimaced at the uncomfortable feeling of my flesh slowly returning to flesh from living metal, sealing most, but not all of the wound in the process.
"Right. I need to call the police about this." I said pointedly to the two spider-kids as I grabbed the decorative gold-painted steel ingot I used as a doorstop for the office when it was open and remolded it into a solid piece wrapped around his ankles as a sort of makeshift leg cuffs.
I placed the spear in the office umbrella holder, far out of Kraven's reach and grabbed the first aid kit.
"Call 911 please? I don't want him dying in my lobby." I explained as I began to work first aid. "And if you're leaving please check on the doorman. Kraven doesn't seem like the sort who understands or accepts no for an answer."
"I'm staying. At least until the cops arrive." The male Spider-kid decided as he grabbed my cellphone off the desk.
"Right. Then I assume you have a story for why and how you're connected to Spider-Girl? A mask won't work since she's already on the security footage."
"I heard that Kraven was coming here for her and came to evacuate her." The boy agreed.
"And why was Kraven after her?" I asked. "Keep in mind that with Kraven still alive he can tell his actual motives."
"I... Don't know?" He answered back.
"Good answer." I praised. "Here's a better one. You're under 18 right? You're both minors and the police can't question you without a parent or Guardian present. So just say that if they ask. Now call."
The call took less than a minute, Spider-Man asking for my office address briefly, me hanging the phone up rather than stay on the line.
"Why'd you do that?" Spider-Girl asked.
"Because we have a more important call to make." I replied.
"More important than EMS!?" Spider-Man asked, incredulous.
We can call them back, but right now I have a vigilante, his unmasked sister, and a bleeding supervillain in the lobby of my office and the cops are on their way. So I need a lawyer."
I stopped to consider that for a second. "And maybe you do too."
Who to call though... Neither of my Junior associates were criminal attorneys, and even if they were they weren't up to the task yet. Jennifer Walters was mostly Civil litigation too...
Law school connections it was then. I should still have his number saved in my phone.
"Aren't you a lawyer, Mister?" Spider girl asked confused.
I'm a civil litigation attorney. This is way out of my wheelhouse. But even if it weren't, the lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client. So we're going to call someone who actually deals with this superhero nonsense. Foggy Nelson."
I dialed the number.
"Of Nelson and Murdock?" Spider-Man asked. "Why not Matt Murdock?"
The look I shot the kid was one of abject horror at his bad judgement. "Because I don't want to go to jail. Foggy Nelson is an excellent attorney. Matt Murdock can't even show up to court hearings on time."
Foggy had complained to me more than once about his partner's perpetual tardiness. It definitely wasn't because of Matt's blindness either. All the other blind attorneys made their court appointments.
Actually, that was kind of weird that he knew any lawyers by name... Though Matt Murdock did make headlines sometimes and he did represent the Superhero community sometimes too, so maybe he just knew the firm's lackluster rainmaker better?
"Ferris? What's up? You haven't called in months." Came the immediate reply after one ring.
"I have a bleeding supervillain outside my door. The kid he was chasing after in my office whose name I don't know and also the kid Spider-Man is here and called 911 so the police are coming. How soon can you get here?"
"Fuck. Right. Okay. I'm still at the office but if I hurry I can catch a C train down to you. I'll be there in 15 to 20! Don't talk to the cops without me!"
"Of course not, Foggy. I'm not an idiot." I reply before he hung up.
I looked over at the male Spider-kid. "You got a cell phone, kid?"
"Not on me. Cops can track them and they break too easily."
I winced. Both my cell phone and my office phone were associated with me. Calling Spider-Man now would be a bad call since that was probably his civilian phone if the smaller Spider-Man was any indication.
I hadn't done anything wrong, of course. But I didn't want an errant search warrant to turn up a call to Spider-Man and destroy his secret identity.
"We'll have to wait for Foggy to arrive to call your dad then." I decided, focusing on my first aid training to keep Kraven stable.
A few minutes later I heard sirens. I looked at the kids.
"Do we need to stay?" Spider-Girl asked.
"That's legal advice." I grimaced. "I can't tell you that without being your attorney and I am thoroughly conflicted out of representing you here."
"I'd prefer if you didn't leave. Your brother is a vigilante, but you're just a kid I found wandering around who hasn't even given me her name. I'm going to take the 5th on anything about you, and you haven't done anything wrong, so you should be fine. But your brother's a wanted vigilante..."
"Stay here Mayday. I'll call your dad to pick you up." The smaller Spider-Man decided before heading into my office to leave as the elevator dinged.
I reshaped the hobbles as the paramedics rushed out and very quickly grabbed the unconscious Kraven and rushed back into the Elevator leaving behind a cop to talk to me and the newly named Mayday.
"Holy shit, that's Kraven the Hunter!" The cop cursed. "You take him out?"
"My attorney's coming. Foggy Nelson. I'm not gonna speak without him present, sorry. Law School training, you know?" I advised the cop.
"Yeah. I get it." The cop replied. "Don't suppose you got some coffee in there? Most of the department's been pulling double shifts for three days trying to find that lunatic."
I looked over at the coffee pot set up in the corner of reception. It was still half full though it was hardly a new batch.
"Yeah. I got some. You okay to stay here while I get it for you?" I asked.
"Don't want me following you in?" the cop laughed. "Don't worry, place is wide open with these glass panels by the door. Long as you stay in my sight I won't follow you in."
I nodded.
Mayday was seated on one of the waiting room chairs, doodling away again. I decided not to draw the cop's attention to her as I filled up a cup for the cop and brought it back.
"None for you?" The cop asked.
"Nah. I try to stay away from caffeine. Keep it for when I really need it. all-nighters and such." I admitted.
The cop nodded and took out his pad to start writing up his report, keeping an eye on me as he did.
We spent 10 minutes in silence before the elevator dinged and Foggy rushed out.
"That your lawyer?" The cop asked.
"Yeah. Foggy Nelson." I agreed. "He's representing me, but I'm not sure about the kid."
"The kid?" The cop asked. I motioned to where Mayday was sitting, quietly kicking her legs on the chair and drawing, just out of the cop's eye sight.
"Shit, that you're kid?" The cop asked.
"Nah. her dad's on the way though. I think? Was supposed to pick her up by Eight. I'm just watching her." I admit.
"Excuse me officer. Can I speak with my client before you start questioning him?" Foggy interrupted.
"Right. Lawyer. Go ahead. Stay in the entry way, but I'll stay in the hall."
I grimace. Attorney Client privilege doesn't attain on non-private conversations. If we were in the waiting room, Mayday would be an issue for confidentiality.
"You can wait in the Waiting room. We'll take the hall, but The girl's an unaccompanied minor,, so just remember you can't question her without her parent present."
The cop nodded. "I've taken the training. don't worry. No sense getting the DA on my ass again. I need to take some pictures of the scene anyway."
With that we left the cop in the office and closed the door retreating to the hall.
"What the fuck happened Ferris? I saw a picture of Kraven in the Bugle. Looks like you beat him half to death and then stabbed him the rest of the way! Why was he even at your office?" Foggy asked, anxious.
Foggy was bound by confidentiality to keep what I told him secret, and he, like most lawyers, took that responsibility seriously. He also couldn't defend me effectively if he was blindsided by facts I hadn't told him so my course was clear.
I told him everything.
"Around 4 o clock I saw the girl outside my window. She was running from someone and asked for help."
"On the 10th floor?"
"She was clinging to the building across the way."
"The fire escape?"
"The building." I clarified. "Like Spider-Man."
"Shit." Foggy pronounced eloquently.
"Exactly. She said that the bad lion man was chasing her so he could hold her hostage to force her dad to fight him. So I made a ladder, told her to come inside and had her call her dad."
Foggy pointedly didn't follow that thread to it's conclusion. "You called her dad? On your phone?"
"Yeah." I agreed. "Hours ago. and a bunch of people since then. No one since the incident."
"Right. we're getting there. What did her dad say?"
"He seemed exhausted, so I told him I'd be here 'til 8 and that I could protect her until he sent someone to pick her up."
"Against a supervillain? Are you crazy, Ferris!?"
Foggy knew a little about my abilities. Ferrokinesis I called it, though it wasn't, not really. Back when we were all studying at Empire State he'd regularly seen me make metal items out of nothing and seen them vanish back into nothing, he'd seen me reshape metal more permanently too.
He probably thought I was a mutant. Never held it against me though, unlike some.
Not that I am a Mutant. My powers came from the kinetic gate inside my soul. They were magic not a quirk of genetics.
"It was fine. I'm just a little stabbed. It'll heal."
"STABBED!" Foggy suddenly noticed the tear in my shirt, and the slight pinkening of the white shirt around the wound. "What the fuck?"
"Kraven had a Vibranium-tipped spear. It's in my umbrella stand right now. I wasn't expecting it. It wasn't enough to put me down."
"You fought him? Wait. No. We're doing this out of order. What happened next after you talked to the girl's dad?"
"I gave her a pen and some printer paper. She's been drawing ever since. Spider-Man sent the other Spider-Man, you know, the minor, over to collect her at 7:30. He was bleeding and his costume was a bit ripped so I started administering first aid."
"He was in costume? why?"
"Because I don't know the Dad's name. But I do know his daughter can climb walls and Kraven wants to fight him."
"Right, secret identity bullshit. Got it. What happened next?"
"The elevator dinged. It was around 7:30 PM, Me and the girl were the last people in the office, there's no other offices on this floor, and the only visitor I was expecting was already here."
"Trouble, got it. What did you do?"
"My powers are... a little more impressive than I let on in law school. No real need to stretch them, right? So I summoned some armor, and turned my entire body into living metal."
"Like that X-man?"
I knew the one Foggy was talking about. Colossus.
"Yeah, kind of like Colossus. But my hand was an electrified sword."
Foggy stared at me as if seeing me for the first time.
"Look, it's not like it's a useful ability for a lawyer. Usually." I explained trying to justify why I never showed it off.
Foggy nodded and looked at the security cameras. "I suppose that's all caught on tape?"
"Yeah, sorry for making you job harder." I admitted.
"You don't get to pick the facts of your cases." Foggy replied, reiterating the phrase that numerous Professors had bashed into our heads in Law School. "Right. What happened next?"
"He told me to step aside and that he was planning to kill Spider-Man. The minor, I mean. And he also said he was going to kidnap the girl."
"Defense of others. That one upside to this, at least. You didn't charge him did you?"
"No. I told him to leave and that if he tried to hurt the kids I'd be forced to hurt him."
"De-escalation. That's good. What happened next?"
"He charged me and stabbed me in the sternum. Would have hit me right in the heart if I still had one as living metal."
"So lethal force. And what happened after that?"
"I stabbed him in the shoulder and pulled the blade, which was also my hand, free. Then Spider-Man kicked him in the head and left that imprint in my floor. I started doing first aid, though I shaped my doorstop into some hobbled so that he couldn't get us if he woke up. I put the spear in the umbrella rack after yanking it out of my chest."
"You yanked it out!? That's... That's not what they teach you in first aid!"
"Foggy, it was stabbed through my heart. I couldn't leave it there when I reverted back to flesh."
Foggy grimaced. "I'm glad you aren't dead, Ferris. And amazed at the same time!"
"Right. the kid Spider-Man called 911. then I called you. then he left and said he'd tell the girl's dad to come get her."
"Does the girl have a name?" Foggy asked only for the elevator bell to ding once more.
"Mayday!"
The should preceded the shouter; a youngish guy with brown hair and blue eyes and a pair of coke bottle glasses. he was wearing baggy clothes and he looked absolutely exhausted.
"Peter Parker?" Foggy asked, identifying the guy who I had to assume was Spider-Man given the context just before the Tiny Redhead rushed out of my office and into his arms.
"Daddy!" She shouted.
"You know him?" I asked Foggy.
"Apparently not. Matt represented him a couple years back."
"Around when Spider-Man was suing the Bugle for libel over that whole murder thing with Paste Pot Pete?" I asked softly trying not to be heard.
"You know I can't tell you that, Ferris." Foggy chided.
"Right. Right. So he's also a client of the firm? You representing his daughter on this?"
"You okay with that? In writing?" Foggy asked, taking potential conflicts in representation very seriously.
"Yeah." I agreed.
The reunion had died down, only for Peter Parker to finally notice Foggy Nelson.
"Foggy? This isn't your office?" Peter asked, confused.
"It's mine. Ferris Franklin. We spoke on the phone."
"Right. Uh... Peter Parker. I'm Mayday's dad. Thanks for protecting her! I take a lot of pictures of Spider-Man so sometimes his villains come after me thinking I know how to find him."
I nodded as if I believed what he'd said. "Sure. No problem. I'm not a fan of people with spears threating kids anyway. Glad I could help."
At that point the Cop headed out after us.
"You done talking to your attorney?" The cop asked.
"Yeah. And Mayday's dad is here too." I gestured towards Peter.
"I'm representing her as well if need be." Foggy said.
"Nah. More trouble than it's worth, interviewing kids. There are security cameras and an eye witness. Shouldn't need to talk to her unless I have more questions after we speak." The cop replied.
"Alright. There's some coffee in the waiting room, Peter. You look like you need it."
"Right. Thanks for looking after Mayday for me. I really appreciate it."
"Go get a cup of coffee, Peter." Foggy motioned. "Go talk to your daughter. You're dead on your feet and the Cop won't want you hearing what we have to say."
The cop nodded.
"Speaking of which. The cop prompted pulling out his recorder and activating it. "What happened?"
"Can you be more specific?" Foggy prompted. "My client's just been in a very stressful situation and more directed questions might help him focus."
"Right. Okay, so can you start me off with why you were here at 7:30 at night?" the cop asked.
"I'm the named partner at the firm. I'm frequently here until 8pm working on my cases. In this situation I was also watching Mayday for Peter over there."
"Do you normally watch her?"
"No. This was the first time."
"How did that happen?"
I looked at Foggy and spoke slowly.
"I saw her outside. She was frightened and said that someone was chasing her, so I made a folding ladder with my powers and she climbed up into my window. I had her call her dad and he asked me if I could watch over her for a bit until he could pick her up."
"Powers?" the cop asked.
"That's not really relevant, is it?" Foggy asked.
"I think it is." the cop answered.
Foggy looked at me, but I shook my head. I didn't like the cops knowing I had powers, but if they pulled the surveillance footage they'd see them anyway, so better I get the chance to frame the powers my way.
"I can create and control metal around me, and I can also turn myself into metal." I replied.
"Like Magneto, huh? Is that why you have gold scales on your face?" The cop asked.
I reached up to feel them. Yeah. my scales were showing. My disguise spell must have work off.
"Not like Magneto. I'm nowhere near as powerful, and I'm pretty sure I'm not a mutant either. But yeah, I can hide the scales, but that must have worn off at some point." I admitted.
"Got it. We may need to circle back to that but let's move on for now." The cop replied. He was more nervous now, knowing I had powers, but he wasn't reaching for his gun, so that was a good sign at least.
"So the kid. This was your first time watching her and you never met her dad before now?" The cop asked.
"Never. But I wasn't going to leave a kid running away in the street like that."
"And you didn't call the cops?" The cop asked.
"Why?" I asked, confused. "I wasn't sure if there really was someone chasing her, and her dad was on his way to pick her up. Everything was fine."
"Until it wasn't." The cop agreed. "Which brings us to Kraven. What happened when he came by?"
"Actually, Spider-Man came by first. The black and red one that's short?"
"Spider-Man? What was he doing?"
"Bleeding, mostly. He looked like he'd been in a fight. First thing I did when I saw him was grab the first aid kit and start fixing him up."
"Why was he here?"
"I'm not actually sure? I assume it was related to Kraven. He might have said something but I was a bit focused on first aid, so I don't remember what he said."
"Okay, so what happened next?"
I looked over at Foggy. he trusted me on this, but I could see he was ready to jump in if I needed help.
"The elevator bell rang, and I was expecting someone to pick up the girl, but well, superheroes don't show up unannounced and bleeding at law firms, so I activated my power. Turned into metal and summoned some armor and told Spider-Man and the Kid to stay behind me."
"Brave." The cop commented.
"The kid had said she was being chased and here was Spider-Man half beaten to death. I was the only adult around and I wasn't gonna let someone hurt a kid."
"Spider-Man wasn't an adult?" The cop asked.
"I'm... not sure?" I admitted. "He was very short if he was an adult. I didn't think he was an adult, but I didn't exactly see him outside his costume."
"Right." The Cop replied. "So who came out of the elevator?"
"It was Kraven. He told me to step aside and I wouldn't be hurt. he just wanted to murder Spider-Man and kidnap the girl."
"Why did he want to kidnap the girl?"
"He didn't say." I admit readily. "But he's the same guy who emptied the Bronx Zoo to hunt rhinos in the middle of the street; so who the fuck knows why? He's out of his goddamn mind."
The cop laughed. "Him and all the other costumed lunatics in this fucking city. But good point. What happened next?"
"I told him to leave and he wouldn't be hurt but I wasn't about to allow him to murder anyone in my office and I definitely wasn't allowing him to kidnap a kid. You see what he wears? An open-chested lion vest? Man's a sexual deviant if I ever saw one. I'm not letting him anywhere near kids." I replied.
"And how did he respond?"
"He stabbed me in the chest. Right here." I motioned toward the tear in my dress shirt.
"I don't suppose you have a spare shirt? I'm gonna need that as evidence."
"Yeah. I keep a spare suit in my office for court. Shirt included." I agree.
"Wait a sec. Did he stab you in the Sternum? How are you not dead?"
"I was made of solid metal at the time," I admitted.
"How'd his spear get through then?"
"Not sure. I think it's got a vibranium spear head, but you guys would know more than I would. It's in the Umbrella Stand in the reception area. Didn't want to leave it in his reach."
"Vibranium? Damn. Okay. He just stabbed you, what happened next?"
"It's kind of a blur? I stabbed him in the shoulder I think. And then Spider-Man kicked him in the face into the floor." I motioned to the Kraven-shaped dent in the floor.
"Right. and next?"
"He was out cold, but he was bleeding, so I reshaped my doorstop into a set of leg cuffs, moved his spear out of the way, told Spider-Man to call 911, and started working on stabilizing him."
"He wake up at all?"
"Kraven? No."
"Anyone else?"
"Well, I was certainly a lot more alert after being stabbed. Turning back from being metal healed me a little though."
"So no?"
"No. no one else was asleep."
"You call anyone else?"
"Just my lawyer here."
Foggy nodded loyally.
"Right. thanks. I still have a few questions for the kid. You need to talk to your clients?" The cop asked my lawyer.
"Yeah. Haven't had a chance to do so yet." Foggy agreed.
"I'll go get my spare shirt."
I headed back into my office and changed into my shirt. The building would have the security footage, so nothing to do about that. And the sooner I got that spear away from me the sooner I didn't have to relive being stabbed by it.
I walked out of the office to see cop grabbing the spear.
"Right. well that's all I need from all of you. This is as clear cut a case of self-defense as I've ever heard of. Didn't even hit the bastard 'til he'd already stabbed you."
"You'll have to go through building management for the security tapes." I offered. "My office doesn't have them."
"Nah. Partner's already rounded those up. Your story jives with what he saw."
I nodded, relived, but not surprised.
"Thanks for the assist with Kraven, by the way. Crazy bastard's had the whole force on edge. Glad it wasn't one of those vigilantes that got him. Self-defense by a civilian makes the prosecution a lot easier. Lot easier to call you as a witness than Spider-Man."
I nodded, already knowing that particular issue from my 1L lectures back in law school. "Yeah. Thanks for taking him in, officer; and for getting that spear out of here. I'm gonna have nightmares."
"I'll send you a copy of the police report for your insurance. And if you wanna sue the asshole, he seems like he has a bunch of money."
"That's what my lawyer's for." I agree.
The cop strolled over to the elevator, still at our floor from when Peter rushed out of it, and after pressing the button he headed inside.
I relaxed as the door closed and headed back into my office reception area.
I looked over at Peter.
"Right, so, cards on the table. Your daughter was clinging to the side of a wall on the 10th floor when I met her. And you sent your son to my office in costume. So I'm pretty sure I know who you are. But I'm not gonna press you on that. I told the cop I saw your kid outside and made a ladder to help her into my window, which is true, but I didn't mention the wall-crawling."
"Thanks." Peter smiled back looking brittle. "I appreciate that."
"You have my number. Call me if you need me. But I need to talk to Foggy about suing Kraven now for assault and emotional distress."
"Kravinoff. His name's Sergei Kravinoff. He's Russian Aristocracy."
I turn to Foggy. "In Rem jurisdiction?"
"Probably. Yeah."
"Still wanna take the case?" I ask.
"Sue a spear wielding lunatic? Sure. It'll be a nice change of pace from getting attacked by Ninjas when he snaps and comes after us." Foggy replied.
Hell's Kitchen did have an unusually high number of Ninja attacks for a neighborhood right next to the theater district. Here in the Village I mostly had to worry about weird magical monsters from other dimensions. And drunk college students...
"You wanna take this on retainer or contingent fee?" I asked.
"He might not have any accounts in the US for us to get In-rem jurisdiction over..." Foggy admitted.
"Right. Retainer it is then. What's your billable rate?"
"$50 an hour." Foggy replied.
"Really? You're a named partner, why is it so low?"
"It's actually $25 an hour. Most of our clients are a lot poorer than you are." Foggy looked around my immaculate waiting room. "Or your clients."
I nodded. "$50 is fine. Let me get my check book for the retainer."
When I came back, Peter Parker and his kid were gone. I wrote out a check for $25,000. 500 hours on retainer made out to Nelson and Murdock. I knew Foggy and he wouldn't cheat me. "Tell me if that runs out?"
Foggy nodded. "It shouldn't. We're pretty experienced in suing supervillains now. Even in rem. We're not gonna be doing this from first principles, and the criminal case and the Surveillance footage will do most of the work for us."
"I'll request a copy for you." I agreed.
"Thanks. Pleasure working with you. I'll call you next time I need someone to defend me."
I nodded before realizing something.
"You mean in court, right?"
Foggy didn't answer as he headed towards the elevator.
"You mean in court, right Foggy?"
No reply as he strolled into the elevator.
Fuck. He'd better have meant in court.
THE END (or to be continued? Uncertain)
_____________________
Right. so that kind of possessed me and I wrote it all in one go over the course of what appears to be most of today (I took a 4 hour break to run a Tabletop RPG game in the middle of it though).
The keen-eyed among you will realize there is only one 12 story building near the site of the former McDonalds on West 4th and 6th Ave, and there's no similar building across from it. To which I say, artistic license and also NYC probably has a lot of different buildings with Super Villains breaking the existing ones left and right.
Even more eagle-eyed viewers will recognize where I got the main character's powers from. A No Prize for anyone who ID's that.
Not sure if I'll continue this. It feels more like a collection of vignettes type of story rather than a single continuing arc.