Iron Clad Evidence [Iron Man/Daredevil]

[webdevil]

CONTINUITY: This story is set a few hours after the events of Devil Advocate




The Bronx was as far removed from the Kitchen as he could get. Fortunately for Nelson and Murdock's expenses, Tony Stark was being billed for every dollar spent. For Matt Murdock, he was out of his natural element. Sure, it was still New York and still had familiar smells, sounds, and feel that all of New York City did. But low to the ground, larger buildings scarce and scattered, and a sizeable industrial centre made for an entirely jarring experience. The kind of buildings Peter told him about one time he came out here. Matt nearly smiled at the thought. But if blind attorney Matt Murdock - who had to Uber here under the guise of meeting a blind (heh) date - was out of his element; Daredevil, the Man Without Fear, was not.

Once the sun was sufficiently set, the costume secured in place, Daredevil circled several blocks of low rooftop travel (which took longer than you might think as he had to stay out of sight to anybody who had any sense to look up given the frequent single story rooftops), before finding the warehouse the kid described*. It was a shabby, basic red brick number with a layout that gave the appearance that it was once two distinct buildings that were fused into one. Nothing on his Radar gave anything away from the outside, but that didn't mean much. There was no rooftop entrance, no sneaky windows either. There was however a couple security doors and a couple of dock entrances. He made his move down towards the side and off the roof, the crimson costume virtually black in the shadows, his Radar picking up very few lights down this narrow street. He put a hand on the door. Electronic security lock. Well that isn't surprising...

Four Hours Earlier...

Stark Tower was home to some of the most sophisticated security measures in New York. And yet in spite of the drones, laser grids, automated cameras, riot control suppressants, electronic locks, motion sensors, and the rest of the works a billionaire genius like Tony Stark could throw at a building - especially when said genius usually paraded around as the Invincible Iron Man most of the time - -

"- - you would think to check if your ventilation needed some maintenance..." said Daredevil in a low tone to announce he was present. Tony's workshop whirred with the same kind of polished, near musical, hum as Patrick's Iron Spider suit. Not surprising.

"I'm guessing Spider-Man hasn't been around in a while... Unless you were expecting a house call," he added as an afterthought. And now that he thought about it, now that he was IN the Tower, the motion sensors, drones, lasers, and literally everything he just thought of wasn't tracking him. At least not to his Radar's knowledge (and it tracked everything around him for several stories...)

Revan

[razor]

Iron Man

"I am Iron Man..."

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Tony was actively working on one of his new suits. Specifically the space suit. He wanted to explore the great beyond, and possibly help with the maintenance of Galactus when the diseases reached him again. There was so much merit to being able to make it to space, and he just had a feeling that a space threat was coming up.
If there was one thing to learn from being in his position, it was always listen to those gut feelings. In the long run, they help tremendously.


He'd hear the indication of someone being there by the voice that sounded like that of Daredevil. The voice was one he heard semi-often, but definitely not one he was fond of hearing when he decided to show. It was either the man chewing his ear off about how wrong his decision making was, or it was him warning him of grave danger. Neither were things Tony liked to hear.


"Well... If you're Doom or some other large scale threat, you'd use the front door or blow up my building... That's depending on how much of an ego you have. If you're coming through the vents, I can likely handle you with the suits of armor standing around me. Sure, I do have the threat of gas, but I have sensors and masks for that... So I wasn't too worried."

---

[webdevil]

Daredevil suppressed a dark laugh, but he looked away as he was not fully able to hold back a daring grin. Assuming the suits could get to him before he was out cold. Nevertheless, this was business, and the stoic mask returned once he sensed Tony look back to his latest project: Another suit.

"Kid's innocent. Heartbeat rang true. He's too young and active to have a pacemaker, and the rest of his body language and pheremones filled in the blanks. But I'm guessing you already knew that given his Iron Spider armor's biometrics. He also said the suit's sensors and camera could help verify his case. Given StarkTech as well as SHIELD tech are notoriously hard to crack, this would have to have been a serious frame job. Or an inside one. Is there anything admissible in court the suit could help with in his case?" the Man Without Fear asked. His voice was still the dark, raspy voice associated with Daredevil and not Matt Murdock, but his body language and posture resumed very much that of his lawyer alter-ego and not the swashbuckling vigilante.

"He also mentioned a warehouse in the Bronx where the set up took place. And the arresting Detective is likely an Enhanced given she was acting too much like, well, me," he finished, listing off the cliff notes for Tony to parse through in his own way. Most of this was in the dossier, but a refresher wouldn't hurt. He didn't necessarily like Tony - who would after the Civil War outside of Natasha (which he questioned heavily) - and his ego was perhaps the largest of any costumed individual Matt Murdock or Daredevil had ever met (including Bullseye), but get past all of that, Tony was decidedly not an idiot. Plus he was paying for this consultancy so any extra time meant more money for Nelson and Murdock and that was enough.

[razor]

Iron Man

"I am Iron Man..."

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Tony sighed out loud and put two fingers to the bridge of his nose, turning to Daredevil. This was a man whom he respected, to the degree that he could and will disrespect him. He knew the Devil of Hell's Kitchen felt the same. No harm, no foul. At the same time, this was a touchy subject for the both of them. This wasn't just a threat of the world, this was the threat of someone they both knew.
It wasn't fun dealing with these things.


"Well, you see, Devil, I believe you. I agree. I have sensors on my suit. I have vital trackers on that suit alone. Sadly, the help of our abilities aren't going to help him here. It's not going to look real good on him if he gets bailed out by Daredevil's radar senses or Iron Man's vital scanners. The world isn't going to accept that. They'll think he's getting bailed out by the supes... Things, sadly, don't work the way that they used to. People have to be held accountable. Prison is the safest place for him right now. Until this blows over in the way that doesn't involve our superpowers..."


He'd raise his eyebrow when he mentioned the warehouse. He'd read the report, but it was very clear Daredevil had his suspicions. It was true that Stark also had the same ideas, but he couldn't help but think there was something more there. It couldn't be that easy, or else someone would have figured it out by now.


"If you came for my blessing to go look in the warehouse, I'm going to have to stop you right there. You can try, but I'll have no choice to be on your ass. Or am I to assume, because you told me, that you've already been. If that's the case, then I can't help but indulge you."

---

[webdevil]

Daredevil cracked a sly grin and chuckled bemusedly.

"Objection, your Honor: Leading the witness. Besides, I'm only doing what my employer has requested me to do. Anything within those parameters were laid out hired me..."

Daredevil was practically laughing in a way that even when he was being humourous sounded unsettling. He seemed to really have a knack for getting under the skin of wealthy people, he mused privately. Turning tail on the spot, he gave a hand in wave.

"Figured I'd check if you had anything. Attorney/Client privilege and all that," he added, his voice perfectly echoing off the acoustics of the wall as he made his own exit. Tony was different from Fisk in most respects, but one way they were similar was the way they needed to feel in control. Now most of the time, they were. But this was beyond Stark's depth. It went dirty. Places he hated. Fortunately for his endless check book and his own ego: He hired someone who wasn't.

[razor]

Iron Man

"I am Iron Man..."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The current Co-Director of SHIELD sighed and turned to his old, estranged friend. There was a shrug and finally Stark facing the Man Without Fear. This situation was becoming tiresome, but he knew he could trust Matt to get it done. Not only was he dealing with someone that very well could have been using his tech for harm, it was also someone he couldn't find.


"I personally looked through my old logs to make sure there wasn't something I was missing and personally combed the U.S for tech similar to the suit that Patrick was wearing three times over. Found nothing. Whatever you've got from him is a lead worth following. I don't know if it'll go anywhere, but I will say that it is the only option we've got. Honestly, though, the less I know about what you're doing the better."


With that, he'd nod and turn back to his desk, saying quietly, "Give em' hell."
Knowing Daredevil would hear it.

---

[webdevil]

NOW.

The electronic lock would stop most ordinary citizens from entry, but no ordinary citzen could sense the electric currents vibrating from the plate or the enhanced sense of touch to know where and how to pop off the cover with barely a click, and a simple wiring job gave an audible BEEP, and the Man Without Fear was inside.

The warehouse was unremarkable. The asbestos lingering in the air indicated this building wasn't fully up to code. He would have to check the ownership records more thoroughly in case it came up in a lawsuit. Or worse, it was owned by Wilson Fisk. He pulled out his billy club. With each step he was beginning to get on edge: If the kid could get blindsided in that armor of his, then it had to mean he was set up and...

He stopped. The floor felt uneven. He tapped it gently with his club, allowing his Radar to focus what was underneath him like an impressionistic painting. To the uninitiated, this would seem utterly bizarre, seeing a man sniff in the dark like a bloodhound and palm around like he's, well, blind. To those in the know, however, well, he was sure they found it just as bizarre. Spider-Man had made a comment about this, and it was strangely fitting that particular memory about a crazed black market surgeon named Klubber flitted in his thoughts.

There. A unique smell of oil and lubricants along with the impressions of a specific foot shape, the Kid's, precariously preserved in dust. And... Something else. Something... Faint.

[Rift]

Outside...

Tony watched as Daredevil slipped into the warehouse with ease.

It never ceases to amaze me that a man so hellbent on the law and the intricacies thereof is so adept at breaking and entering, he thought.

What he had told Daredevil back in his office at Avengers Tower was true. Technically, he couldn't get involved, at least not in an official capacity. If this had been pre-SRA and pre-S.H.I.E.L.D he likely would have done the same thing the crimson clad vigilante was doing.

With more style and class of course, but this is now. The co-Director of the largest espionage agency on the planet cannot personally get involved with an investigation. It undermines the public trust in the system, spits in the face of the law enforcement officers working the case, and sets a precedent that screams "when its a costume there are different rules", he thought. Of course that's only if I am there. Here. Which I most decidedly am not.

It was technically true. He was still back at the office. To anyone who may stumble in it would appear he was in deep concentration, still working on the next gen upgrade to the space armor. In truth his physical form was there, but mentally he was controlling a new stealth suit prototype clear across town at the warehouse. He had already blacked out any surveillance equipment on the ground and redirected a satellite overhead to look elsewhere and now all that was left was to join the Devil of Hell's Kitchen in the investigation.

Inside...

The stealth suit allowed him to enter using the same method as Daredevil. Heck, the "wallcrawler tech" he had installed, not unlike what was used in Iron Spider armor, allowed him to climb along the wall without making a sound.

Eat your heart out Parker, he thought as he landed beside Daredevil and uncloaked.

"Okay, sorry I'm late, but I'm not here. Literally," he said raising the faceplate to show the suit had no occupant. "Loophole for the win. So what have we got Columbo. No wait, Columbo was the cop. Sorry, I'd make a Perry Mason joke but I think I just heard Jarvis cleaning down the hall. Let's get this show on the road shall we? I'll conduct some scans and you...rearrange dust? Just what is it you are doing anyway?"

[webdevil]

The negative space between the armor's whirring indicated that while Tony's voice was coming out of the suit, it was another one of his carefully constructed automatons. A clever ruse, and one that the lawyer underneath the horned cowl admired. But his expression nevertheless hardened under the appearance of the Iron Avenger. It smacked of distrust in his own work.

"Cologne," said Daredevil in response to Iron Man's query. Daredevil gave another tilt of his head not unlike that of a dog picking up a scent. He tilted to the left, then upward, then directly at Iron Man. He waited for Tony to make a pithy remark about himself at this admittedly obtuse remark before making it clear that in spite of the fact the eyes could not see, they were clearly looking past the fancy bucket of bolts standing before him and towards the negative space beyond.

"Inexpensive, artificial. Probably something to hide the fact they had not showered in two days. But not... Common to New York..." he said, his voice trailing off as if speaking to himself.

[Rift]

"So the perp stinks and is an out of towner? I'll bet you twenty that he's from Jersey," Stark replied.

Moving along silently the armor scanned with every available sensor. Considering the prototype stealth armor was intended for missions where recon and information gathering were the primary objectives, Tony had designed a specialized array package for the armor taking advantage of both traditional methods of monitoring and the latest means of sampling everything from radiation levels to air quality. In fact, after Daredevil had mentioned the scent Tony adjusted measurements. The suit was able to pick up small traces of it in the air and relayed a detailed breakdown of the cologne's chemical makeup. Not particularly useful for the task at hand, but it was good to know it worked.

"Penny for your thoughts? Now I like this kid. Patrick. He has a good head on his shoulders, seems to be in this for the right reasons, and while I have been a big proponent of actions have consequences as of late I hate seeing someone pay for something they didn't actually do. Like I said earlier though his reputation can be salvaged, but not if it is one of the costumed crowd that does it. Whatever we find might exonerate him, but that doesn't do us any good if we can't actually present it. I don't suppose you know anyone could come across the information legally? Because I have to be honest here, sitting in the big chair has not made me too many friends in blue. Local law enforcement hates cooperating with S.H.I.E.L.D. as much as the military does. In fact the only person I can definitely say I trust is lucky he hasn't been drummed out. They have him working the freak beat permanently as is and he has his hands full dealing with the stigma of cooperating with a certain moon obsessed nutjob."

Before he could hear an answer, the suit detected something. Holding the hand up, palm out, a holographic display of a particle appeared.

"Someone has a leaky battery. Batteries I should say. It is barely noticeable, but scans indicate one or more Kasimir Plate Batteries have expelled more energy than they should. Traces are faint and fading, but the Iron Spider armor has several thousands of them generating "zero point" energy within the chest plate. Patrick's armor is in perfect working order. I had it examined as soon as he was brought into custody."

[webdevil]

And there was the response. And he thought Peter's jokes were bad. He felt his unworking eyes roll in their sockets.

"Penny for your thoughts? Now I like this kid. Patrick. He has a good head on his shoulders, seems to be in this for the right reasons, and while I have been a big proponent of actions have consequences as of late I hate seeing someone pay for something they didn't actually do. Like I said earlier though his reputation can be salvaged, but not if it is one of the costumed crowd that does it. Whatever we find might exonerate him, but that doesn't do us any good if we can't actually present it. I don't suppose you know anyone could come across the information legally? Because I have to be honest here, sitting in the big chair has not made me too many friends in blue. Local law enforcement hates cooperating with S.H.I.E.L.D. as much as the military does. In fact the only person I can definitely say I trust is lucky he hasn't been drummed out. They have him working the freak beat permanently as is and he has his hands full dealing with the stigma of cooperating with a certain moon obsessed nutjob."

As Daredevil began feeling around for other indicators with his other senses, he took his time to speak.

"Usually there are reporters you can rely on to expose it publicly. Trouble is - as you say being the boy in the big chair - even going public with the matter means any attorney will tear that apart given that it went into the court of public opinion and who the source may be. So the only real way to out this situation - tho corroborating evidence will certainly help - is to find the actual culprit and get a confession out of them. Someone with really bad cologne and - -"

Daredevil stopped short as Iron Man spoke, cutting him off.

"Someone has a leaky battery. Batteries I should say. It is barely noticeable, but scans indicate one or more Kasimir Plate Batteries have expelled more energy than they should. Traces are faint and fading, but the Iron Spider armor has several thousands of them generating "zero point" energy within the chest plate. Patrick's armor is in perfect working order. I had it examined as soon as he was brought into custody."

Then he felt it with his right heel.

"Might not be the only thing," he added and made two steps. One with a faint tap with his right toe, and another sharper drive with his right heel. To ordinary people the sounds they made were identical and no distinction apart from the force in which the crimson-clad crusader drove his foot with. To those with enhanced senses, however, there was a distinct ringing metallic quality in the kick.

"All metal, no matter how refined or sophisticated, will always leave particulates behind. Some large, some microscopic. And some with oddly specific properties if given the right nudge. Your suit picking this up?" he asked, not entirely sure the specs of Tony's current armor set, repeating the same foot motion four more times.

click
CLAKing
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CLAKing