New York never slept.
The night city was as loud as it was during the day.
The occasional ominous sounds from both the police and ambulance sirens could be heard in the background.
There was never rest for the wicked.
In a certain abandoned warehouse, two burly men stood outside armed with AK-47s.
They had some slight facial similarities, further emphasizing they were brothers.
They were the Kushnovs.
They had bored expressions on their faces as they paced around the entrance.
The younger one asked, speaking in Russian, "When do you think those stinky Chinese are going to arrive?"
"Do you think they have the brains for time management?" The older one snickered in a harsh tone.
They both chuckled at that.
It was then that a taxi entered their line of sight and moved toward them.
The Kushnov brothers carefully observed the taxi while tightly clutching their guns.
The older one looked at the younger one and nodded.
The younger brother slowly moved toward the taxi.
From the taxi, the front doors opened and two huge Chinese men climbed out.
One of them walked around the car and opened the back seat door.
A bespectacled Asian woman exited the car with a stick tapping the ground.
She had a leather bag hanging on her back.
"We've arrived," one of the Chinese men said in Mandarin, addressing the blind woman.
She was the carrier.
And since it was a new territory, they had been specifically tasked by Madam Gao to protect both of their "commodities" (the blind woman and the drugs).
"Lead the way, Russian man," one of the Chinese men said in accented English.
The younger Kushnov frowned at the Chinese but didn't cause a scene.
"These yellow bastards are so full of themselves, brother," he said disdainfully while looking back at the older one.
The older one grinned mockingly, exposing his yellow teeth.
The younger one then gestured to the Chinese to follow him inside.
Inside the warehouse, Rozanov—the Russian leader tasked to manage the untapped market in Queens—patiently waited.
He stood at six-feet-five and wore a long brown coat. He had that Russian aggression ingrained in his demeanor no matter how you looked at it.
Soon, the younger Kushnov led the Chinese entourage to the leader.
He respectfully nodded at Rozanov before going back.
"Madam Gao sends her regards," one of the Chinese men, who was slightly proficient in English, greeted professionally.
"And I send mine," Rozanov replied in a thick Russian accent.
The man then looked back at the blind woman and said something in Mandarin.
The blind woman removed the bag from her back and walked toward Rozanov.
Rozanov's closest guard moved forward to interfere, but Rozanov raised his hand, halting him in place.
Rozanov trusted the Chinese triad when it came to business. They were professional and no-nonsense.
Beyond business, he viewed them with indifference since they could become his rivals when he decided to expand later on.
Rozanov took the bag and carefully inspected its contents.
He clawed out a wrapped package and looked at the goods.
"This is some pure shit. Tell Madam Gao we will perfectly do our part," Rozanov said, returning the package to the bag and passing it to his subordinate.
The Chinese nodded before walking away.
After they were gone, Rozanov shouted some orders in Russian.
"Boys! It's time to spread the heroin. Make sure by midnight, proper channels have been created!"
He then looked at his watch before redirecting his gaze at the locked door at the furthest end of the room.
"The second product will be in the hands of the middlemen by tomorrow," he muttered before pulling a premium cigarette out of his pocket.
He lit it up and took a long puff before exhaling.
His eyes twinkled with anticipation.
Queens was a new market for him and the cash flow was promising.
But there was one little problem.
He had to share some of the profits with Fisk.
That was how the business between them had always been handled.
But Rozanov thought he was allowed to think much larger numbers. To be greedy.
'Fucking bald fatty!' he cursed inwardly.
~~~<>~~~
At the top of a nearby building, Matt Murdock looked down at the warehouse.
His head was tilted slightly, like a hen cocking its little head to look at something.
He could hear multiple heartbeats when he concentrated.
Two men outside, in addition to the eighteen men inside, brought the total number to twenty.
Tracking Fisk's activities had led him to this Russian turf and Matt knew he would have another lead if he dealt with those Russians.
On further concentrating, Matt sensed other sounds, weaker heartbeats.
They were shivering, starved and terrified.
'Hmm? Terrified women?' Matt thought, tightly clenching his hands in restrained anger.
Another human trafficking.
This was the reason he had to do what he did.
This was the reality the law turned a blind eye to.
Matt simply couldn't turn a 'blind' eye to the subterfuge men like Fisk used to rot the streets of New York.
He had to take it upon himself to make these men understand that they were playing dangerous games inside his city.
The Daredevil had a role to play: become a symbol of fear to these men of the dark.
Matt brandished his two billy clubs, preparing to jump into action.
Just as he was about to move a single muscle, Matt heard a woman speak in Russian.
It was so sudden that he thought his senses had tricked him.
The voice of the woman was strangely familiar, but that information was rendered useless by what happened next.
SHING!
One sound dominated all the noises of the night.
It was the sound of execution.
There was no hesitation as two heads silently dropped to the cold ground.
The sword… The sword hadn't been drawn.
It was too fast… Too impossible.
The dead bodies didn't get the time to fully hit the ground before a devouring force deprived them of their essence.
What happened next would forever remain stuck inside his mind and soul.
He witnessed vividly what the eyes of a normal human were never meant to gaze at.
Hell on earth. The apocalypse.
The woman was like an embodiment of slaughter and evil under the shadowy lights of the three bulbs swaying inside the warehouse.
There were rhythmic, sonorous cries of a sharp blade against the drizzle of gunshots and horrified cries of men who had seen Death.
Matt could smell the gunpowder, the excretions, the heavy coppery scent of blood and ash.
His heart thumped furiously with each heartbeat that was forever silenced.
After seven seconds, the trumpet of finality sounded in Matt's ears.
The apocalypse had ended. The sword of judgment silenced and sheathed by the angel of death.
It was over and a particular feeling compelled him to go there.
Those terrified women were still there.
Matt knew it was the stupidest decision he would ever make.
It could cost him his very life.
He acrobatically moved down the building and stealthily walked toward the silent warehouse.
Matt carefully entered the warehouse whose front door was already opened for him.
A gust of wind carrying the stench of slaughter froze his heart cold.
There were… there were no corpses.
Matt nervously gulped when he saw HER standing in the middle of the room.
Like a blazing sun. Like a shadow of death.
She was a paradox that Matt Murdock couldn't find the right words to explain.
He was Catholic, and in the Holy Bible, God created angels to serve him.
The most beautiful angel had been Lucifer, also known as the Devil.
The problem with Lucifer was that he wasn't content with God's Divine Governance.
Lucifer wanted to usurp that Divine Authority over all creation for himself.
Sadly, he didn't succeed and God expelled him from Heaven, and Lucifer fell from grace.
Since he had been young, Matt had always thought the fallen angel had always lived inside of him, representing his darkness.
He was meant to be the darkness, the Devil of Hell's Kitchen.
But God knows how long he had been wrong.
What he harbored inside hadn't always been the Devil but a mere imp from the lowest levels of Hell.
Standing before him was both Angel and Devil.
Do not be afraid because I come in the name of Lord God the Father—that particular line was something the angels spoke when they manifested before the devotees.
Wonder why? Because they bore horrifying visages not meant for the eyes of mankind.
'A fallen angel,' Matt thought heavily, mesmerized and afraid simultaneously.
"You really like poking your nose everywhere, blind man," the woman spoke, her voice calm and indifferent to the slaughter that had happened a few moments ago.
"Where… Where did those men go?" Matt asked hesitantly.
His mind had yet to come to terms with the brutal reality.
He was still in shock. In denial that what happened was simply incomprehensible.
"Nothingness," Seol Hwa answered.
Matt sucked in a breath.
"I remember telling you not to follow me, but I won't kill you. It seems you have a knack for walking around at night to deal with these crooks," Seol Hwa said, making Matt tense when he heard that "kill" part.
'She can kill me, but it seems she has certain principles,' Matt thought heavily, partly relieved that his life wouldn't be forfeited that night.
But… did she have to—?
"Did… Did you have to kill them? There are laws in place for these types of things. The justice system would have put these men where they belong." Matt reasoned his ideology or what could be considered the right way.
Seol Hwa smiled humorlessly. It was a terrifying smile that made the temperature inside the warehouse plummet.
"Am I supposed to care? For a man who lurks in the darkness, you're truly naïve."
"Why only prune the leaves of the weeds when you could uproot them for full elimination?" Seol Hwa asked rhetorically.
She knew what type of person the blind vigilante was. A fool.
"That's not…" Matt tried to argue. Tried to be logical. Tried to be the defendant of the laws he knew.
However, a single sentence from Seol Hwa stopped him mid-sentence. Severed every argument he had in store.
"I've always been an executioner."
Executioner.
That was a direct representation of her individuality, her beliefs, her Dao.
She had been born in blood, and through blood, she became the Bloodborne Devil.
"I have a family. I'd execute thousands for their safety," she said in a matter-of-fact voice.
Those words were already etched onto Fate itself.
They were an absolute truth.
Matt Murdock had no words to retort with, not to an existence that couldn't be reasoned with, a force beyond his mortal understanding.
If she had been the kind of person he faced during his nightly routines, Matt knew he'd devote all his time solely to the Nelson & Murdock Law Firm.
He would be following Foggy's words to the tee.
"What's your name?" Seol Hwa suddenly asked.
"Matt… Matt Murdock," Matt answered truthfully, her amber eyes left no room for lies.
Lying meant execution. He wasn't prepared to gamble with Death.
"Matt, where did you learn to manipulate Qi?" Seol Hwa inquired about something she had begun to notice. It had been subtle, but it was still there.
"Qi manipulation?" Matt dubiously said.
"Meditation. Where did you learn to meditate like that?" Seol Hwa opted for simple words that the mortal could understand.
"Oh. I learned it from a blind old man when I was a kid. Do you even believe that?" Matt said.
Seol Hwa didn't say anything.
'It's qi manipulation but very crude. He's only using it to accelerate healing and improve his focus,' she analyzed.
'Interesting. This world keeps on surprising me the more I interact with such fated individuals like this man.'
'If they know how to use qi, I wonder who spread the teachings. If it's another cultivator… I hope it isn't. It would be troublesome.'
Seol Hwa then looked at the locked door and frowned.
She controlled a minuscule amount of qi and did a shooting sign aimed at the lock.
A qi bullet immediately found itself on the lock, almost dismantling the whole door.
Sobs and cries came from behind the door before a group of women dressed in skimpy clothes hesitantly stepped out.
Seol Hwa paused a bit.
A memory of her childhood and her own captivity subtly replayed inside her mind.
In those women, she saw the weakness and helplessness that disgusted her and pushed her to be better.
These mortal women were not like her.
Without waiting for them to thank her, Seol Hwa turned her back.
"Deal with them," she said to Matt. "I'm getting tired of seeing your face."
Then, like mist, she dissolved into the shadows.
She was gone.
Matt was left alone to question his sanity.
His faith.
Was she part of God's will, of God's creation?
And what was he doing in Queens?
Was she a sign?
Shaking his head, Matt decided to guide the shaken women out of the warehouse.
He didn't know what to feel. Yet.
The night had been full of bizarreness and… dark amber eyes.
Light and darkness.
Matt sighed.
~~~<>~~~
Yu_ner's Corner:
I did get a little into Matt. Tried to. I'm about to finish Daredevil S2, only last EP left. Hope I portrayed him well. I wonder how Born Again would be. Pity I'll put it slightly on hold to binge a bit of The Mentalist. I know sleep is my greatness weakness against my watch library and that also includes my list of games😭
You can read 20+ chapters on my p a treon: a t r e o n.com/Yu_ner (remove the spaces)
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