11093/A proposition

A proposition
Date of Scene:	09 May 2022
Location:	6C - Matt Murdock
Synopsis:	Elektra comes to Matt with a surprising proposition.
Cast of Characters:	Matthew Murdock, Elektra Natchios

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Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt is not in the best state of mind as he returns from being out. Thanks to the police having an actual timely arrival in Hell's Kitchen, he didn't get the answers he wanted from the men who ambushed a woman as part of a targeted kidnapping. He didn't find out who the woman was, or why she was so calm during the incident.

And an earlier stray scent had set off memories of his father. Memories which were troubling as Matt started to question whether he was even remembering his father's face correctly, or whether the memories had slowly changed over time.

He closes the door from the roof quietly rather than bang it hard as he feels the desire to do, and starts down the stairs to the rest of the loft apartment. The sound of a heartbeat in the apartment is reassuring. Until he draws in a deep breath, expecting the scent of Daisy Johnson, and instead finds it is a different one waiting for him. He doesn't say anything, letting the woman announce herself as she chooses.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Yes, it's certainly not a Daisy Johnson that's waiting for him when Matt opens that roof door to come back in from his double life as Daredevil. It's still a familiar beat though, an aggressive one, full of a tangible fire that was once upon a time so close to the man without fear.

"Hello, Matthew."

The voice is quite refined, as is the accent, just the hints of amusement and danger ever present in one of the deadliest assassins in the world, Elektra. Another figure is felt close by. Boxer, the cat. It's resting on Elektra's lap now and the dark-haired woman seems to be gently stroking it.

"I am surprised to find you having a cat. Finally getting domesticated, are you?" She suppresses a snort at least.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt answers in his normal, quiet tones that rarely are strayed from without great emotion. "Elektra. Well, I figured it was about time. Someone needs to watch the place when I'm away," he says as he reaches the bottom of the stairs and walks past where Elektra sits on the couch. "Traitor," he adds quietly for the purring Boxer as he continues past and into the bedroom where the sounds of him removing his costume can be heard faintly.

"Social visit?" his voice inquires from the other room. "See, that was a joke," he adds, in case the novelty of her coming to visit him for something other than a tangible reason strikes him as funny, even if his voice doesn't sound it.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"Are you saying I don't do social?" A faux-affronted tone to Elektra as those dark eyes watch the man walk past and then make way to the room to change. "Maybe I need to remind you who's the actual Ambassador's daughter and who's still working out of Hell's Kitchen and being paid in pies..." well, at least to Matt's sake he had only been paid in such perishables earlier in his career!

"You don't sound well though.." She points out, "You usually take your punches with a bit more bite to them. Jokes or not." which is a testament to her knowing the man quite well!

In the same manner that Matt knows Elektra rather well too, "But yes, of course I have a reason to visit. Yet all in due time. First tell me how you have been." her tone smooth and measured as always even if always brimming with latent violence. A violence that she has learned to hide through these years but that it's still present. Hot headed and aggressive, in all parts of her life.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
"To be fair, we take payment in things that go into pies, also," Matt's voice replies from the other room. "Foggy is a better hand with a rolling pin than you'd expect."

He emerges from the other room after a few more moments, having pulled on a dark shirt and pants. Not all that different from the costume, at that. "I am... good," Matt says, the delay sounding as if it is more himself surprised that is the answer. So often in his life, that wouldn't have been.

"I have a cat and someone who loves me. And doesn't want me to kill people," he tells her, though his tone makes the comment seem intended to be ironic rather than pointed. He's not starting fights tonight. Well, not in here anyway. "And yourself?" he asks as he heads for the kitchen. "Something to drink?"

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"Don't remind me of that one..." Elektra says of Foggy. There was no love lost between Elektra and Foggy. Elektra hated his guts. Foggy hated her as well and thought she was bad news (with good reason), specially after the way she had treated him during college. He was too good a influence in Matt's life and Elektra had wanted to keep them apart at that time. It hadn't really worked. "He's a good friend to keep up with you all these years though. But you know it's only a matter of time until he eventually discovers your secret.."

That Matt actually says he's good has Elektra arch a brow. "You aren't good. But you are getting better at lying." she tells him, "It's good for a lawyer." it's always a fencing verbal spar with Elektra when they meet. Or well, most of the time.

It's telling that those little jabs is all they are for even if Elektra narrows her gaze when Matt accuses her of trying to goad him into killing people (which was true, mind you) she doesn't really takes a jab back. Which might mean she is not here for a fight either. "I can take some of the maccallan. The one you keep hidden behind the shelf." serious matter apparently, "I am actually here to ask for your help with .., something. Or rather, someone."

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt goes to a cupboard first and gets two glasses, before retrieving the beverage that Elektra knows is there. "He can handle it if he does find out. Not knowing protects him though," Matt says simply enough. "More than knowing would."

He pours the alcohol and replaces the bottle before walking over to set Elektra's glass down before her, and then moving to the chair to take a seat rather than join her on the couch. "Legal help? Or another variety?" he inquires once he's settled. He takes a slow sip of the alcohol. Though he doesn't drink a lot, it isn't unwelcome after the night he had.

Boxer seems content to stay with the woman as long as she keeps petting him. Fickle, that one.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"Can you handle it when he does find out?" It's not even a matter of 'if' for Elektra. Just a matter of when. She does thank Matt for the glass when it's brought over, tipping it for a small sip. She is in silence for a few small moments, either savoring the beverage or simply gathering her thoughts before eventually speaking up, "The other kind of help."

"A while back I took in a stray." Elektra begins, letting out a sigh and brushing some of her dark hair out of her face, "The kind of stray that has a lot of bottled anger inside her. I will not lie, she was the means to an end at the time and I have used her to advance my own agenda.."

That mysterious agenda that Matt has only had glimpses of. The Hand. Black Sky.

"But I have come to care for the girl in a way. Maybe I am getting old.." Elektra smirking at that, "Regardless, I have been teaching her. Yet violence feeds off violence, and you know who I am. A killer. You though? You are anything but one..." she leans forward a bit on her seat, hand returning to rest on Boxer to scritch it behind the ears.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
"Oh, he'll put me through the ringer if it happens. I have no doubt of that," Matt says in his even tones. "Not much chance he'll see it as anything but a lack of trust. At first. But I think he'll understand in time. Certainly the first time he sees someone in my life put at risk," Matt replies to Elektra.

He takes a slow sip from his glass. The curtain are open and that video billboard across the street is annoyingly bright at this time of night. Not that it bothers Matt, of course.

"I see," Matt says as Elektra starts to get to the heart of the matter. "And how exactly are you hoping I might be able to help matters? I'm not Stick," he says, which is such a loaded comment they could spend the right of the night dissecting it. He probably is referring to not being a sensei, though.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"Good." That Matt isn't Stick. Yet the way Elektra says it is almost as if she knew Stick well, even intimately so. Anger? But the assassin hides it well so the feeling lasts only the split of a second. "I am not looking for you to teach her, but to meet her. See if her heart might be in the right place." a beat, "As Daredevil."

"The girl grew up being part of the Hand. Violence is most of what she knows and there's a deep anger underneath against everything and everyone. A lot like I was when younger, but I was at least a bit more subtle about it." her tone one of frustration, "And I don't want her to follow the same footsteps I did. Because I know she will die if she continues that path."

"But no, what I want you to do is to see if she may have what it takes to be one of that group you call the Defenders. She needs to change her life around. For the better or for the worst you are an inspiration, Matthew. People look up to Daredevil as a protector. Maybe she can be inspired too." the way she says it it's almost as if she thinks it's quite the longshot. But it's not like Matt hasn't beaten more difficult odds, like convincing Elektra to not kill while she was staying in New York.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt sits quietly as if the request has his thoughts whirling. There's been a lot of that tonight. Another sip of his drink is taken as he mulls the situation over.

"And is she done with the Hand now? Or are you trying to get her away from them?" he asks slowly. "Are you sure that getting away from that life entirely isn't better?" he asks Elektra.

Boxer finally rises, taking a few slow steps away from Elektra so he can streeeeetch, and then give a little shake of his body. He hops down off the couch and trots over to Matt's chair, jumping up onto his lap where he's greeted with a scritch. He gives a loud meow, as if that's not sufficient.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"She is done with the Hand." The tone Elektra uses is a definitive one. She gets up to her feet after Boxer finally leaves, as if her own patience was as fickle as a cat's, "Yet she can't stay away from trouble." a small frown, "Kids..."

"Consider it." She then tells Matt, "And I would be owing you a favor if you went ahead with it. I can arrange for her to be present during one of the Defenders' missions and we can make it so it looks like a coincidence." of course Elektra is keen to using deception.

"And from there you just have to use your ..., let's call it charm." A roll of her eyes, ".. to get her to listen to you. Or to join in fighting for the good ones for once. I just want her to get a new perspective on things."

"So what do you say, Matthew?"

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Another plaintive meow is given, though Matt doesn't react either to Boxer or to Elektra at first. Finally he sets down his glass, picking up the cat so he can rise, the cat set on the floor as Matt heads over into the kitchen.

He retrieves a can of cat food and opens it as Boxer rubs around his ankles. The food is spooned out into the young cat's bowl, and the can disposed of in the recycle bin before Matt turns back to Elektra.

"Alright, we'll give it a try. You'll have to give me more information about her, of course," he says. "But if it helps her get away from Them, then it will be worth it," Matt tells her.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"I knew I could count on you." Or in this case in Matt's heart of gold. And him being the patron of lost causes. Elektra nods slowly and then continues, "The girl's name is June Connor. I will get you more info on her later on. Because for now..." and she is already by the door, footsteps barely heard on the floorboards, " ... it's time for me to go. We will talk again soon.."

The woman looks over her shoulder, those eyes felt as if boring down on Matt intensely, "And maybe then you can tell me on what's disturbing you."

But now? She disappears out the roof doorway and into the night. Because Daredevil isn't the only one that uses the roofs to travel around the city!