Co-Written with My2BrownEyes. This story takes place in the MCU - namely Daredevil and Antman (because Luis). Also this is my first fic, so feedback is appreciated!

PROLOGUE

It all started with a phone call. At least that's how it started for Matt Murdock. He was in his office at Nelson & Murdock, when his phone rang.

"Matthew Murdock. How can I help you?" "

"Hi, Mr. Murdock, you're a lawyer, right?"

"That's right," he replies.

"Cool. 'Cause I need one. Like bad."

Whoever was on the other line wasn't from New York. "Tell me your name and where you are."

"Oh, right. My name is Luis Santiago. I'm in jail. Eighteenth precinct."

"I'll be right there." Before he left, Matt told his best friend and partner Foggy Nelson and their receptionist Karen Page where he was going. The office was small, so getting around would normally not be too difficult for the blind man. But most of their clients paid with food and favors, so there were a few obstacles in his way as he made his way to the front office with the large window.

"Can he pay?" Foggy asked.

"Does it matter?"

"No, but actual money would be a nice change."

"I'll see what I can do." Matt heads out, sunglasses on his face and stick sweeping the ground.

CHAPTER ONE

This was not a case she would normally fly out to New York City for. Jessica Drew usually saved travel for the most dangerous criminals who decided to skip their court date. There had been a few of those, over the years. Not as many as she'd like. But she owed Scott a favor. At least that's what she told herself. If Jess were being honest with herself (never), she'd have to admit that she found Luis endearing in an annoying younger brother sort of way. Not that she had any sort of family experience to draw on. Regardless, Jess would help him however she could.

Unfortunately, Jessica didn't have a lot of information to go on. All she could get from Scott was that Luis had gone out to New York to visit his cousin. Apparently got convinced to do something illegal and had gotten caught. Thankfully, Luis had enough sense to get a lawyer.

Which is where Jessica currently found herself. She paused to make sure the sign on the building read "Nelson and Murdock: Attorneys at Law" to make sure she was in the right spot (it was). Jess took another moment to straighten her appearance – she had no idea what kind of person this Matthew Murdock was, but she'd had enough run ins with lawyers to know how quickly some could write you off based on appearance alone. Not that it would matter if this one did. She just needed information. And if he didn't give it, she would just break in later to snoop around anyway.

Whatever Jessica had expected to find upon entering the law offices of Nelson and Murdock it wasn't baskets of food stacked up wherever there was space. Her eyes darted around assessing the situation. Thankfully it wasn't currently busy. There was a blonde woman sitting at the desk in the center of the room, looking expectantly at her. Right manners. "Hello, I'm looking for a Matthew Murdock?"

"Uh, sure." She smiled then looked down at her appointment calendar. There was nothing there. "So you don't have an appointment, but the good news is that Matt is free." She looked up and smiled, taking in the motorcycle jacket, long black hair, and green eyes. There was no denying the woman was beautiful. And as Foggy so often liked to point out, if there was a beautiful woman, Matt somehow always gravitated toward them. "Your name and what you'd like to see Matt about?"

The way the woman looked at her didn't go unnoticed but Jess ignored it for now. She made her way further into the room toward the desk. Smiling politely, she held her hand out toward the woman. Jessica always hated this part. Making nice, the small talk. It set her on edge. As a general rule, she preferred to avoid people. But sometimes it was unavoidable. "My name is Jessica Drew. I'm here to speak with him about a client he recently had."

Karen was surprised by the offered hand. Most people treated her as a receptionist and didn't bother with that sort of thing. She took the hand. "I'm Karen Page. Which it says on my desk, so you probably knew that." She got up from her desk and headed to the back office. She knocked on the door before opening it. "There's a Jessica Drew here to talk about a recent client."

Matt knew that already, had heard their conversation. But he smiled and asked Karen to show the woman in. After adjusting his sunglasses, he stood. "Ms. Drew." His suit was dark grey, rumpled, inexpensive. His tie was black and on the thin side. The sunglasses he wore had red round lenses that almost completely obscured his eyes, providing a perfect scarlet reflection of whatever was in front of them. They looked good with his dark auburn hair. He had a small cut on his chin that would seem to be from shaving except that there was a hint of a bruise on either side of it. "I'm not sure how I can help you. As you probably know, I am obligated to keep all communication between me and my clients confidential." His voice had a pleasant rumble to it. "But you're welcome to ask any question you'd like."

Jessica thanked Karen and closed the office door behind her. She took a moment to evaluate the man before her. The rumpled suit, the tie, the glasses, the sound of his voice. At first glance he seemed like one of those attractive nerds you would see on a television sitcom. But the bruise on his face and the way she could see herself reflected in his sunglasses set Jessica on edge. She felt as if she was being judged and she hadn't even opened her mouth yet. "Mr. Murdock." Jessica returned the greeting in kind as she took a seat opposite of the lawyer. She took a moment more to regard the lawyer before deciding to just get right to the point. Her accent was clearly British, but there was warmth to it. "I'm here in regards to one Luis Santiago. You helped him get released on bail. However, it would seem that Mr. Santiago has skipped his court date. I'm here to bring him back in, but he seems to have disappeared completely."

"I did. He has. I was not happy about that." Matt had stood waiting in the courtroom for his client calling the one phone number he had for him, but the man never showed up. He tried family, but Luis' mom had died recently, and his father had been deported. On the plus side, Mr. Santiago's disappearance caused an alluring woman to come see him. There was something about her, something different, something that made him want to help her. "And your interest in Mr. Santiago is…?" He focused on her heartbeat.

Jessica leaned forward in her chair and clasped her hands together. "I'm a bounty hunter, Mr. Murdock. What do you think my interest in Mr. Santiago is?" She leaned back and considered the lawyer again. He didn't need to know she was actually here as a favor for someone else. Jessica was actually fairly certain the bond company had another agent out to bring Luis in already. But Scott's hunches were never wrong. If he thought Luis was in over his head, he probably was. "I understand Mr. Santiago is a flight risk, but seventy-five thousand dollars is a lot of bail money for someone whose biggest crime previously was stealing a couple of smoothie machines from Baskin Robbins." Jess was still amused by that. They had been really great smoothies though. "You were the last person to see him, Mr. Murdock. Given that I am not from around here, I was hoping you could possibly point me in the right direction. Your client shows up to court, I get paid and you never have to hear from me again."

Matt learned two things. First, she was telling him the truth. Second, she was not telling him the entire truth. That intrigued him. As she finished, he smirked at the 'last person to see him' comment. "Ms. Drew, I can honestly tell you that I've never seen my client." He knew it was a dick move when he said it, but he couldn't resist. "The bail was set high because Mr. Santiago, in addition to being charged with breaking and entering and armed robbery, is also not from around here. Given his lack of home and ties to the community, he was seen as a flight risk. He was actually lucky to get any bail at all," he informed her. "But I'm that good. What I can do is give you the number I have for him. But I should warn you I've been calling it with no success."

Wow he was a cocky son of a bitch. "Of course you haven't." Jess responded drily. She had known what the sunglasses meant and certainly she could have phrased herself better. He didn't have to be such a dick about it though. The bounty hunter crossed her arms with a frown as she considered the rest of the information Murdock gave her. Armed robbery wasn't Luis' style. Far from it. "Yeah, I'll take that phone number. I want to see if it matches what I have."

He turned to his computer with the special braille reader and keyboard to retrieve Luis' file. "So where are you from?" His question was equal parts curiosity and wanting to fill the silence while he searched for the number.

"San Francisco." Jess answered simply, though she wondered if her answer would throw him off like it threw off others. It was her typical answer to that particular question. People always seemed disconcerted by her answer to the point where they didn't seem to want ask anything else. Jess encouraged it. The less she was around people the better. Not that she couldn't fake it if she needed to.

Given that Luis also resided in San Francisco, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out this wasn't just another case to her. Matt figured she either knew him, knew a friend of his, or knew an enemy. Whichever it was, instead of throwing him off, her answer only fed his suspicions and made him more determined to learn more. His head tilted slightly to get a better read on her heart. "How do you know Luis Santiago?"

She should've figured that wouldn't work with a lawyer. Still, she couldn't help but grin. "I've had success bringing Luis in before." Granted, that had been in San Fransisco. Most of her skips didn't make it this far before she got to them. Not that she had been looking for Luis back in California. Murdock didn't need to know that though.

He lifted his chin in thought. After giving her the number he had for Luis, he decided to ask her another question. "What are your impressions of him?"

"Thanks." Jess wrote the number down and slid the paper into her jacket pocket. She'd look at it later. "Well, he was one of the easier skips to bring in." Jess figured that was an honest enough answer to a question she hadn't been expecting. She didn't like how easily she was answering his questions. She was better than that. Why did he care about what she thought about Luis anyway? Despite her reservations, she expanded on her answer a bit. "He seems like a nice enough sort, but also seems to consistently make bad decisions."

Matt nodded slowly at that. "Definitely not one of the brighter criminals. I think he got in over his head, was probably told it was an easier job than it really was. Do you already have the particulars of the case?" He bit his lip after asking that. If she was any good at bounty hunting, she already did. And that made his question sound misogynistic. "Of course, you do. You're not an amateur."

So, it seemed as though she and Mr. Murdock were on the same page in that regard. Jess wasn't sure she liked that or not. But it didn't matter, because his next words caused her to bristle, despite his attempt at back peddling. What a pompous ass. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Murdock, I should be going." She replied, her voice oozing politeness as she stood up. Jess took a moment to lean in towards the lawyer and lowered her voice as if sharing a secret. "If you're really just "that good" I would think you would dress better." It was an immature and petty thing to say, but Jess had had enough. She turned and strode out Matt's office, closing the door behind her. She gave a friendly little wave to Karen to keep up appearances before heading to the motorcycle she had parked outside the office.

All Matt could think was that it could have gone better. He didn't even get her phone number. It didn't matter. He'd listen for Luis tonight on the roof.