Welcome to the Dragon's Den

Matt listened intently to the man in front of him, making mental notes. This was enlightening, to say the least. Both in his day job, to find a defense for the case and keep an innocent man out from behind bars, and for his night job as he tried to find the serial killer of Hell’s Kitchen. But, the mention of a friend of hers was what really stuck in his mind. “A friend of hers? Did she happen to mention a name, or anything about him?” Matt didn’t suspect she did, that would be too easy and things were never easy in this line of work, but he had to ask. “And do you know of any known associates, anyone who may have sparked this worry?” A name would be perfect. A description would be okay. He doubted she mentioned anything, judging from the secrecy, but he had to ask. “Was this…friend, the one she was having an affair with?” He hated to grill his client, but this was truly important. “Anything you have would be useful. I want to make sure your client walks. I believe in the justice system, but sometimes it just…needs a little help.” Yeah, to put it mildly. He just hoped that anything he did in the mask was truly what constituted help, and not something far worse. 

Dimitri recalled upon his meeting with his client, she held plenty of signs of something being wrong he pushed her and gather light information but nothing really concrete to the point where he could get Bryan out himself. The male was in need of the best and from what he’d seen today Matt was it. “A friend by the name of Sergei, she was too scared to give me his last name, but from what I could tell she said she’d made a mistake trusting him, it could be her affair?  it could be something entirely different.” He replied honestly, the name and her fear was all he had to go off of. He knew many people used less to get someone free but it was all he had from his client on her affairs. “Bryan might know more about the affair he is the one who told me he discovered it. I can only assume it had something to do with the fact he’d taken to watching her? Maybe he hired a PI or there is some evidence. He seemed quite sure he knew of her cheating and while some can just say it was a gut feeling he had a look of determination within his eyes like he knew there was possible proof of his wife infidelity.” He mused before looking at Matt wondering if there was a connection between their stories. “I know it’s not much, but hopefully its enough to at least tempt you to take on this case? I’d hate to see an innocent man rot in jail.” 

“Keep talking and it might just be arranged,” she deadpanned as she listened to him explain himself. she’d seen the photos, analyzed them, and knew no human hands could have twisted the poor girl’s body that way. “i wouldn’t worry about zatanna.” having teamed up with the justice league more than a few times, natasha knew what zatanna was capable of. “the woman can level cities with a backward spell. besides, i hear batman is in town too,” she shrugged. “he’ll keep her level.” she shook her head as he apologized for dragging her into this and thanked her for the intel she’s provided along the way. “you have nothing to apologize for. i owed you a debt,” she replied. truth be told, natasha was in this mess long before he brought it to her. she knew michael when he was first lieutenant, they’d crossed paths when she was doing a covert op within the military but she had no idea what he was at the time. she’d began researching the demons and angels when hayden’s powers went active. she’d also consulted with a hunter, dean winchester, about the whole sin fiasco. she’d been in the trenches of it all since day one. “i am, however, disappointed that i leave for a period of two weeks and this is what you get up to,” she sighed as she took her drink in hand and stood up. she made her way over to the large windows of the penthouse and stared out into the city. a year of his life for a small display of power? men, she sighed deeply. “i’m assuming you picked up that kind of magic from constantine,” she observed, not turning to face him just yet. “you know that man is dangerous.” john constantine was more of a walking disaster than clint and that was saying something. “promise me you will never use that kind of magic again, dimi,” she replied as she turned to face him.

“You know I’m half tempted to keep talking just to get your hands wrapped around my throat” He teased her before sipping his drink nodding his head “Its a rather silly habit I’ve formed, She is quite strong but that doesn’t mean she’s unbreakable and this has broken her I’m sure.” He replied giving Nat a look “of course Bruce is here, his family is growing and the demons to Angel radio is severely lacking.” He replied honestly before chuckling softly “I still wished to offer my gratitude, it's not often there are people in our business that you can fully trust. I hardly minded helping you out with RJ and Hydra, anything to watch that organization burn is worth it to me” He joked thinking back to his time spent doing their hits until he’d come across RJ, a sweet boy they thought he’d take on a dangerous mission that might’ve ended in his death. “You really can’t be this shocked, It's hardly out of character for me, One always falls back into old habits, regardless of retired or not. I have no power to look after Zatanna or the people around her, Its time Michael takes reasonability for the pain he is causing with his love.”  He sipped his drink watching her move about his apartment nodding his head “I did, a couple spells here and there which he was all too happy to give.” He mused before chuckling softly “I’ve known that since day one, I just needed some information since no one else would tell me things. Recon if you would I won’t ask him for any more spells, the whole thing is pretty worthless anyhow” He replied before turning to look at her “Don’t tell me you’re worried about me Natasha? I don’t make promises I can’t keep, I have no idea what the future will hold and I may use the magic again. I can promise not to use it on them ever again. Will that be work?” 

Those were some good points, Matt conceded. He wasn’t even sure if HE could do that, even with his abilities, and by all accounts Bryan was a regular man. He opened the folder in front of him, running his fingers over the pages as he read the information. “You know, I do appreciate you remembering to bring them in braille. You’d be surprised how many people forget to bring braille to their blind lawyer,” Matt quipped as he read, an easygoing smirk on his face. “Well, bad news is they’ve got a pretty solid case on your patient. But, and this is the good news, it’s almost entirely circumstantial. The DA won’t want this to go to trial, she’s up for reelection. She won’t want to go near any trial she’s not one hundred percent certain she’ll win. And this case screams reasonable doubt. We don’t have to prove Bryan was innocent, we just have to make them doubt he was guilty.” Matt had a sneaking suspicion that he knew who the TRUE guilty party was, a serial killer who had just popped up nicknamed the Brutalizer, one who the police were desperate to keep out of the public eye. “I’ll need to meet with Bryan, discuss some things. Know that attorney client privilege is present when I ask you, did she mention any enemies? Anyone else who may have been upset at her, wanted her dead? Anything that could maybe point towards a different killer?”

Dimitri was glad to have gotten Matt’s attention, after all, there was so much plausible doubt about this male and killing his wife. Sure the women had been unfaithful but that didn’t automatically mean the husband killed his wife in a jealous rage. “It was no trouble I know each one of these papers could hold the key to a good case and I know much I enjoy looking over things personally.” He smirked before looking at the other nodding his head that he did know “They do everyone is quick to blame the jealous husband when the cheating wife is found dead. “ He replied listening to Matt’s explanation granted he knew all of this information but he wanted to see how quickly this Matt Murdock could work it out.  It was quite interesting watching how the man worked, of course, he’d done some digging himself but Bryan needed to systems help for these things. “Of course he is being held in the Jailhouse awaiting trial, He hasn’t signed any confession or anything but I’m sure they are putting pressure on him to just sign away his life was some stupid idea. Thank you for enacting the Attorney-client privilege is present, as far as I know, the wife seemed like she wanted to make her marriage work, during our session she seemed on edge as if something was going to happen, I’m sure you know the feeling. I’m unsure if it had to do with this affair or if something else may have spooked her.  I inquired about her behavior and she spoke quite in a withholding way, But she did mention that she found something dark about a friend of hers something that changed her mind completely about him.”  

She smiled softly as he teased her. “you know, if you aren’t nearly strangled to death every once in a while are you really living?” she asked as she draped her jacket over the chair and took a seat. she could see the man was in a much stormier headspace than he had been when she initially left. “i’m sorry about the photos and the girl,” she replied softly. she knew kids were a soft spot for him and the way the girl, tracy, had been brutalized and made to look like zatanna was disturbing to say the least. “normally i like to deliver that kind of news in person, but i wasn’t sure when i would be state side again,” she admitted. her eyebrows knitted together when he mentioned that he’d confronted michael about this. she saw no visible markings on his body which meant he hadn’t done it the old fashion way. “bozhe moy…” she let out a deep sigh, running her fingers through her forehead. “dimitri, you don’t need me to tell you that was incredibly stupid,” she replied as she took the offered drink. she’d done her research on these creatures and knew just how powerful they were. “what did it cost you?” 

He chuckled softly rolling his eyes “It’s been quite some time since someone tried to strangle me, I prefer being pinned to the ground.” He replied moving to take a seat opposite her knowing that she could read him like a book. Children were a hot issue with him even with all his work as the Red Dragon people knew he never did kids. “She was so mangled, in a very unhuman like manner. The person who did it is gone though if anything it makes me worried for Zatanna” He replied honestly before looking at her “I understand Natasha, Mission comes first, this business I dragged you into and I’ve used up plenty of your time. The demon that killed Tracy also put the hit out on me, so I must say thank you for all your helo on this.” He replied before chuckling at he words at least his was out in the open. He thought about not telling her of the price but in truth, it mattered very little to him, he’d lived a long life and it never mattered to him when he died. “Nothing I wasn’t willing to give, I don’t belong in their world but I’ve come to care about them. If I can’t help them then I put it on Michael to do all he can to look after them, especially since I won’t be seeing them again.” He mused before taking a sip of his drink “No greater love hath man than to lay down his life for a friend, a year of my life shaved off I believe the price was.”