Big News

Peter parker sat at his desk, in his office suite on the top floor of none other than Parker industries. Even he had never thought he would come this far. Just a friendly neighborhood kid from Queens, and now he was the business mogul Forbes magazine called Tony Stark-Lite. He could see the comparison, that billionaire playboy had once been his mentor. Inside the world of business and out.

Taking another sip of his hot coffee, Peter opened the news feed on his desktop to see what was going on in the world. A local article, by Peter's close friend Ben Urich caught his eye. Opening the link to the Daily Bugle page, the full article spread out before him: 

Monsters in New York? What's new?!

Last night, Hank's tavern was the subject of two attacks. The first was apparently a gang-related drive-by shooting. Nothing big for the big apple.

But, according to witnesses, the second assault was instigated by 'a wolfman' with 'claws and fur and everything!'

What's going on New York? Monday night it was Frankenstein, last night it was the wolfman! When are these Monster Murders going to stop? When are the authorities going to do something? Is this even a real thing?

Police refute the existence of these monsters, claiming the violence is the result of escalated tensions between rival street gangs. Most of the victims last night were known to be affiliated with the Flashing Blades. All of them, as well as the NYPD and other frightened civilians would like to think locals Misty Knight and Jessica Jones for having been there to save the day. According to one of the young toughs ''If it weren't for those super-broads we'd all be dead right now! The Maggia is behind all this! Better watch out, Hammerhead cuz the Heroes For Hire are gonna getcha."

-

The ten-by-ten cell smelt of antiseptic and sterility. The phosphorescent bulbs blinked in the cage embedded into the ceiling of his cell. There was no window for him to see it through, but he heard the moon in the night's sky. He heard it beckoning to him, calling him to arms. It needed him to carry out it's bidding. If he did not something terrible was going to happen, if only he could be sure of what.

But he was unsure of everything. He had been sure he would be able to stop the thief at the Met after escaping, it was what Knoshu had led him to do. It was his destiny. He had failed.

He sat in a single-man cell in the intensive management unit of the New York jail. He had been segregated after an altercation with half the inmates in his assigned dorm. Most of them ended up in the infirmary with severe wounds, and in one case internal bleeding. The scum of the city had mocked him, and were only more blind fools oblivious to the duty they impede him from performing.

Marc hadn't slept since his arrest on Monday, and tho he had no way of keeping track of the time in isolation it was Wednesday. Every time he tried to rest, his mind would not allow it. He was bombarded with visions. Same as the premonitions he had prior to escaping Ravencroft, but different. Much more vivid in detail. Mixed with memories, and hard to decipher. He barely ate the meager meals they provided him. His health was deteriorating.

The loudspeaker built into the locking mechanism crackled with static. "Mr. Spector?" a gravelly voice called. "You've got an attorney visit. Stand against the far wall facing it with your hands behind your back."

-

Foggy sat patiently in his side of the visiting booth for dangerous inmates. Considering the privacy one is legally given with their defense counsel no cameras were on either the visitor or inmates side. The loudspeakers and call buttons built into the locking mechanism also came wired with microphones, and these had recorded many inadvertent admissions of guilt for a number of defendants. But, taking any efforts to corrupt the recordings would be suspicious so Foggy did not.

The buzzing and whirring of a door opening alerted Foggy. On the other side of the shatterproof glass the door opened and Marc Spector entered in handcuffs. He was seated roughly by an attending corrections officer who then exited, leaving the two alone.

Foggy looked at Marc, and wondered how Matt had seen someone worth saving. Marc seemed a shell of a man. His dark brown hair seemed to be prematurely thinning on top, or migrated to the unkempt beard that had begun sprouting on his face. His dark eyes sat sunken into hollow sockets ringed by the shadow of restlessness. His jumpsuit seemed much too large for him like he was swimming in the polyester of the fabric.

"Hello, Mr. Spector, I'm Mr. Nelson of Nelson & Murdock attorneys at law. I have to chosen to defend you against the allegations the state of New York has filed against you for crimes believed to have been committed on Monday, October 31st of this year."

Marc said nothing but only intensely gazed at Foggy through the glass. Marc's eyes seemed glazed. Like he was hardly there.

"You havent given anything necessarily incriminating to the cops, which is good, but that's because you haven't given anyone much of anything to work with. Let's start there. I need to know your story."

Marc sat in silence, eyes twitching to and fro as he continued to stare at Foggy.

The two of them sat at the same table in the same room, but saw two completely different things opposite them. Foggy saw a broken man. A man who had once done great things, but had now succumb to illness. Marc saw a glowing man in a fine white suit with a Hawk's skull where it's head should've been. It's eyeless sockets bore into him. It's voice did not emanate from its body as much as just appeared in Marc's mind.

-

"This already isn't going nearly as well as i hoped." The raven headed man's voice echoed.

Marc blinked at the strange man. "Knoshu?"

-

Foggy looked confusedly at Marc. "What?"

Marc did not reply. Foggy became irritated.

"Look, i know that you aren't a bad guy. I know that you saved a lot of people and kept a lot of people from getting hurt. You were the 24th Avenger, for chrissakes! You've gotta be a good guy if my partner Matt Murdock was willing to vouch for you. But, unless you are willing to talk to me you are going to end up rotting in a cell. Not even a hospital this time Marc, worse i promise."

-

"Maybe if you would help him." Jake Lockley said to the Bird-skull from behind Marc, placing his hand on Marc's shoulder to show support.

-

Foggy shook his head confusedly at Marc. "What?"

Marc wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his jumpsuit and said again. "He said - ''Maybe if you help me'."

"All I'm trying to do is help you! That's the only reason I'm here." Foggy fumed.

-

A bright blue flame burned in the eyes of the bird-skull as it leaned forward at Matt. "All that has ever been done for you could be considered help! What about when uou were saved from death in the desert all those years ago?"

Marc hung his head with the shame of reality from those weighted words. He would not be there if Knoshu had not brought him back from the very brink of death in the bowels of a pyramid in Egypt. He had been left betrayed and for dead by his former partner. Prayed to Knoshu, begged for help and had received it.

-

Foggy sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. It is just that i have been here for so long. I had to wait forever just to talk to you."

"Here? In my mind?" Marc asked scanning Foggy's face intensely.

"Is that where you think this is?" Foggy bewilderedly queried.

-

Marc now saw Jake Lockley and Steven Grant now standing behind the bird-skull.

"If we aren't in my mind… Where? Where are we??" Marc questioned.

-

"You and I are in the visiting room for intensive management inmates in the New York city jail. Do you remember why?" Foggy returned.

"Marc. He started having the visions again."

"Marc. That's right. And who are you?" Foggy scratched his head, and checked the picture on his file again.

"Steven Grant."

"The entrepreneur who went missing a few years back?" Foggy recollected the name as he had been an affluent man in the New York area.

"Let's just say Marc and i have always been real close." he chuckled.

"Ok...so, let's start with the escape from Ravencroft, since that's the most obvious place for you. Why did you escape?" Foggy asked.

"Well, he was getting his visions again. His ''messages from the moon', and he thought that something bad was going to happen. He had to stop it."

"But, why him...I mean, why you?!" Foggy asked.

"I am the Sentry of the night, the moon's punishing fist and loyal guardian!" Marc suddenly barked, with a sudden alteration of demeanor.

"Ok. So, then assuming that that's all perfectly sane and rational why were you wearing a spit-mask?" Foggy slightly chuckled as he looked through some of the addition photos in his file.

"It bore the sigil of the moon upon it, illuminating the darkness. It granted me my sight. Allowed me to see their true faces." Marc said as if it were common knowledge.

"True faces?"

Another paradigm shift and Marc began slouching in his chair. "The best way i describe it, buddy, is like lifting a veil. He could see the  enemies of Knoshu when he had it on."

"What do they look like? Just curious."

"Anubis."

With that Foggy closed the folder and rolled his head on his neck. He did not know what help Foggy would be able to provide this man besides full committal to a psychiatric ward. Even believing this man did not have anything to do with the heist, as unstable as he clearly was seemed less likely. He was about to stand up to press the call button and be let out when he gave one final futile stab. "Did Moon Knight steal, or have anything to do with the theft of the book?"

"The very theft is what we were trying to prevent. 'The Madman's mutterings'. We were on the roof when we saw the darkness fill the library. Some figure in the shadow picked up a nearby chair and shattered the case with it. We couldn't see who it was, but the darkness….it was familiar. Marc recognized it from somewhere. It was then that the security guards arrived and thwarted us. They became enemies of Knoshu and have all abetted the thief."

"You know who really stole the book? Who was it?"

"Not sure. It's hazy. The night shift."

"Like the night shift security at the Met?"

"No."

"What do they want with the book?"

"To commit great evil! The luminous moon has conveyed to me dread and doom for the future of New York if the book is not reclaimed."

-

Matt Murdock sat silently in the lobby of the jail, as Foggy carried on the pre-arraignment interview with Marc in a secluded visiting area. However, Matt was still able to eavesdrop. Despite Foggy's worries that his attendance at the jail during his partner's interview with Moon Knight would be suspicious, he went to try to gather as much information for himself as he could. Using his heightened senses he tried to decipher Marc's disturbed ramblings, while internally applauding Foggy for his patience.

Suddenly, he caught a familiar scent on the air. The clack of high-heel boots on ceramic tile-floor carried Misty Knight down the halls of the jail and towards the lobby where he sat. Matt had not seen Misty since his return to Hell's kitchen from San Francisco. He had no idea how the reunion would go, as Misty had been one of the few he had clashed with in the conflict leading up to his departure from his hometown. That was a different time, and he had become something he was not. He was who he was supposed to be now.

"Matt Murdock??!!" Misty asked shocked and hurriedly walked over to him.

Matt braced himself for what would happen, but the woman quickly grabbed him in a hug and squeezed him close.

"Misty. You noticed me." Matt commented.

"Yeah, you'd be surprised how much the blind guy actually sticks out in a room. Besides, i was never the one with the problems seeing." Misty joked. Mart could hear a genuine relief to see him. Accelerated heart rate to suggest happiness but signs of concern in her metabolics.

"Ha. How are you?"

"Ok, all things considered. How are you and when did you get back into New York?"

"Oh, I'm good. Really good. Thank you so much for asking." Matt took her hand in his and held it for a moment as a gesture of gratitude. "I've only just recently gotten into an apartment. Seems rent has dropped."

"Property value went to shit. All these young kids with something to prove want to look cool in front of their friends and shoot up the neighborhood."

"Gangs?"

"Yeah. Something else too." Misty paused for a second, reminded of their surroundings. "Why are you here? Did you already manage to get yourself into trouble again?"

As she asked Foggy, having finished the interview with Marc ran into them in the hallway. "And Foggy came to bail you out again, didn't he?" Misty added and laughed.

"Hey, Mrs. Knight, it's a pleasure." Foggy happily shook Misty's hand. "No, we're here meeting a client."

"Yeah, i was just following up on some stuff that went down last night. Also needed to talk to Marc Spector."

"Marc just so happens to be our client." Foggy admitted 

"Really?!" Misty couldn't believe that not only was Matt Murdock back in hell's kitchen, but was already back in the muck. "What were the odds of that?" she asked looking directly at Matt.

"Tax records indicate that Marc was once gainfully employed through your company Heroes For Hire inc. Right?" Matt asked back.

"Yeah. He was. But that was some time ago. He hasnt been with us for some time."

"Wait? Heroes For Hire is going again?" Matt became focused.

"Yeah, they've been up for a few months now. I actually heard word of it while Misty and i were helping each other during my time with the DA's office." Foggy chimed in. He did not like the way Matt started acting, after hearing about Heroes For Hire.

"We have a contract to return the book, and given the spot he's in now i thought maybe Marc would be able to shed some light on what happened." Misty said.

"Bright guy, That Marc Spector." Foggy said.

"He's always been a little strange, but it always seemed to have a reason to him. Like there really was a method to his madness." Misty responded.

"There just might be. I think he could catch the thief." Matt stated.

"He knows who did it?"

"Not exactly, but if anyone could find out it's him. He's taken down bigger."

"So, then it looks like it would benefit both of us to have Marc free. How do we go about that?"

"Well, i think i could actually get him to walk free." Foggy said and caught both Misty and Matt off guard. "There's the charges for escaping a state institution after mandated admission, the resisting arrest, and assault charges which will be hard to beat. But, given that he was in the hospital until moments prior to the theft and caught on camera during the disappearance they can't prove he actually took it. This guy was the 24th Avenger, and even registered back during that Metahuman registration bullshit. If he was still a card carrying member, and had been arrested trying to stop a crime he would have been free by now. We can actually make this into a vigilantism case. He was essentially going to be a scapegoat anyways. I can get these felonies dropped down to misdemeanors, but the only thing that's gonna get him free of all this is complete exoneration. For that we need the book."

"Well, I've been following a lead…" Misty said and proceeded to fill them in as they left the jailhouse for a more private venue.

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