"Actually, it would be better if I handled this. An Avenger carries a lot more weight than an urban legend."
Listening to Peter's grumbling over the satellite phone, Matt Murdock couldn't help but chuckle. He kept his voice low, offering a calm reassurance to the teenager on the other end of the line.
"But you're the one who said it, Peter. If Spider-Man shows up, Hydra goes on high alert. On the other hand, Daredevil is just a neighborhood myth. I'm not considered powerful or a global threat. Even if Hydra catches wind of me, it won't move their needle. They'll just see a nuisance, not a reason to scramble their leadership."
The initial pitch had been simple: have Luke Cage swallow a tracking device and lead them straight to Hydra's new front door. However, Jessica Jones had poked two very realistic holes in that plan. First, how could they guarantee the signal wouldn't be jammed once Luke was inside a hardened facility? Second, how could they be sure Hydra wanted to capture Luke rather than just put a bullet in his head and call it a day?
Matt was there to play a delicate game. He had to stop Viper Security from simply handing Luke over to the NYPD, but he was also acting as a fail-safe. If Hydra decided to execute Luke on the spot, Daredevil would step in. And if Daredevil found himself outmatched, Peter was the hired muscle waiting in the wings.
For now, the strategy remained the same: Spider-Man stayed in the shadows. He was the ace in the hole, reserved for the moment they finally uncovered the hive and could burn it down.
The fact that Viper Security had chosen to detain Luke instead of killing him confirmed Peter's suspicions. Hydra needed him alive. The name "Viper Security" had immediately triggered a memory of the Viper Gang. Peter's mental encyclopedia of Marvel villains was a bit fuzzy on the fine details—he couldn't remember every lackey or every power set. But he did remember Ophelia Sarkissian, better known as Madame Viper. He recalled the scarred right cheek and the rumors of a blessing from the demon-god Chthon that granted her some form of immortality.
Most importantly, Viper was high-ranking Hydra royalty, and the Viper Gang was her personal strike force. This wasn't a deduction anymore; it was a confirmed connection. Hydra was pulling the strings.
As for what happened once Luke Cage was in a cell? That was a problem for Matt Murdock, Attorney at Law.
"I'm not saying a word until I see my lawyer."
Inside the precinct, Luke Cage sat like a mountain of solid granite. Despite possessing the strength to walk through the walls and skin that could ignore a firing squad, he didn't resist. He sat in the metal chair, let them click the handcuffs shut, and repeated that single sentence like a mantra.
The interrogating officer was hitting a wall. "Look, brother, you're a dockworker. You don't have a lawyer on retainer. You don't have family, you don't have friends. Why don't we just get you a public defender and save everyone the headache?"
A sharp knock at the door interrupted the session. The officer looked up to receive a piece of news that felt entirely too convenient: the legal counsel for "Carl Lucas" had arrived.
"He actually has a lawyer?" the officer muttered.
Then Matt Murdock walked in, wearing a practiced, beaming smile. His timing was surgical, following Cage's arrival at the station by mere minutes. Was it a coincidence? To the police, maybe. To anyone else, it was a clear sign of a choreographed play.
"I'm sorry, officer," Matt said, his cane tapping rhythmically on the floor. "I need a private moment to discuss the situation with my client."
Matt produced several crisp hundred-dollar bills, his smile widening. The officers took the "donation" for the precinct's social fund and cleared the room, leaving the lawyer and his client alone in the detention cell.
"Just like we discussed," Matt whispered, his voice pitching just high enough to be caught by the surveillance bugs he knew were listening. "You tell the police the story. You were wrongfully imprisoned. You were mistreated by the U.S. military and the government. They turned you into a super-soldier experiment against your will. You escaped the abuse, and now you're trying to use those powers to protect your neighborhood."
In a secure room elsewhere, a recorder captured every word. It sounded exactly like a lawyer coaching a witness for a payout.
"In the end, it's not the judge who decides your fate, Carl—it's the jury," Matt's recorded voice continued. "We need a narrative. You are the victim. You are the reformed hero. We need the jury to see their own sons in you."
"So you want me to keep playing the superhero," Luke replied, his voice heavy.
"Yes!" Murdock's voice rose with feigned excitement. "People love superheroes right now, especially the ones with a redemption arc. You're already a hit on social media. Next, we go after the federal government for compensation. They conducted illegal human experimentation on you. We sue them for everything they're worth. And while we do that, we leak every detail to the press. We have to, Carl. If this stays quiet, they'll make you disappear. But if the media is watching, you're safe."
"Think about it. When the sharks at the news networks smell blood like 'illegal military experiments,' they'll swarm. We'll extort enough money from the feds to make sure you never have to work a dock again."
Ophelia Sarkissian clicked off the recording.
She had initially worried Daredevil was part of a larger superhero conspiracy, but the audio told a different story. To her ears, Luke Cage wasn't a hero; he was a common thug being coached by a greedy lawyer looking for a payday.
The only real problem was the lawyer. If Murdock took this to the press, the scrutiny would make it impossible to extract Luke Cage and bring him to the laboratory.
As Ophelia pondered the quickest way to eliminate the lawyer and snatch Cage from the precinct, a better idea took shape. It required finesse. Murdock wanted to use a "superhero" persona to create hype and shield his client?
That was easy to dismantle. All they had to do was make Luke Cage "voluntarily" break out of jail and go on a rampage. The hero narrative would crumble instantly, turning him back into a fugitive. She just needed a member of the Viper Gang capable of ensuring they could control Cage once he was out.
However, the new batch of Super Soldier Serum wasn't ready yet. They would have to wait.
It was then that Ophelia received a new message from Lady Deathstrike. Yuriko needed another shipment of "volunteers"—specifically those with rare, targeted gene sequences.
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