and don't you wonder why

[mcduffie]

[Things get back to normal. Sort of. For the most part, anyway, between all the controversy and publicity that's surrounding them since Matt's book launch and the part where she and Foggy got caught up in the Kingpin's little revenge plan. Which, by the way, still smarts, as much as Kirsten plays it off. She's getting worryingly good at that whole "play it off" thing, she blames hanging around Matt.

Anyway: things get back to normal.

Then Matt doesn't show up to a date one day. Which isn't exactly that uncommon, this is Daredevil we're talking about, and Kirsten's well aware that sometimes saving people means having to be late to your date. But this isn't being late, that's something she realizes long after the pasta's gone cold and the sky's gone dark.

That's when she hears that phone call.

"Remember me, Ms. McDuffie?" the guy had said--and he'd sounded familiar, so familiar that Kirsten had been startled by it, because the last time she heard that voice it was while the source was being led away in handcuffs. Stefan Levkin, also known as--what was his nickname again?--Jingles, yeah, with the jingling keys, the would-be boss of his own gang who she put in jail years ago. When did he get out? "I have your boyfriend."

There's an irony to be found in that, she thinks. A month ago she was the one with a gun held to her head while the Kingpin talked about how he wanted Matt to die, and now she's the one who's got to rescue him. With some help, anyway, because Matt's got a lot of friends who also happen to be superheroes, and they're the ones dealing with Levkin and his goons while Kirsten, feeling incredibly foolish and a little bit terrified of what she might find, looks for Matt.

She scuffs her shoes on the ground, taps fingernails against walls and doorways.]

Matt? [It's little more than a whisper, but she doesn't doubt Matt would hear her. He has to.]