It wasn't often that Matt left Hell's kitchen, and if he was honest, he did not like it. Hell's Kitchen was familiar and he knew the layout, but today he was in a whole other part of the city. At night perhaps it might not have been so bad, but now, during the middle of the day, the streets were crowded and the road noise was almost intolerable to him. He had to rely heavily on his cane for navigation as he was receiving far too much input to receive a reliable picture of his surroundings.
Foggy hadn't realized how much Matt would have rather not left their office, when he asked if Matt could run an errand that would take him outside of Hell's kitchen. After learning that Matt was Daredevil, he had begun treating him differently. Despite being glad that Foggy was no longer overly preoccupied with his safety when they weren't together, Matt wished that Foggy would understand that so called superpowers or not, he was in fact blind, and even if he could get around just fine on his own and protect himself, he was at a disadvantage in many other ways.
Mainly information. People with sight never seemed to realize just how much information was conveyed through visual means, and though more advancements were being made for people who were blind, it was still incredibly difficult at times. Being in a new part of the city that he was unfamiliar to, without a guide, probably wasn't something he usually would have attempted, but with Foggy still upset and not understanding, he hadn't protested. Matt had memorized a map of this part of the city beforehand, and when he had gotten off of the subway at his stop, he carefully kept track of the streets.
Matt was three blocks from his intended location, doing his best to tune out the disruptive noise of the city, when a sequences of concerning noises caught his attention. The first was the sound of screeching tires. The beeping of the crosswalk alarms alerted him that with the shrinking distance between the truck and the intersection and the apparent speed of the vehicle, it would not stop in time for the light. With a bit of franticness, Matt extended his senses toward the crosswalk of the intersection he had just finished crossing and froze for a moment. There was a man crossing, still in the road and talking on his phone. He was clearly entirely oblivious to the rapidly approaching danger.
Before another moment could pass, Matt turned, abandoning his cane in haste and spinning back to face the stranger, rushing forward and tackling the man out of the way just in time for the truck to brush passed them in a rush of air, the still screeching tires grating on his eardrums. Matt groaned and rolled off the man, bringing a hand up to his head. The throbbing pain that was there was not only caused by the overstimulation of his senses, but he seemed to have hit his head as well when he had dived to rescue the man.
"You saved my life." The man said, his voice carrying a tone of shock. "That truck would have run me over." Matt didn't answer, trying to gain his bearings. The people in the surrounding area had stopped and many were chattering excitedly, adding to the noise surrounding them. Hitting the ground had dazed him enough that he was completely disoriented. "Woah." The man exclaimed. "Are you blind? How did you even—" The man paused, snorting quietly and allowing his question to die off. "Nevermind. We can discuss that later. Right now we need to get out of the road." Matt heard the man get to his feet. He realized that he should get up as well, but couldn't seem to get the message to his legs at the moment. Then there was a moment of silence. "Oops, sorry. I was offering you my hand, but of course you couldn't—do you need some help getting up?"
Matt held out his hand and was pulled to his feet. He slipped his hand up to grasp just above the man's elbow, steadying himself. A sudden wave of dizziness caused him to tighten his grip. The still increasing noise from the gathering crowd was making his disorientation worse, and he realized that he couldn't concentrate enough at all to get an idea of his surroundings. "Do you see my cane?" He asked, beginning to feel anxious.
The man turned back towards the road and made a small noise of dismay. "The truck ran it over. It's in pieces." Matt sighed, unintentionally gripping the man's arm more firmly. He needed to contact Foggy. Foggy would come and pick him. He did not regret pushing the man out of the way, but now he felt rather helpless. His faint dizziness combined with the loss of his cane would make it nearly impossible to get back on his own. And his growing headache was making everything even more disorienting. He was grateful that the man that he was holding onto wasn't making a big deal of the fact that he was clearly staring to panic. He hadn't said anything about Matt clinging to him and hadn't acted in the least uncomfortable. The man led him further away from the edge of the road. "Look, my place is literally half a block away, and you really don't look so good right now and these people are animals. How about I take you there and you can call someone."
"I can get back. Just because—" He was protesting before he really even realized it.
"Hey, calm down. I'm sure you could find your way back normally, but right now you can't walk straight even holding onto my arm, and your cane is broken because of me. No way I let you try to get home on your own. Let's get out of here first, alright?"
"Hmm? Oh. Okay, then." Matt suddenly realized that the man had been leading him while he wasn't paying attention. "I'm Matt. Matt Murdock."
The man suddenly paused and Matt knew he had turned to look at him. "Oh. Of course you didn't recognize…I'm Tony Stark."
Matt felt a wave of shock fill him as he suddenly placed why the voice had seemed slightly familiar. He had heard it from many TVs over the last few years. Well at least if he was going off with a random stranger it was someone could trust. Despite the bizarre and irresponsible persona the man presented to the public, Matt was certain that he wouldn't bring him to harm. And they weren't in Hell's Kitchen, where strangers were not to be trusted at all for the most part. Tony continued forward and then they entered a building. They went up an elevator, and then Matt was led to a couch. He sat down, bringing a hand up to his head. He was bleeding—not much, but a swollen lump on the side of his forehead was oozing steadily. His senses were still on overdrive but giving him no useful feedback due to either the adrenaline or the injury, and he knew a migraine was coming. "Do you have something I could use to stop the bleeding?" A damp cloth hit him in the face before he could catch it. His senses were really off.
"I'm sorry!" Tony exclaimed. "That was really stupid of me."
A snort escaped him and he brought the cloth to his forehead. The coolness of the cloth felt good against his aching head. "No. really, it's okay. You'd be surprised at how annoying people can be when they act like I'm broken. You forgetting is a refreshing change. Most people see the blindness before me."
"I don't know anyone who is blind, so if you want something specific you'll need to tell me. And I've never been most people. Thanks, you know. I don't think I said that. Pepper is going to kill me when she hears I almost got ran over. And because I was on my phone nonetheless. Next time I fly. Clearly the roads aren't any safer for me than my suit—she'll have to accept that logic."
Tony sighed at sank onto the couch beside Matt. "Let me see how bad it is." Matt pulled the cloth away from his forehead and Tony leaned forward. "That is going to need to be looked at. I have someone who can clean it for you—a friend. He's down in one of the labs. It's the least I could do. He's not technically a medical doctor, but he has lots of experience as one."
"Sure." Matt said. It wouldn't hurt to have someone look at him, and it wasn't as if he usually had a doctor. Claire wasn't a nurse either, but she seemed to be plenty capable of looking after him. And it seemed like Tony would insist if he refused, and he wasn't up to an argument.
"And are you sure you are alright, anyway? You look really pale."
Matt gave a small shrug and winced. "I don't need a doctor. I didn't hit my head hard. It's just… it's normal. You can get your friend up here, and by the time he's done, my friend can probably get here to take me home."
"I can have someone give you a ride, you know." Tony said softly. "You sure you don't need a hospital?"
"I don't need a hospital." Matt suddenly brought his other hand up to his head as it abruptly began to throb worse than it had before. Suddenly all the surrounding noises seemed to be magnified even more than usual. He gritted his teeth, bracing himself against the sudden, intense pain. "I need…" Matt pulled out his phone and dialed Foggy before pushing the phone at Tony. "Foggy knows. Right now I can't…I need…" He trailed off and rubbed his fingers against his temples, holding his head. It was definitely going to be a bad one. He heard Foggy answer the phone as Tony held the phone to his ear.
What's up, Matty? I thought we agreed not to bother each other today.
Tony glanced at Matt before speaking. "Not Matt. He's here with me, and he's not looking so good, but he insists he's fine and doesn't need a hospital."
Hold on a second! Is he alright? What happened to him?
"He's mostly alright, I think. There was a truck, and he pushed me out of the way. He hit his head, but not hard—or so he says. I don't know what is wrong. He insisted that I call you. Can you come?"
Of course. Where are you?
"My bag." Matt forced out, causing Tony to turn and stare at him for a few moments. "Tell him."
"He said something about a bag? I'm sorry, he's not very clear right now."
His bag? Oh. Yeah, I'll bring it. You can believe him then—he should be okay. Where am I meeting you?
"Avengers Tower."
Avengers… There was a snort on the other end of the line, confusing Tony. I'll be there as soon as possible—twenty-five minutes max. Until I get there just… turn off anything you can that is making noise and get rid of anything strongly scented. And stay with him. I'm on my way now. Foggy hung up, and Tony set down the phone, somewhat amused. That was one of the stranger phone conversations he had had.
"JARVIS, get it as quiet as you can in here."
"Of, course, sir. Dr. Banner is on his way up now. He is currently in the elevator."
Matt had stopped acknowledging Tony. The man's heartbeat pounded in his ears, his anxiety was broadcasted clearly to Matt. He heard the elevator arrive and then suddenly there was another person. Even through the haze that had settled over his mind, Matt found himself curious—drawn to the stranger. Though just as loud as Tony's, this man's heartbeat was calm and steady in a strange, almost controlled manner.
"JARVIS told me you needed me." The man said, and Matt winced, causing Tony to warn him to be quieter. Matt wasn't really able to answer the man's question, only forcing out that he did not want to go to the hospital. The man—who had introduced himself as Bruce—seemed doubtful, but agreed to wait and let Foggy make that determination when he arrived. Matt felt the man feel around the wound with gentle fingers before he spoke. "There is some dirt in it. It's really best that we clean it now before it starts to heal at all, but it will hurt a bit."
Matt gave a slight nod. The pain of the wound being cleaned was nothing compared to the pain building in his head. Even in this tower on the seventy-fifty floor he could hear the voices of the people on the street below as if they were right beside him. Still, he couldn't help but flinch as his wound was cleaned. After what seemed like hours, Tony and Bruce withdrew, leaving him to himself. Without their distraction, Matt slipped into a state of oblivion, unaware of everything except the noise and pain.