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It was early, a Saturday morning at the end of august, when continuous knocking filled Matt and Foggy’s apartment. While Foggy was still asleep in their bed, snoring lightly, Matt was already up and had been for some time. On week-end like these, he loved to take his time in the morning, listening to the love of his life as he slept soundly. He would usually make breakfast and coffee once he heard him slowly wake up, ready to greet him with food.
But, before he had time for that today, someone was banging on their door. It took seconds to Matt before he realized it was Peter on the other side of the door. “Good morning,” he said as he opened the door to him.
“I’m in big trouble,” Peter exclaimed, entering the apartment without as much as a hello. “Like huge trouble.”
“You know that whatever you did, we can always help you. I’m sure you had your reasons for whatever happened,” Matt said, like legal problems were the only type of trouble he could think of.
“No, I didn’t do anything. Except maybe having the worst luck in the world,” he continued. “I didn’t know what to do, so I came here.” That’s the moment Matt realized how freaked out Peter was. He could barely breathe normally. It felt like all of his body was shaking and he couldn’t stay in place, walking around in circles. Clearly, something was wrong. He wasn’t the best at comforting people, but Peter needed him right now.
“Peter, breathe with me,” he said, holding him in place with both of his hands on his shoulders. He took deep breaths to help him. A moment passed before Peter was finally breathing normally again. Only then did Matt ask about all of this. “Now, tell me. What’s going on?”
“I was looking at my classes and looking at my professors online to know what I’m getting into. I want to be prepared for the assholes, you know? But now I think one of them will become one of my enemies.”
“What? Did something happen?”
“Not yet, no,” he said, starting to pace in the living room again. “But I know that, in another universe, a guy with the same name will – did? – turn into a giant lizard and try to kill that other me.”
“You’re not making any sense right now Peter. Try to go from the beginning?” Matt stopped him.
So, Peter did. He explained what happened a year prior. It was a long story starting with Stark giving him some technology, Nick Fury hijacking a school trip and murder charges for the death of Quentin Beck, known as Mysterio. Then, he went on with the story about a spell from Doctor Strange gone wrong that accidentally almost broke the multiverse. Other versions of Peter ended up in this world with their own villains. Professor Connors was one of them. That other version, at least. Peter ended his story with the way he had to make everyone forget about his identity, even his loved ones. Matt was silent for a moment. A long moment. “You don’t believe me.”
“Actually, I’m conflicted,” he admitted. “You’re not lying, that’s a fact. Or not that you know of, at least. It’s a crazy story, for sure.” Truth was, he had no reasons to not believe him. Why would he lie? Even if stories about the multiverse were clearly hard to believe, it wasn’t impossible. And, once half the world vanishes into thin air because of a purple alien, nothing seems unbelievable. “So we represented you when you were framed for Beck’s death?”
“I’m sorry I never told you.”
“It’s alright,” he assured. “It’s not every day anything like this happens to you. I wouldn’t know what to do either. Now, about that professor…” What was he supposed to say? A professor potentially turning himself into a lizard wasn’t an average issue, even for him. “You know what? I think I need Foggy to help us here. Could you start coffee in that time?”
“Sure,” he said, getting into the kitchen. Matt took a deep breath, trying to get his thoughts in order, before slowly opening the bedroom door. He was expecting Foggy to still be asleep, but he was awake.
“Is it Peter I was hearing?” he asked, his voice still sleepy, as Matt sat on the bed, close to him.
“Yeah. There’s some issues I need your help to figure out.”
“Whatever he did, we still love him. Unless he voluntarily killed someone. First degree murder is where I draw the line,” Foggy stated, making Matt chuckled. They clearly thought the same thing with the news of Peter being in some kind of trouble.
“It’s not legal stuff. It’s some Spider-Man business.”
“Give me five minutes and I’ll be here.”
“Coffee will be waiting for you,” he told him, pressing a kiss to his forehead.
“Remember when we thought it couldn’t get crazier than the whole thing with The Hand? I miss that,” Foggy commented once Peter had told him everything. He was right, in a way. The threats on a smaller level – but still very dangerous – were what they used to deal with. Now, there was this whole multiverse problem. “I think that, for now, you just need to keep your distance as much as possible from this professor. If you see he has some green skin or posters of lizards, then do something. Until then, I feel like you could just make the situation worse by doing anything.”
“Alright,” Peter stated, still nervous. “So I just wait. I can do that. It’s not like I’m in real danger for now. Everything will be fine.”
“Wait. If that Connors guy exists in this world, could this mean the others do too?” Matt suggested.
“I’m not sure I want to know,” he groaned in return, hiding his face in his hands.
“There’s one way to know for sure. We could ask a good PI,” Foggy offered.
“No way,” Matt stopped him, knowing where he was going.
“Do you know one?” Peter asked.
“We do, actually.”
“We are not asking her,” Matt tried again, but it was of no use. As much as he hated to admit it, they needed to call Jessica. This would be a big day at the Nelson, Murdock and Page offices.
Jessica Jones looked at the man in front of her, half-annoyed, half-angry. That was her default setting. Especially when it came to Matt.
For a long time, after the whole ‘coming back from the dead’ thing, she had seemed to hate Matt. When he reached out to her, months after his comeback in the real world, her first reaction was to punch him and call him an asshole. (He deserved that.) He didn’t give up, no matter how many times she told him to fuck off. For the short amount of time he had known Jessica, he did care for her. Maybe he wouldn’t have called her a friend, but she could be one, eventually. And that’s why he didn’t give up on trying to approach her. With time, she finally stopped yelling every time she saw him. That was a start, right?
Then came the Blip, where Matt was gone for five years. Once they all came back, he learned about Jessica’s new friendship with Karen that had blossomed during the years Foggy and him were gone. While half the world had vanished into thin air, the need for investigators had skyrocketed to find if loved ones had disappeared or not. Five years later, Alias Investigations was at its most successful, often working with other people, like Karen. It wasn’t a secret that Karen was one hell of an investigator. Even with both her associates gone, she had kept Nelson, Murdock and Page alive as much as she could. She never gave up hope that one day the world would go back to what it was. Her friends couldn’t be gone forever, she couldn’t believe it. And clearly it had paid off.
After that, Jessica had seemed to finally stop being so hostile toward him. They still weren’t technically friends, but they saw each other more often as Karen started dating her and invited her more often to nights out with them. Things were getting better, but as good as it could get with Jessica.
“I don’t do this shit on my days off Murdock. You can call my associate. Or my assistant if you want an appointment next week,” she told him, pointing at the door to encourage him to leave. He knew he should’ve asked Karen to talk to her.
“Jessica, please, it’s not for me.”
“That’s supposed to convince me?” she scoffed. Clearly, she wasn’t in a good mood today.
“It’s worth a try?” He knew it would be difficult to convince her to help them, especially on a Saturday morning like this and with barely any information about what he needed her for. But, who else could he ask for help? He needed anyone he could get on their side. Peter needed it. “Look, you’re one of the only people I can really trust with something like that.”
“If you tell me this is another ninja-cult related shit, I’m going to hit you,” she sighed, visibly annoyed.
“No, it’s not,” he promised, with a smirk. “It’s for the kid who works with us at the office, Peter. It’s complicated, but he needs to know if some people are in New York, or somewhere close. I’ll tell you more if you want to.”
“I’m flattered you trust me with this Murdock, but I’m not really interested in getting into your shit,” she said, arms crossed. “You usually bring a fuck ton of trouble and I’m trying to lay low right now.” He couldn’t say he was surprised by that. After all, Jessica had a tendency to get herself in trouble too. He didn’t bother to ask what had happened this time. If she needed any legal help, she knew damn well she could call him anytime.
“I’ll owe you a favor.”
“What kind?”
“Anything you want,” he suggested, getting hopeful. “Peter really needs that help.”
“Geez Murdock, I didn’t know you could care that much about anyone other than Franklin,” she said, mocking him. Maybe she was right on this. Or at least, with what he showed. He was never the type of person to show he cared about anyone or anything. “Fine, I’ll do it. And if Karen’s right, that kid is adorable and deserves the world, so I probably would’ve done it anyway.”
“You’re telling me I promised you any favor you want for nothing?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” she admitted. “Now get your ass out of my apartment. I’ll be at your office in an hour.”
When Jessica arrived at the office, an hour and a half later, the whole team of Nelson, Murdock and Page was waiting for her. She gave Karen a quick kiss on her lips, handing her the coffee she had brought her. The only one. She couldn’t care less about bringing the two lawyers some coffee. They were the ones bothering her on her day off.
“Peter, this is Jessica Jones. Jessica, Peter,” Matt introduced them.
“Thank you for helping me Miss Jones.”
“Just call me Jessica,” she insisted, hating the way ‘miss’ made her feel old. “So, you’re Murdock’s kid?”
“What? I– no! I’m just– I’m an–” he stuttered in response, making her smirk.
“Relax, I know. You’re clearly too sweet to be his anyway,” she commented, making Foggy laugh out loud. “So, what’s going on?”
“You should explain everything Peter,” Karen encouraged him.
“Are you familiar with the Multiverse?” Peter started, clearly going straight to the point.
“The fucking what now?”
“I know it sounds crazy,” he continued “But it’s real. The theories, the infinite number of realities and everything, it’s all real.”
“What’s with your multi-crap thing?”
So, for the fourth time today, Peter explained his problem. She doesn't ask too much questions, which he's more than thankful for since he didn't want to share his secret identity. If the first time, with Matt, he did go into a little bit more details, mentioning his aunt May, MJ and Ned and the way he was forced to be left completely alone, he skipped those parts after that. He felt his heart break a little bit more every time he had to think about the rest of the story he wasn’t able to tell.
“Murdock!” Jessica exclaimed, once he had finished explaining. “I thought we said no magic bullshit this time.”
“No, you said no ninja-cult. It’s not, it’s very different,” Matt said in return, clearly having thought of his arguments.
“Whatever,” she sighed.
“You don’t have to Mis– Jessica,” Peter interjected, correcting himself instantly. “I can deal with this on my own. I don’t want to bother you with my issues, especially if you’re not comfortable with that. I’ll find another way.”
“I’ll help you,” she told him anyway. “If Karen and I are late to our dinner reservation tonight, I’m blaming you Murdock.”
“Date night? That’s adorable,” Foggy chimed in, smiling from ear to ear.
“Shut up,” she said, giving him the side eyes. “So, what do you want me to do?”
“I need to know if the other guys exist in this universe too. I made this,” Peter said, handing her a small folder. “I put their name and everything I know about them.”
“Professional, I like that,” she said, taking the folder. As she looked quickly through it, she stopped at one of the villains – or whatever – they were trying to find. “What kind of stupid name is ‘Otto Octavius’? That’s fucking dumb.”
Three days later, Matt received a text message from Jessica telling him to come to her office in the afternoon. She had what they needed and he couldn’t be happier. Finally they would have some answers. He was almost surprised with how quick she had processed all of this. As soon as he could, Matt left his office to join those of Alias. He would’ve brought Peter with him, since everything concerned him, but he was working at his restaurant job.
He gave two knocks on the door before a man came to open it. “Hey, nice to see you again Matt,” the man, Malcolm, greeted him. “Please, come in.”
“Thank you,” he said with a smile.
“I’ll take it from here,” Jessica interrupted. She gestured to Matt that he followed her. “Kate! Bring me what I found.”
“Here you go,” the young woman said, handing her the same folder Peter had given Jessica. She stayed a moment, looking at Matt with a big smile on her lips. “I’m the new assistant here, Kate Bishop. I really love your work Mr Murdock. I almost wanted to study law because of your firm’s work with the Punisher.”
“My partners are the ones who did most of the work on that case, but thank you.”
“Is there anyone you’re not a fan of?” Jessica asked, sarcastically.
“Don’t worry, you’re still my favorite. Well, second favorite, after Clint, but you may claim his title if he keeps ignoring my calls,” she added.
“Flattery won’t get you anywhere,” Jessica replied, rolling her eyes. “Leave us.”
“We’re bonding, I can feel it,” Kate commented, teasing, as she got back to her desk.
“I didn’t find anything on Octavius, thank God. Between aliens, multiverse and whatever crap you bring into my life, I think robot-octopus is where I draw the line,” she explained as soon as Kate was back at her own desk. “No Maxwell Dillon or Flint Marko either who could correspond to who you’re looking for. There was a Norman Osborn living in Manhattan, but he died a couple of years ago. He wasn’t any kind of scientist, so you should be safe in that department.”
“Thanks Jess,” he said with a sigh of relief. “Peter really needed this good news.”
“Normally I would charge you for this, with extra since it was the week-end, but I won’t,” she simply said. Matt must have smiled a little too big at that statement, because she quickly continued. “For Karen, not you Murdock. ”
“How about we invite you to dinner? With Malcolm and Kate. As a thank you,” he offered.
“I’ll think about it,” Jessica stated. “You still owe me that favor. Dinner or not.”
“I know,” he replied with a smile, starting to leave the office. “You’ll know where to find me.”
Matt didn’t even have time to reach the Nelson, Murdock & Page office when he received another message from Jessica. ‘I’ll come to your stupid dinner.’ He couldn’t help but smile at that. They were getting somewhere.