CHAPTER 55
C55: Confirm
"Thanks."
Inside the NYPD precinct house in Lower Manhattan, the air was thick with paperwork, radios, and murmurs. Matt Murdock tilted his head slightly and thanked the uniformed officer who'd silently pointed him toward the interrogation wing.
Cane in hand, he moved with the sure-footedness of someone who'd memorized the city by touch and sound. Though blind since childhood, he walked without hesitation, guided not just by his cane but by senses more precise than radar. He stopped at the hallway entrance, facing a sharp-featured woman in a tactical blazer: Detective Sidis.
"Matt Murdock, defense attorney. I believe you have a suspect in custody—goes by the name Ah Xing. I'd like a word with my client."
Sidis crossed her arms. "Didn't think Nelson & Murdock took on supernatural immigrants, Matt."
Her tone was edged with familiarity, a sign of past cooperation, or conflict, maybe both.
Matt gave a small smile. "From what I understand, the man was arrested without a warrant. That's a Fourth Amendment violation. You don't get to detain someone indefinitely just because he ran fast."
Sidis narrowed her eyes. "Fast? Try inhuman. Your guy outran a cruiser on Fifth Avenue—on foot. NYPD clocked him at over sixty miles per hour. That's not just suspicious, Matt. That's metahuman."
"Then that's a matter for the Department of Damage Control or S.H.I.E.L.D., not NYPD." Matt adjusted his grip on the cane. "And certainly not a reason to deny him counsel."
"You sure he's just a client?"
"I'm sure I'm his lawyer."
"Cut the crap," Sidis said, stepping closer. "Our records suggest he's undocumented, and there's no trace of him in ICE's system. If I make the call to Homeland, he disappears to a black site by sundown."
Matt's face tensed ever so slightly. Then: "What do you want to know, Sidis?"
"Everything. Before we took him in, your client leapt three stories and left no trace on the pavement. Who is he really?"
Matt hesitated. "All I know is this: he calls himself Ah Xing. Says he comes from Penglai, a place of myth—Chinese legend. Claims to hold a sacred power passed down by a divine order."
Sidis blinked. "You're telling me your client's a magical immortal from a mythical island?"
"I'm telling you I believe him. You remember what happened in Midtown during the Chitauri invasion. After that, are legends really off the table?"
Silence settled.
Then Matt's expression hardened. "Hell's Kitchen is changing. Something's coming—something worse than the Hand, worse than Fisk. I need him, Sidis. We all do."
She glanced through the one-way glass at the interrogation room where Ah Xing sat, seemingly calm.
After a long pause, she sighed through her teeth. "Damn it, Matt. You owe me three case reports for this."
---
"You've been released on bail."
The heavy door opened. Detective Rem entered, his jaw clenched, expression unreadable.
Despite not knowing why Sidis had relented, his trust in her judgment meant he didn't question the call.
He fumbled with the keys and undid the cuffs on Ah Xing's wrists.
"I'll get the leg restraints—"
"No need." Ah Xing shifted slightly.
CRACK—
The iron restraints shattered like brittle clay. Rem's eyes widened as the pieces clattered to the floor.
"I can manage," Ah Xing said with a small smile, rising effortlessly. He stretched his limbs, rotated his neck, and patted Rem on the shoulder.
"Thanks. I'll see myself out."
---
Matt stood just outside the room.
"You're up faster than I expected."
Li Ran, speaking through his clone, smirked. "I'm more durable than I look."
Matt grinned. "If it wasn't for you back at Chinatown—against the Hand—I might still be in a coma."
"You handled most of that yourself. I just gave the wheel a spin."
"Even so, the rest of this conversation—it's better had somewhere private."
Matt turned on his heel.
"You still haven't told me why you're looking for me," the clone said.
---
Later, in a dimly-lit antique store nestled in Hell's Kitchen, the scent of sandalwood thick in the air, Matt sat across from Li Ran.
"There's someone I need you to find," Matt said. "Name's Willard. Might be connected to the Huoyun Xie Shen—the Evil God of the Fire Cloud. Ring a bell?"
Li Ran frowned. So they were buying into the fiction. In truth, "Willard" was just a smokescreen—part of the myth he'd created to justify his arrival from Penglai. If they ever actually found him, the lie would unravel.
Still, the clone answered: "I haven't found him yet."
Matt nodded. "He's here. I can feel it. And if he's tied to what you said—about the blood spilled in Penglai—then we'll find him."
"Or…" Luke Cage added from the driver's seat of the beat-up blue sedan as they cruised through Harlem traffic, "maybe this Willard guy never existed. Maybe someone fed you a lie to get you over here."
Silence.
Finally, Ah Xing said, "Truth or lie, it doesn't matter. I'll find him. I have to."
Matt glanced at him, silent for a beat.
"Penglai's blood won't be shed in vain."
---