Still of the Night

[daredevilawyer]

People yelling.
Sirens blaring.
Gunshots.

A typical night in Hell's Kitchen.

Only this one was a little louder than usual. A building near the edge of the city had exploded into flames, the police swarming to the scene with their usual inefficiency. Daredevil had heard the explosion across town and was running along the rooftops to investigate. The police scanners squauking confusion and mayhem as they didn't know what kind of thing was tearing through the flames as they were trying to take it down.

Matt paused on the rooftop nearest the building in question, the heat palpable even from this distance. He could hear repeated gunfire and calls from the police trying to get control of the situation. And then a large crash over the crackling flames.

That sounded suspiciously like a car being thrown.

Comments

[daredevilawyer]

Lacking the ability to roll his eyes, Matt does as instructed. "Sure I couldn't just put a bandaid on it? Say that I ran into a door?" He suspects that would be a terrible cover story.

His face is smudged with soot from the fire, the wound in question having dried blood down the side of his face. He wishes he could see how bad it was but reluctantly having to depend on David's eyes to fix this one for him. Maybe his hair would keep anyone at the office from asking questions if the stitches were under it. His eyes looking off at nothing in particular. "If there's anything else you need...?" He leaves that an open ended question, knowing that David liked to keep moving. "You're welcome to stay if you need to."

[incrediblegreen]

David starts by carefully cleaning the wound and the area around it. Should save Matt the trouble initially and he can leave instructions later.

"Thank you. I think, I might try staying a day or two, just to help. After that, and McGee will get too close for me to stay around here. He's very determined, and very good. Stubborn to a fault." He gives a dry laugh, almost like he's talking about an old friend. At one point they almost were, when David was dragging the wounded reporter through brush to save him from a raging wildfire.

[daredevilawyer]

Matt sets his jaw as he keeps still as he can for the doctoring of his head wound. He wasn't one to show weakness if he could help it.

"One would think," he says, teeth clenched slightly, "nobody would believe his story."

[incrediblegreen]

David is too focused on tending to the small gash to feel the need to shake his head. He determines that a single stitch and some simple combing should be enough to hide the wound, and if they can keep the bruising down Matt should have fewer questions asked.

"I could only wish. Enough people have witnessed the creature, including scientists and credible sources, like your friend Tindelli, that he seems to get just enough traction to stay on my trail. I haven't had him come this close in a while though."

[daredevilawyer]

Fewer questions are good in his line of work. Its better if his day and night jobs don't meet up with each other. The first aid kit is a good one, but it's hardly a surgeon's tray. He's lucky to have the needle and thread.

"One could argue that enough people have seen flying saucers too, that doesn't make them credible witnesses." Tindelli, however, that was another matter and Matt knew it. He's quiet for awhile, thinking to himself. "Must be quite a life..." he thinks aloud without realizing. Moving from place to place, never settling down. Matt imagines what that must be like.

[incrediblegreen]

"True." David sets about to sterilizing the needle and getting everything ready when he hears Matt musing out loud. He contemplates whether to answer and then decides to respond as a way of passing the time he takes prepping.

"It's a life." The implied shrug can be heard in his voice. "Not the one I ever thought I'd lead, but it's not a bad way to live. I've been all over the country, and the people I've met, well..." He smiles, giving an amused chuckle. "It's never dull meeting a new person. Or meeting up with old acquaintances."

[daredevilawyer]

A smile on Matt's face, remembering how he first met David in the jail cells.

"You did not always think that way." He would suspect there's good days and bad when it came to the Hulk. Even if he hadn't actually seen it with his own eyes.

[incrediblegreen]

"I - have my days." David sighs as he finishes his work. He still prefers to stay buried, but when he runs into people like Matt, he remembers that perhaps he's not as alone as he feels.

"Others, I remember I'm not the only one getting myself into trouble." He quietly huffs an amused sound, threading the needle and setting a hand on Matt's head, moving the hair aside. "Alright, just one stitch should do it. Unfortunately we're taking a few leaps back in medical practices." He couldn't find any localized anesthetic in the kit, so Matt will have to tough it out, but it's not like David will be setting a limb or doing major surgery. He feels bad causing any additional pain, but there's not much of an option here.

[daredevilawyer]

"Make a few if you think it necessary, doctor," Matt says with a smirk that says he was game for it. The fact that he couldn't see the needle might work to his advantage in this case. "I promise not to sue for your barbaric medical practices."

[incrediblegreen]

"Well, the good news is you won't look like Frankenstein's monster when I'm done, with stitches all along your face. The bad news is, Victor was my lab partner." David makes quick work of the stitch, snipping the threads close to the scalp and then dabbing with some ointment to prevent infection.

"All set. Try not to bother it too much, and we might be able to take the stitch out before I leave." David washes his arms again, hissing quietly when he is quickly reminded that while his hands are healing, the burns there are still tender. He bears the pain while he cleans his hands, but then turns the water cold, relieving some of the pain with a sigh. He saw some aloe in the kit, but right now, he can feel the stress in his shoulders slowly unwinding from the unwelcome reminder of the fire earlier tonight and doesn't want to move.

[daredevilawyer]

"Too bad it's nowhere near Halloween, I might be able to pull that off." Matt reaches up to feel where the stitch was and 'see' what it looked like. David did good work.

He could hear David hissing at the sink as he stood up. "You're hurt too?" It was a pretty big fire, he shouldn't have assumed David would escape unscathed.

[incrediblegreen]

"I'll be fine in a moment." He takes another relieved breath, letting it out slowly and closing his eyes as the cool water calms him. He knows to be more careful but he has to watch that he doesn't fall into the trap of berating himself for being too hasty in his habits.

"If you could grab the aloe, that would be helpful. I didn't quite make it out of the fire untouched. One of the few, uh, benefits of my condition I guess, is that tomorrow this will be mostly gone." Another breath and his heart settled into its regular, calm pace and he opened his eyes, almost warily but was even more relieved to see that they hadn't changed.

[daredevilawyer]

His hands ghost over the braille labels, finding the right one and bringing it over. "You heal fast?" He hadn't really gotten into the specifics of what goes on when David changes. He only knew second hand details from those who could see.

[incrediblegreen]

"I do." David pulls his hands out from under the water, turning off the sink and gently patting them dry as Matt comes over with the aloe. "Thank you."

"We calculated that my metabolic rate increases something on the order of six-times what it should be. Even if I don't change, I've noticed that I still heal at an accelerated rate, though one comparatively modest to what the creature is capable of." David applies the ointment carefully, but the sensation of relief far outweighs any pain from handling the healing skin. "I've since been doing occasional research on the effect, and trying to find safe applications. I may not ever find a cure for myself, but I might have opened a window for science to find cures for other diseases instead."

[daredevilawyer]

Interesting, though apparently it hadn't been enough in the face of the blazing inferno they had escaped. "I see," Matt says, a faint pang of hope at thinking maybe....someday....he might be able to see again.

A vain hope perhaps but it was still there.