Getting The Band Back Together

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"If you didn't kill James Broadshaw, then who did?" the prosecuting attorney asked.

Instantly, Matthew Murdoch was on his feet. "Objection, Your Honour. It is not Miss Hardy's job to determine who the guilty party is; that is the job of the police."

"Objection sustained," the judge declared. "Mister Smythe, please confine your questions to the matter at hand."

"Yes, Your Honour," Smythe replied with a miniscule bow of his head. "The prosecution has no further questions for this witness."

"Your witness, Mister Murdock," Judge MacIntyre stated.

Slowly, Matt rose before beginning to move closer to the witness stand.

There was definitely one advantage to being a blind lawyer, it gave one a fraction more time to think before having to ask any questions. The problem right now was that, while Matt was certain that Miss Hardy was innocent of murder, he knew that she wasn't as innocent as she appeared to be. And it'd be bad form to get her thrown in jail for a different crime than what she'd been arrested for.

"Miss Hardy. Prior to the evening of the fourteenth, had you ever had any prior contact with Mister Broadshaw?"

"No." Felicia replied succinctly.

Matt nodded. "And on the evening in question, was the door to Mister Broadshaw's apartment unlocked before you entered?"

"It was," she replied, with not even a hint of a smile or smirk in her voice, something that he was very grateful for, considering how he'd worded that particular question.

"Did you attempt to determine if Mister Broadshaw was home before you opened the door?" he asked.

"Yes. I called out, but there was no answer," she replied.

"Then why did you decide to enter Mister Broadshaw's apartment without an invitation?" Matt asked.

"I thought that I could quickly get in, grab what I needed to and get back out again without causing a scene," Felicia explained.

"The items belonging to Angelica Stone?" Matt asked.

"Yes," she replied.

And just like that, they were past the most dangerous part of the questioning.

"How far into the apartment did you go before you discovered Mister Broadshaw's body?" Matt asked.

"I didn't. Need to go into his apartment, that is," Felicia replied. "As soon as I opened the door, he was just there, lying there. That's when I rushed in, hoping to help him."

"And that's how the police found you," Matt stated more than asked.

"Yes," Felicia replied anyway.

"You were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time," Matt clarified.

"Exactly!" Felicia agreed.

ooo00ooo

"Miss Felicia Hardy," Judge MacIntyre said after reading the piece of paper that had been handed to her by the bailiff. "Please stand."

Felicia complied, with her two lawyers, Nelson and Murdoch, rising on either side of her as well.

"It is the decision of this court that you are not guilty of the murder of James Broadshaw. I must caution you, however. Much of the verdict was decided upon by the reasonable doubt that was shown in your defence. The fact that you were willing to enter another's home, regardless of your intentions, is a crime. A note will be entered into your permanent file and you will be placed on a good behaviour bond for a period of three years. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Your Honour," Felicia replied.

Judge MacIntyre gave Felicia a long hard look before lifting her gavel and bringing it down.

"Case dismissed."

Instantly, Felicia turned to Matt and grasped his hands.

"Thank you. Thank you so much," she said, before whirling about to thank Foggy as well.

"Just be sure to keep your nose clean, Miss Hardy," Matt stated once she'd turned back around. "Three years' good behaviour, remember."

"Don't worry, I will," Felicia assured him. "It's straight back to university for me and as soon as I can, to find a good, honest job. That should keep me out of trouble."

"Good luck, Miss Hardy, with everything," Foggy said, before beginning to straighten their notes and to place them into his briefcase.

Matt 'watched' as Felicia left the courtroom. He could only hope that she learnt her lesson from this and left what she'd learnt at her father's knee behind her. Somehow, though, he doubted it.

ooo00ooo

Bruce eyed the crowd across the street warily.

From the position he was in, he was almost invisible, not that any of the crowd were looking his way anyway. The bulk of the crowd seemed to be reporters, although there were a fair few everyday New Yorkers who seemed to be Avengers fans. Many, he noted, wore shirts and hats with one or more of the heroes on it. Two young boys, brothers by the look of them, were both wearing giant green fists on their hands.

Gasps, screams and pointing indicated that something high above the crowd had caught their attention. Bruce leaned out from behind the pillar and looked up, only to instantly start grumbling to himself.

"Sure, bypass the crowds; take the easy way in," he muttered towards the red and blue teen swinging high overhead and the cloaked figure on his flying broomstick.

Within minutes, the two had disappeared from sight, landing somewhere on the great platform above the Avenger's logo.

"Four jumps, maybe five," Bruce muttered, eyeing the Tower.

But turning into the other guy to reach the party would be somewhat counter-productive – they were gathering to celebrate that the Tower was finally fixed and refurbished, not to trash the thing again.

Finally, Bruce gave in and, after looking both ways, dodged through the traffic to reach the front of the Tower. Getting through the crowd, though, was a whole other ballgame.

"Excuse me. Sorry. Sorry. Excuse me."

It took a fair bit of manoeuvring to get his body through the tiniest of gaps and a whole lot of apologising as he made his way towards the front, but eventually, Bruce reached his destination. Only to come face to face with a cordoned off barrier that was still a couple of metres out from the great glass entrance doors.

"Doctor Banner," a security guard said, stepping forward.

Bruce looked around to find a face that he sort-of remembered.

"Ah, yeah, hi," he replied.

The man merely nodded and moved the barrier in slightly, enough for Bruce to make his way through.

"I'm guessing that you don't remember me," the man said. "I'm Happy Hogan; I'm in charge of security today."

"Nice to meet you again," Bruce replied as he was let inside the building.

"Wondered how long it was going to take you to get inside," a voice stated from the shadows.

Bruce's head snapped around.

"Leave him alone," Natasha said to the archer leaning against the far wall. "At least he walked in instead of crawling through a vent."

"Hey! I had to check out Tony's security," Clint retorted.

"And what did you decide from the jolt of electricity from the trigger that you tripped?" Bobbi asked, one eyebrow raised.

Clint ignored the jibe, instead coming upright and striding across the lobby to call the elevator.

"Doctor Banner. It's good to see you again," Steve said, coming up beside him and clapping him on the shoulder.

"You too, Steve," Bruce smiled.

ooo00ooo

"You sure that it's okay for me to come?" Peter asked as he landed in a crouch beside Harry.

Harry barely even looked at the teen as he shrunk his broom before stowing it away in one of the pockets on his belt.

"For the last time, Pete, of course you're invited, too. You may not have fought with the whole team yet, but you're one of us," Harry replied. "Besides, didn't Tony invite you the last time you were at work here?"

"Well, sure, but I just thought that he was being polite or something," Peter replied.

"Well, I was, but that doesn't mean that I didn't mean the invite," Tony stated as he joined the two on the platform.

"How are you, Tony?" Harry asked.

"Good now that the workers have finally gone and we can do some partying," Tony replied. "Gotta say, though, I thought you guys would have used the proper entrance."

"Isn't this where you take off from and land in the Iron Man suit?" Peter asked, looking around.

"Hmm," Tony replied. "It's been modified a bit, though."

"Looks big enough for a helicopter," Peter stated, looking about the large platform, "or maybe a ... a quinjet?"

"Got it in one, webhead," Tony beamed. "I'm having a couple of quinjets like the ones that S.H.I.E.L.D. use modified for our own use. They're not ready yet, but once they are, we can park one here."

"For those of us who can't fly," Harry agreed with a smile, flipping back his hood and cancelling the obscuris spell.

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with webbing wherever you need to go. And it's more fun, too," Peter protested.

"But flying's so much faster," Tony countered before throwing an arm around Harry's shoulders and beginning to manoeuvre the other two inside. "Come on, I'll give you a tour while we're waiting for the others."

ooo00ooo

"Finally got the band back together," Tony said. "Well, except for Point Break, but he's off godding or something. Anyway, to the band!"

Tony's half-full glass was raised high, a gesture that was mimicked by all assembled there.

After the group had drunk, Steve leant forward in his chair and placed his tumbler on the coffee table in front of him. His action was enough to garner the attention of all, especially when he deliberately made eye contact with each and every person before moving on to the next.

Finally, when all were looking at him, Steve focussed his attention on Tony.

"You had us worried, Tony," Steve began. "Reports of your death were announced world-wide."

"Exaggerated, as you can see," Tony replied, spreading his arms wide.

"I heard it all the way down in Brazil," Bruce put in. "It's why I came home earlier than I'd planned."

"Harry here even came to Malibu as soon as it happened," Pepper said, placing her hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Yeah, I remember you saying that our resident wizard was a bit of a worry-wart," Tony replied.

"We were all worried," Steve pointed out, drawing the conversation back to himself. "But there's no reason we should have been."

"Exactly! I can take care of myself. Besides, I had Rhodey to back me up," Tony pointed out, waving a hand at the man seated beside him.

"Not until the end," Steve replied with a shake of his head. "To start with, you shouldn't have needed back up. Challenging the head of an evil organisation like that wasn't smart. And it was even dumber giving him your home address."

"See?" Pepper said.

"I've already apologised for that," Tony pointed out.

"I'm not saying that the Mandarin didn't need to be challenged or taken care of," Steve continued, "but there were smarter ways of going about it. Not least of it is the fact that we're supposed to be a team. And teammates back each other up. When you need backup, you call us in. That goes for all of us. We're stronger together."

"I assume that goes for you, too, Cap?" Tony asked.

"Absolutely," Steve replied. "Back in the day, I had Peggy, Howard and the Howling Commandos to back me up. Now, though, I've got all of you. Just like I've got your backs whenever you need it."

"Just try not to call on the other guy too much," Bruce pleaded. "He tends to make a mess."

The chuckle that that comment produced was cut off by a gasp.

"Bobbi?" Natasha asked. "Everything okay?"

Bobbi simply shook her head. "New York just went dark. The lights are out on the island and as far as I can see."

"Jarvis?" Tony asked.

"Agent Morse is correct. The only location with any power is Avengers Tower," Jarvis replied.

"That'd be because of the arc tech running through the place," Tony preened. "What's caused the black out?"

"Unknown at this stage," Jarvis replied. "All that I can tell you is that it originated on the island of Manhattan, somewhere in the vicinity of Forty-second and Maddison Avenue."

"The Baxter Building?" Clint asked.

Suddenly, Harry stiffened.

"Daredevil's in trouble. His vitals are all over the place," he stated even as he was grabbing up his cloak and swinging it over his shoulders.

"What? How do you know that?" Steve asked.

"I put a monitoring charm on him when we first met," Harry replied even as he was creating a portkey out of an empty coke can. "It's usually used for young children; allows parents to monitor the kid's location and health."

"Handy," Natasha stated.

"You coming, Pete?" Harry asked, holding out the can.

"You couldn't keep me away," Peter replied after pulling his mask into place.

"Um, is this one of those times where we're all supposed to be going?" Tony asked. "'Cause I'm sure that's what the Capsicle was just saying."

"Bullseye's nothing more than an irritant," Harry stated. "Between the two of us and Daredevil, it shouldn't be problem."

Then, before another word could be spoken, Harry tapped his wand to the can and he and Peter disappeared in a swirl of colours.

ooo00ooo

Tracking the Devil across Hell's Kitchen was child's play to Bullseye. The only thing he hadn't been able to work out was who the guy under the mask was when he was at home. Or where that home was. But he'd work it out. Assuming that he hadn't killed the guy first, of course. Then again, unmasking him after he'd off-ed the guy would also work.

Right now, he was using his small, hand-held telescope to track the guy across the roof-tops. Soon, very, very soon, the Devil would be in his sights again and ripe for the killing. Oh, sure, he could snipe the guy now, but where was the fun in that? No, it was much more satisfying to see the surprise in their eyes up close and personal right before that light left their eyes.

It was as he was watching the Devil run across the building two over from where he was lurking in the shadows that all of the lights went out. And not just in the city block, but in the entire city.

With a snarl, Bullseye snapped his telescope shut and put it away before pulling out his night vision goggles and donning them.

Surprisingly, once he found his target again, it was to find that the Devil hadn't even altered his speed or trajectory due to the lack of sight.

"The guy's good. Must know these roof-tops like the back of his hand," he murmured. "Well, let's see just how good he is when he can't see a thing."

With a predatory grin, Bullseye emptied the small cylinder at his back and spread the handful of ball bearings across the rooftop.

ooo00ooo

It was the sounds that alerted Daredevil that something that happened. First, came the panicked voices and then, when he focussed on them, it was the lack of sound that told him what had happened. There was no constant buzzing of electricity; obviously the power was out, although how far that extended he had no idea.

Lack of lights, though, was never going to be a problem for Daredevil, after all, he'd been living blind for the vast majority of his life. With that thought in mind, he continued running across the rooftops before unerringly using his billy club to attach to the wire that joined this building with the next and sliding down to the next roof.

As soon as he sensed the distance under him was right, he released one half of his club and dropped.

His feet came down unexpectedly on a number of small, hard round objects. Objects that slid out from under him. And before Daredevil could regain his footing, he'd slipped and come crashing down hard on his back, the wind temporarily knocked from him.

And then his right thigh exploded with pain and he screamed.

Even as he moved to grasp at the handle of the knife protruding from his thigh, a second dagger came whizzing out of nowhere to slam into his left bicep, rocking him backwards and pulling a second scream from him.

The third knife he only just noticed in time, swaying just enough so that instead of burying itself in the meaty part of his left thigh, it only just clipped him; the cut, though, was still long and deep.

The fourth knife, the one aimed at his right arm, he managed to avoid completely.

"Well, well. Looky what we have here. The Devil of Hell's Kitchen, all caught in the dark," a voice mocked.

"Bullseye," Daredevil growled as he tracked the man walking across the roof towards him.

"The one and only," the assassin replied and it sounded like the man had given a mocking bow to accompany the acknowledgement.

"What do you want?" Daredevil asked, more to buy time than anything else.

"Why, simply to fulfil my contract," Bullseye replied. "And that's when the real fun'll begin; getting back at those two who made me miss."

Obviously, the man had plans to target Mage and Spider-man, plans that Daredevil had no intention of allowing him to complete.

"You're going to have to go through me first," Daredevil stated.

"With pleasure," Bullseye smiled.

A swirl of the man's long cloak was just enough warning for Daredevil to roll to the side, inadvertently causing the knife in his leg to be pushed deeper into him. But the roll wasn't enough to avoid the attack. While three tings of sound indicated where the shurikens that had missed him had landed, the other two now imbedded in his back caused him to arch his back and scream in pain.

Pop

"Bullseye!"

ooo00ooo

Pop

The instant that Mage and Spider-man arrived on the rooftop, Mage groaned. There were no lights on, he couldn't see a thing and hadn't thought to cast a charm on his eyes allowing him to see in the dark.

But that didn't mean that his ears weren't working. The sound of Daredevil's scream of pain told him that the hero had been injured, most likely severely.

"Bullseye!" Mage yelled, hoping to at the very least distract the man.

"More blind mice! How fun," Bullseye replied, and Mage could hear the grin in his voice.

"Watch out!" Spider-man called.

Relying on the strength of dragonhide, Mage simply pulled his cloak tight around him and dropped his head. The feeling of half-a-dozen thunks impacting his cloak told him that the marksman had just attempted to skewer him with something sharp, without success.

Obviously, the man could see in the dark, an advantage that Mage wasn't going to allow him to keep.

With a vicious swipe, Mage incanted the most powerful lumos solem that he could.

This time it was Bullseye's turn to scream in pain, a scream that was accompanied by the man ripping off the night vision goggles that he'd been wearing and throwing them away. Mage watched warily as the man staggered away.

But it was only a feint. Bullseye suddenly snapped around, throwing a pair of knives blindly towards Mage. Mage, of course, didn't waste a second, instantly banishing the knives right back where they'd come from.

A second scream was ripped from Bullseye, this time accompanied by him gripping his right wrist with his left hand, one of his daggers embedded to the hilt through the marksman's hand.

And then the globs of webbing hit the man, sending him stumbling backwards, only to trip over the low wall that encircled the roof before plummeting over.

Both Mage and Spider-man raced to the edge, firing magic and webs after him. Mage's spell hit Bullseye a fraction of a second before Spider-man's line. The two opposing forces, one to

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