Law, Sex, and Rock and Roll [open]

[Daredevil]

It was sometimes a bit of a surprise to Matt Murdock how people didn’t mistake his office for one of the smutt shops on the strip. The idea of a legal office here in Hell’s Kitchen (or “Chelsea” as the real estate quacks called it) was just kind of laughable at times. But, unfortunately, this was Chelsea and so it wasn’t necessarily all that surprising that there were a few bars, a strip club, and several porn shops neighboring the law firm.

The streets’ sounds didn’t stop at the panes of the windows or the door. They murmured through the barriers to cast enough of a layout for Matt to navigate the establishment and were clearer when accompanied by the siren’s scream for the ambulance or the footsteps of his coworkers.

Matt Murdock sat at his desk with his suit jacket draped over the back of his chair in his office while he heard to snickers from his associates as they watched some of the women go by the windows; almost walking in thinking it was one of the neighboring places.

“Only in Chelsea will you see a dame like that out before eight pm.”

Matt wanted to roll his eyes at the comment and acted on that impulse. It went unnoticed behind the sunglasses that kept those around him from seeing the burns around his eyes, his blank stare, or the tired circles beneath his eyes. He contemplated leaving early and catching up on his sleep, but chose not to. Instead, the young lawyer stood up, walked to the door of his office, and shut it; left in the abyss of his blindness until his footsteps back to his desk again provided some means of feedback from his senses. He sat back in his chair, pulled out a case file and carefully had his fingers skim over the Braille.

[elektra]

Returning to this old neighborhood, Elektra found it a bit...strange. Then again, everything about her life was strange when compared to the average woman. I mean, how many women could say they were on their second life. All thanks to someone special from her past. Once her enemy, once the love of her life...that was another thing that was differentiated from the average life. Not that many people engaged in combat against their ex's, let alone taking the fight to the roof tops of New York City. That was when she was playing on the opposing team however and since returning to the realm of the living, she found herself more on the side of justice after joining SHEILD.

Why exactly was she back in Hell's Kitchen? For nostalgic reasons perhaps. It'd been awhile since she had been in that area of new york which was sad because they had some of the best eateries she'd ever had. Many nights spent with a certain blind crime fighter eating at the various ethnic restaurants. Good times before her life had shattered and spiraled into where she was today. Dressed in a red sweater dress, a pair of black heeled boots and a long black coat Elektra strolled down the side walks with her hands tucked in the coat pockets. Passing the various porn shops and strip clubs, she sort of shook her head. Although, she couldn't really judge since she did strip for a living, not to mention killing either. Yes, she was sin cloaked in the body of a Greek beauty. It was just who she was or at least what she had become.

Once she came across the law firm, Elektra paused and looked upwards to the window, wondering if the old flame was there. If she could remember, his office was on the 7th floor. Not really a problem for Elektra Natchios. Gathering looks from passing civilians, she started to scale the building, jumping onto the fire escape, pulling herself up and once she reached the 7th floor, leaping to the ledge of a window sill. She made 4 more flawless leaps onto the the 5th ledge. Crouching down, her icy eyes peered through the glass at the red haired lawyer, Mathew Murdock.

"...Of course..." she sighed noticing that he had a file in his hands. He always was a busy wart. Even in college the rare occasions when they weren't together, he'd always have his nose stuck in the law books. In some way, she kind of pitied him for being trapped and confined to an office. Then again, maybe she should be pitying herself. He actually saved lives...in costume and out. She took them. Well, they always said opposites attract.

[Daredevil]

Matt remembered the same things Elektra did in regards to Hell’s Kitchen. He immersed himself in this neighborhood; carrying the flag for the Murdock family as they had for years and remained one of the few Irish families that were still there from the time where Chelsea was only comprised of immigrants from the emerald isle. He was Hell’s Kitchen through and through. His alter ego was its fallen angel. All Matthew Michael Murdock could ever really belong to was Hell’s kitchen. So, despite the passing through of those he’d cared about, he remained in the gutters of New York to try and save the area that it seemed God had forgotten.

The office around him hummed with the creak and rattles of the fire escapes. Each level came closer and closer to his level and quietly Matt wondered if it was someone coming for him or for Daredevil. His muscles tensed beneath the suited exterior and his features became granite just for a moment. When he heard that distinct sound of heels against the rungs of the fire escape ladder, he couldn’t help but smirk to himself. Nostalgia had come for a visit and Matt Murdock kept his pulse in check.

He knew who was at his window. How could he not? His fingers continued to slide across his paperwork but he already found himself too distracted. His lips parted to let a stoic sigh leave his lips. He remembered how all of it felt. Each time he thought that grasp of normalcy was going to settle the rocking tempo of his life; somehow it would be thrown off again. Now seemed to be one of those times. He couldn’t help but let his mind wander to the woman outside his window and the happiness he thought he’d have. But, like many things in his life, the content never lasted. He remembered the first time Elektra left and finally brought himself to set his file down when he remembered how it felt to feel her life slip away in his arms.

He stood from his chair and made his way to the window and slid it open. The air outside wafted her scent in and he almost lingered in that intake. He stopped himself from meandering in the memory and stepped away from the window to let her in. “You could have just buzzed up,” he cracked with a half smile.

[elektra]

"I could have but, one, it's not exactly my style and two, I wouldn't be sure if you wanted to see me or not." She slipped in through the window, one heel clicking onto his office floor followed by the other. An awkward silence took over the brief conversation. She wanted to gather her words together. The last time she had even seen Matt was after her resurrection. Taking a different path that led her away from him to try and reset her life and she had seemed moderately successful in doing that. However, her conscious still bugged her about how she had just...left him...both times without any real closure. Not to mention all the trouble she caused him during her time working for the King Pin. Something led her up to his office for more than just a check up on him.

"So...how is the man without fear this evening? Or I should just ask how you've been period. It's been awhile." she said walking past him and taking a lean against his desk.

[Daredevil]

Matt’s brow arched. “I, technically, still have yet to ever see you,” he said in a slight bitter joke as her presence moved from the window into her room. He stayed like that for a moment; almost trying to stifle the bitter feelings that etched his features regardless of his attempts to keep them from reading in his voice. Still despite the empty side of his bed that had always been reserved for Elektra that hadn’t been filled in years, briefly occupied but never placated long enough for Matt to have taken that mental reserved tag from its previous owner, and despite that harsh feeling that replayed every fight in or out of costume, Matt couldn’t help but find that radar flickering from his own heartbeat. Damn it.

In that silence there was history. There was every good and bad time. There was the memory of Elektra going cold in his arms and her resurrection. He remembered loving her and he remembered the sting of her leaving twice. That love was still there beneath the bitterness and the scars; half of which she had inflicted personally). His features remained stoic as his cane tapped along the floor.

“It’s been a while,” he said; repeated the last thing she said as he heard her weight shift and the sounds of a shuffle of feet enough to lean back against his desk. His lips tilted into that bitter sweet smile he saved for moments where all that Matthew Michael Murdock could do was keep the world at a distance. “I’ve been hanging in there. Swamped here, getting a proverbial ass whooping on all other fronts,” his tone nearly lingered on being curt but he reined himself back in from spilling just about everything. His composure remained cool as he could help but feel that bitter tug on his insides that he had almost forgotten about. “You? Haven’t heard you around Chelsea since…” he thought about his word choice and corrected it, “I haven’t heard from you for a while. Everything okay?”

[elektra]

Her eyes rolled at the blind joke and her expression remained pensive as her icy eyes glanced over his desk at the various files and paperwork that cluttered his desk. Yeah, there was definitely no way she could be tamed and forced to go to an office everyday...not to mention how tedious being in the court room could get. It wasn't long before she started to think about the trouble she had put him through...physically and emotionally. Although her profession required her to shield her heart in ice, that always seemed to melt for Matt.

"Yeah, I already said that." she said after he repeated the tidbit about it being awhile since they've seen each other. She nodded as he explained his predicament of being swamped by work and getting his ass kicked. "Well...that's the path you chose. To defend the innocent and rid these streets of crime. Cuts and bruises are expected, but I'm glad you're still in one piece." she said before continuing on. "I've been alright. You'll probably get a kick out of this but, I'm actually with SHEILD now. Was hired by Fury to do one mission. Apparently he was so pleased he wanted me to stick around." she made herself even more comfortable by lifting and sitting herself up on his desk.

"Guess I'm a crime fighter now too."

[Daredevil]

Matt never minded the paper work or the courtroom. He knew what he was getting into when he decided he wanted to be a lawyer when he was a kid. It was the whole fighting crime thing that no one educated him on. That was never his intention. Unfortunately, when his father had been claimed by the mob Matt recognized that Hell’s Kitchen needed something. Not a hero. It didn’t deserve that. Chelsea needed that dark figure looming in the night that wasn’t afraid of the consequences of standing up to the corruption. With adopting Daredevil as one of his aspirations, Matt had closed himself off; attempting to open up to a few and having them all get thrown back into his face.

Here was one of the prime examples of that. Right in his office and Matt could only feel himself cautiously prepare to close his boundaries off again. “Barely,” he scoffed in regards to him being in one piece. He’d stretched himself so far thin that it was almost impossible for him to differentiate between Matt Murdock and Daredevil. Damn it, he would try though.

His brows shot up behind his sunglasses. SHIELD? Was she kidding him? His lips curled into a slight smirk as he snickered just so. He remembered being at odds with Elektra while he remained by the window. To let the city breathe in the art of simply existing within the core of it. He finally shut the window and started to approach the desk where she sat. “Well that’s got to be a bit refreshing then,” he said as he tried to restrain himself from cracking and jabs at his old flame. “How’s being on the right side of the law treating you?”

[elektra]

Her eyes narrowed slightly at his snicker. Sure, from her past it was hard to imagine Elektra Natchios as a person of justice. Of course he'd find it somewhat humorous considering all the hearts that were stopped with the plunge of her sai, some deserved it, some not so much but got it anyway. Rough choices were made and actions had been done that Elektra could never take back, but that was life. Instead of killing because she was told to, now she'd kill when she had no choice. Kill for the better of humanity.

"It's not that refreshing. Blood is still spilled, just not for criminal reasons." she responded with a slight shrug. "It's been treating me fine. Nothing has really changed except who my boss is."

After that was said, she fell silent again, debating on whether she should be honest with those pesky things called feelings that were eating away at her. "It's good to see you...I kind of...missed....you...."

[Daredevil]

Had Matt known that his response was a tad on the irritating side, he would have still snickered at the thought. He was still bitter and so long as he could find that sting of their history, he would still react the way he did. Matt was stubborn just as much as he was fearless. He listened and he grabbed one of his files and sat in his chair. “You could always try not killing,” he suggested with a shrug as he opened the file up again.

He felt like they needed to be circling each other with their weapons of choice in hand. It would have been easier that way. There was no home field advantage in this office. “I kind of missed you too,” he said bitterly. Really. That was it? After years of being on and off and having her die in his fucking arms and having her come back she kind of missed him. His distance flipped on. His fingers glided in frustration along the papers in his file until he gave up and closed it. He let out a low sigh that stung to breathe out. Could he really pretend to be unaffected by Elektra being in his office? He removed his sunglasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose; keeping himself from yelling at her.

[elektra]

"I see..." Elektra said setting a hand on his desk. Her nails began to click against the surface somewhat impatiently as she tried to figure out what could be said. Obviously, he wasn't warming up all that well to her presence. She couldn't really blame him considering she wasn't the warmest of people to be around...at least, not anymore.

"I could try not killing, but it's who I am now. I'm sorry for that. I can't change my past, Matt. I'd undo some of the things I've done if I could, but I can't," she paused before she could go any further. Before her emotions would manipulate the words that were to come out her mouth. Feelings, they were a menace and she'd trained so hard to suppress them. They'd only interfere with her job. Then when she thought about it, this wasn't a mission. This was the love of her life. There was a lot of drama and heartache between the two, more than anyone should ever have to go through, but even after everything she'd put him through, she came here anyway knowing things would be uneasy.She could shut her emotions off for SHIELD, but when it came to Matt Murdock, it just wasn't happening. Not anymore.

"How do you feel about me?" she asked. Probably setting herself up to be torn by the beast of bitterness from her ex, but she'd expect that. After all...she did break up with him and nearly killed him a couple of times. If anything, she should be satisfied that he even allowed her to be near him.

[Daredevil]

Matt Murdock honestly missed her. There was no way around that fact but the thing was this wasn’t the same Elektra he’d fallen in love with. She was jaded and so was he. He could easily say that he still loved her but it wasn’t the same woman whose fingers tapped on the pseudo wood of his desk. His brow shot up as she cut herself off. He knew that tactic. It kept that emotional bias from leaking through his resolve. He’d tried to pull his own back and worked his ass off to keep himself in check. Here he was, though, face to face with Elektra and all he could do was remain quiet and bitter. With that pause, Matt had already prepared for her to shut off like she’d always done. He wasn’t a mark, though.

“How do I feel?” Matt asked in chilly tone. His features etched with just as much pain as it did amusement at the question, at her nerve. She still had balls of steel, he would give her that. “Elektra,” Matt started as calmly as he could while he tried to ignore the race of his pulse that mixed between love and rage at the sheer nerve of asking that question. “I love you. Really, I do,” he said again in that same even tone that meant he was trying desperately to keep himself from feeling all of that again; including that feeling of Elektra going cold in his arms. “But it’s bittersweet and I don’t know if I can handle that taste right now.”

[elektra]

"Right."

The answer she expected was pretty much what she had received. So, why did she feel like someone had just cut her? The ice started to materialize around her heart again. She believed coming here may have been a mistake, but that was her problem. The woman could face and stare down satan himself without blinking of an ounce of fear, but whenever it came to any topic that made her feel vulnerable, such as the man she sat before now, she felt the need to run and she was about to...but, what good would it really do? Literally, every time she did try to run, he showed back up in her life in some way. Maybe that was a sign.

"I love you too. It's bittersweet for you but it's pain for me. Really, its not the love that's causing pain...its what I did to you." and a brief pause. A distraught look on her face...as if everything that had happened from the time her father was murdered until this current day has been dumped on her soul...well, whatever little soul she had left. "I put you through hell, Matt. I realize that, I always have. Even after I revived, I left you again. I just feel...numb. Some nights I don't even sleep. I don't have peace...and I don't think I ever will, but I can try starting now." Her icy blue eyes glanced to the window again. An easy exit she could take right now from facing past demons, yet she opted to stay. She needed to do this. The guilt weighed her down, she needed this burden to be removed.

"I don't ever expect you to take me back, but I need you to please forgive me. I joined SHIELD to have a clean slate, but it won't be until we get passed our past. I'm not expecting you to forget everything and just accept me, but if you could try and work through it, it would be helpful. It's the only way I'll be able to move on."

[Daredevil]

He could hear it. He could hear all of it. The truth that reflected in her pulse and the pain in her voice. He had not been the cause of it directly, nor did he ever think he deserved the retrospect, but it still stung to know that he was somehow related to that tone. He could relate. Doing what they did, be it taking or saving a life, always bore down on the soul and there was no way to relieve that weight. They were like Atlas; supporting the thread of life or death like the globe on their shoulders. Unfortunately, there was no one to trick into taking the weight on. There was no Hercules they could fool. He knew that burden on Elektra’s shoulders and he knew it was there by the tone of her voice.

His face lifted as if he were to glance at her. He had never wished for an apology. On some level, he wished he could have been left alone. To be so close to the woman he’d loved for years and even fought against while still knowing that familiar pang in his chest that reminded him that he still loved her and almost always would… even if it was her intention to put him six feet under. “We all feel that way sometimes El… I’ve been feeling that for years,” he said in a gentle tone; keeping the bitterness from his voice while he calmed himself down the way he did when in court and not wearing the mask of Daredevil. “If you want peace, I don’t think I’m the one you should come to in order to get it. I’ve been looking for it for years just for myself. How can I give you that if I don’t have any myself?” He stayed in his desk as his pulse slowed to where he thought it would stop at any moment. The room was darker to him with only the murmur of their pulses to trace the room.

He stood from his seat and brought a hand to cup her cheek. He remembered everything. He remembered falling in love and being left, he remembered every battle they’d had, and he remembered her dying and aiding in her resurrection. His thumb traced along her cheek for a moment. “Elektra, as much as everything we’ve been through hurt us, I can’t forget it. That would be worse,” he started to explain while a slight grin eased to his features; only half a lie. He removed his sunglasses with his free hand as he drew his hand away from her face. Hold on any longer and he would find himself attached again. “I can try to forgive you though.”

[elektra]

"I'd never ask you to forget. It would be idiotic of me to ask that. What I've done isn't something you can just slide under the rug and leave it to fade in your memory." her eyes strayed back to Matt's face as his hand cupped her cheek. She remembered the feeling of his touch before it all started. How no matter what was wrong in her world, just being in his embraced, it just made everything seem right. He removed his glasses and she glanced into the faded blue of his eyes for a moment and exhaled softly. "That's all I ask and even if you can't, that's fine too. I wouldn't be surprised if you stabbed me in the back and pushed me out the window just to have a taste of revenge, even though I know you'd never do that." there was a slight bit a humor in her tone. This has probably been the longest she'd ever let her emotional wall down since becoming who she was today.

She always thought what her life would be like if she could actually change, but in the end, was that really possible? Even now, while she did kill for good, she was still a cold blooded killer. They were on opposite sides of the spectrum, he saved lives and she took them. The only middle ground they had now was the love they'd always carry for each other...the fact that they both kicked ass and looked delicious in red, but that wasn't the point of the moment.

"I'm starting to believe I was set up from birth when I was named after a greek tragedy." she said wittily. "Then again, not everyone's destiny can be glamorous. You just have to accept who you are whether you like it or not.[/color]"