Lawyers and a bar

"Can I ask what those Bliss Brands smell like?" Fudge asked curiously.

"You wouldn't want to smell them. It's more pungent than industrial cosmetics," Matt said with a frown. "Some guys can't always keep everything in back there."

"Stop!" Fudge made it clear he understood. He already felt like throwing up.

John wandered around the small law office.

He picked up the document that had left Fudge tearing his hair out. After scanning it, he suddenly said, "You weren't there by coincidence, were you?"

Matt and Fudge stopped talking. Fudge called out, "Hey, don't touch that."

John put down the document and stared at Matt. "Looks like you're a lawyer with a sense of justice."

Matt fell silent for a moment before explaining, "Simon doesn't just take in women trying to survive. He also abducts ordinary women and forcibly marks them with a Bliss Brand."

"Those women can't fight back. Even if they're sexually assaulted, the judges lump them in with women who willingly debase themselves because of the Bliss Brand."

That was Hell's Kitchen. Even judges had certain rules to follow.

One of the firm's clients had been marked with a Bliss Brand, which meant that even if she was sexually assaulted, all she could get was some compensation.

Matt's sense of justice had driven him to plan to take down the Hell and Heaven Bar and free those poor people.

He had been scouting the place that day when he discovered John, a "lamb" walking straight into the trap.

"You mean Tracy?" Fudge asked when he heard Matt's explanation. He disagreed. "The judge already threw out our case."

"And that's made them even bolder." Matt slammed his Cane down. He gripped it tightly, turmoil stirring inside him. "We've got another case, haven't we?"

Fudge slipped his hands into his pockets and fell silent.

He had just been working on another Bliss Brand case. The same method, the same forcibly applied brand, effortlessly robbing a girl of her innocence.

"We're just lawyers. There are some things we can't change." Fudge sighed. "We're not cops, and we're certainly not Iron Man, Matt."

"Maybe even the cops can't do anything about it?" John's voice rang out.

Only then did Fudge notice that John had taken his seat.

He was about to speak when John picked up a document and began reading.

"It's hardly a secret. Clearly, Simon gives those people a reason they can't refuse."

He raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Money is a wonderful thing, after all."

"You've finished your coffee." Matt stood up, ready to show their guest out. "I'll walk you out."

"No." John showed no intention of getting up. "You're lawyers?"

"As it happens, I've got a little trouble of my own. If you can handle it for me, I wouldn't mind paying a substantial fee to solve your immediate financial problems."

"A very substantial fee," John added meaningfully.

Fudge wanted to refuse, but if they kept representing the poor, they probably wouldn't even be able to afford flounder soon.

Jack was still at the entrance, but this time, his face was full of conflict.

"Matt, you're going to cost me my job."

Matt, the lawyer who had helped Jack's sister, glanced back at John behind him and sighed. "Make an exception, Jack. I got your sister some child support. Remember?"

"Of course I remember." Jack hesitated. His boss, Simon, was a ruthless man who might kill him at any moment.

Risking his own life to repay a favor hardly seemed worth it.

When Jack refused to budge, Matt had no choice but to turn back to John. "You see? We can't get in. Aside from people with Bliss Brands, they only admit people they know and membership card holders."

"I think I can handle that, Mr. Lawyer."

John walked past Matt and approached Jack, coming uncomfortably close.

Jack instinctively started to back away, but his feet stopped.

John held a thick bundle of green bills worth at least two thousand dollars.

"How about this? Close your eyes for half a minute. It's no big deal. I'd just like to take a look inside."

He smiled, looking utterly harmless.

His voice carried an offer that was impossible to refuse. "You make a few thousand a month. Don't you want to earn more?"

"No one will know."

He was the devil, whispering temptations that led people astray.

The loyal guard wavered. In a place like this, all his muscles were good for was guarding a door.

In a neighborhood where almost everyone carried a device for deleting human beings, this was about the safest job around.

He thought of the television at home that had just broken.

In the end, he couldn't resist. He took the money and stuffed it into his pocket.

John's smile curled upward as he told Matt, "I think we can 'accidentally' find our way inside now."

Jack closed his eyes and pretended he couldn't see anything. The other guard was just about to speak when John stuffed a bundle of cash straight into his mouth.

Matt had never considered this approach.

After all, as a lawyer who wasn't exactly well-off, he simply couldn't pull off such an outrageous move.

As far as John was concerned, if money could solve a problem, there was no need to use force.

Inside the bar, loud, raucous music mingled with faint sounds of debauchery.

Those seeking bliss were already itching to get started.

Unfortunately, of the two men who had entered, one was blind, while the other had no interest in any of it.

They headed farther inside.

A dim corridor led deeper into the building, and they pushed open the door.

The pounding music seemed intent on drilling through their eardrums and destroying their brains.

Matt's brows knitted together. Seemingly uncomfortable with the sonic assault, he reached up to touch his ear.

This place was hardly friendly to anyone with sensitive hearing.

John glanced at him and asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm more curious about why you wanted to come in." Matt was puzzled by this lamb who had almost ended up with a Bliss Brand. "This place has nothing to do with the FBI questioning you."

"Yes, it does."

Even beneath the blaring music, the two spoke quietly.

"Because the bastard who blew up my car has an employer here."

John swept his gaze across the bar, oversaturated with neon light. On the crowded dance floor, men and women vented their excess desire, their bodies writhing as though electricity were running through them.

No dance steps were needed. All they had to do was follow their instincts.

The bar had a second floor, with bodyguards stationed at the stairs.

These men were unlike the hired security guards outside. They were genuine gangsters.

"All right, show us your cash superpower, boss." Matt had noticed the men too.

He was eager to try out that cash superpower.

John obliged, taking a bundle of bills from his bottomless pocket and placing it in Matt's hand.

Matt walked over with a solemn, respectable air.

John didn't know what he said, but he saw Matt get grabbed by the collar.

Shaking his head helplessly, John walked over. "I don't know what the problem is, but could you let my friend go?"

The bodyguard stared at John and enunciated each word. "Get. Lost."

Matt's muscles tensed, ready to deal with these men at any moment.

As a lawyer who exercised occasionally, it was perfectly normal for him to be able to take down a bunch of men, right?

The bodyguard's arrogant words didn't particularly anger John. He simply looked at him.

His reddish-brown eyes grew deep. His Wand slid from his sleeve, and he gave it a gentle flick.

Confundus Charm.

"I believe you were told to let me upstairs," John said confidently.

The bodyguard's expression went blank for a moment. After a brief hesitation, he muttered to himself, "That's right."

Released, Matt straightened his collar, but his mind was full of questions.

The sudden change in attitude was baffling.

John patted Matt on the shoulder and chuckled. "In this world, it's all about clout and connections."

Matt's doubts deepened, but he didn't show them.

His employer was growing more mysterious by the minute.

From the moment John appeared until now, all they really knew about each other was their names.

Yet John had brought him into this den of danger as though he knew Matt was capable of protecting him.

They climbed the stairs. Compared with the floor below, this place was like heaven.

A hell of wild revelry and a heaven of tranquility.

That was where Hell Paradise got its name.

Matt's ears twitched. He heard conversations coming from several rooms on the second floor.

"How long have you been like this?" John asked casually as they walked.

Matt shrugged. "When I was little, an accident involving radioactive material blinded me. But when God closes a door, he opens a window."

"I see." John nodded. He had been wondering how a blind man could have the same danger rating as Nick Fury.

Both men stopped at the same time, their attention turning to another spot guarded by a bodyguard.

"All right, your turn this time." Matt gestured for him to proceed.

John approached the man in a leather jacket standing by the door and took out a slip of paper to read.

"Room A206, second floor, Hell and Heaven Bar." John read out the address, then asked, "Is Simon home?"

"Who are you?" The man in the leather jacket raised his head, his eyes vicious and venomous.

John smiled. "Tell him..."

He lowered his voice, drawing the man closer, then said softly:

"Daredevil is here."