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]

"Sounds like the evidence is all circumstantial...and that you...or it...carried her out of the fire. That doesn't sound malicious to me." Matt keeps his voice low as they travel up the metal stairs. His apartment is near the top and with his baton, he's got enough leverage to get the window open.

"But tonight's not the night to discuss culpability and circumstance. That's my day job," he says with a smirk, pulling the window open more as he lets David in the apartment first, following and shutting the window behind him. The apartment is dark, not that that's a hindrance to Matt's senses. But at least it's much warmer than the outside night air.

Matt pulls off his mask with a sigh. He can smell the smoke from the fire on it.

[incrediblegreen]

David's lost two people very close to him in a fire, which probably hadn't helped him keep calm earlier tonight. He gives a shiver while he waits for Matt to lever the window open, but he's very glad for the warmth of the place when they're finally inside. He stops to let his eyes adjust from the streetlight to the darkness of Matt's place. For a moment he's blind, but it also lets him realize just how much his eyes also sting from the earlier fire. With a sigh, he finally lets out a cough, practically smelling the smoke all over again between himself and Matt.

"Legalities later. I think we both need some basic first-aid. I can take care of your head once we've cleaned up."

[daredevilawyer]

"Why? Is there something wrong with my head?" Matt asks, tongue in cheek. He moves easily through the apartment, flicking on a lightswitch for his friend to see. It has changed little from the last time David was there. A small cough as he opens a cabinet to feel around and another before finding the first aid kit. Everything labeled in braille on it. This gets set on the table and Matt goes to find David some clothes. Returning with sweat pants and shirt. "Hope these will do for now."

[incrediblegreen]

David knows his way around a first-aid kit, even if it's in braille. He takes the time though, to wash his hands and first, splashing cool water up his arms to help alleviate the warmth sticking to his skin. It was like having a bad sunburn, but he wanted to stitch up Matt's head first. It wouldn't take much, but the stitch would help the wound heal more subtly.

David is glad for the clothes, but wants to clean the soot off of him before he changes. However, he's more interested in Matt's well-being and pulls out a chair, depending on the sound of the legs on the floor to indicate its location to the astute man.

"Sit down. We'll get this out of the way for you." David wanted to keep his fussing to a minimum, he already knew how proud Matt was, and didn't want to be a bother. At least not any more than he's already been tonight.

Privately, he wonders just exactly what Matt did to delay the dogged McGee, but knows it will only be temporary. He'll need to get on the move again to avoid the inquisition that's soon to follow. It will soon feel like the reporter is in every corner, just waiting for David to turn around. He had to figure out a way to leave once he was sure Matt wouldn't need someone to mind that suture for infection.

[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.