Nick Fury and sunglasses

"Has nobody ever reported you for breaking into their house?"

John looked utterly exasperated. Couldn't this bald egg of a man ever show up normally?

Nick Fury turned, his gaze settling on John before shifting to Matt.

Fury said, "Is this the friend you made during your day out?"

"To be precise, he's the lawyer I hired," John said without batting an eye. "Specifically to deal with petty crooks who break into people's homes."

Matt had already taken off his nighttime outfit. Dressed in a suit and holding his Cane, he looked completely harmless.

"A lawyer?" Fury gave an inscrutable smile and told John, "Hell's Kitchen was lively today."

"Was it?" John walked into the kitchen, opened his refrigerator, and glanced inside. "Maybe they were throwing a party," he said casually.

"Someone told me you went to Hell's Kitchen?"

Fury strolled over. "Maybe you could tell me what's troubling you. Just think of me as your helpful Uncle Jack."

"First, I don't have an uncle." John took out a bottle of milk and scoffed. "Second, no normal person would tell their troubles to a black bald egg in a leather jacket."

"A bald egg?" Fury froze, rubbing his head. He turned to Matt. "So you're going to tell him your troubles?"

"That might be a good choice." John opened the milk and sniffed it. "Please show my lawyer some respect, Director," he said casually.

"All right." Fury addressed Matt. "Nice to meet you..."

"Matt. Matt Murdock." Matt had all the professionalism expected of a lawyer. Rather than offer his hand, he told John, "That milk has gone bad."

"You really do have a sharp nose." John poured the milk into a glass and handed it to Fury.

Fury was speechless. Do you think I'm an idiot?

"It'll lighten your skin," John said solicitously.

You want a black man to lighten his skin?

Fury had been provoked, but as the king of spies, he could tolerate this much.

He casually accepted the milk and set it on the table, looking at John seriously. "I hope you'll stop wandering around. If anything happens to you, your father will take all of New York down with you."

"Then you'd better protect my father." John grinned, revealing stark white teeth. "If anything happens to him, I'll take this country down with him."

Fury gave him a long, searching look. "The Ten Rings are more dangerous than you think."

"And I," John said, tossing the milk into the trash, "am even more dangerous than you think."

He turned and headed upstairs.

"If you have anything to say, you can talk to my lawyer. I believe the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division is still subject to the law."

Fury watched John head up to the second floor, then looked at Matt in surprise. "He actually remembered it?"

Honestly, the name was such a mouthful that even the people at S.H.I.E.L.D. disliked it.

Matt smiled faintly behind his Red Sunglasses. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Fury carried a few scents that Matt disliked.

More importantly, the man's heartbeat stayed almost perfectly steady while he spoke.

Nothing he said changed it at all. That pointed to exceptional mental fortitude built up over years of lying.

Fury had gotten nowhere with either of them, and his most pressing business lay elsewhere. He took a card from his pocket, placed it on the table, and called upstairs, "Call me if you need anything."

There was no response, so he took the hint and left.

Once the door had closed, Matt walked around the living room.

John came downstairs.

"What were you doing?" Matt had heard some movement upstairs earlier.

John put the bag he was carrying on the table with a dull thud.

Matt fell silent, then asked, "I heard a safe being opened just now."

"Oh, I opened my father's safe." John was nothing if not honest.

He didn't have the combination, but he did have the Unlocking Charm.

"This money is perfectly legal." John pushed it toward Matt. "How about becoming the Wick family's lawyer?"

His dad kept plenty of cash at home. There was a million here.

Matt raised his Cane and pushed it back.

"I don't want to," he said calmly.

John raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Matt said only one word. "Wick."

"You're Watson Wick's son." Matt felt for the sofa's armrest and sat down. "Your father controls the world's largest Underworld Forces. Isn't that reason enough?"

As Hell's Kitchen's hero, Matt was no stranger to the name Watson Wick.

Entrepreneur, investor, hotel magnate.

All those labels fit Watson Wick perfectly, but he was more than that.

He was also the ruler of the Continental Hotel, the man who stood above the twelve seats of the High Table.

That was why Matt wouldn't accept the offer.

To him, John was simply trying to recruit him for his abilities.

John wasn't angry at the answer. Instead, he asked, "What if you became John Wick's lawyer?"

"Working for you?" Matt sneered.

"This isn't charity, and it certainly isn't pity," John said seriously. "I need someone to do some things for me."

"We aren't friends yet, Matt."

"So I prefer to get help through an equal exchange."

"You're so honest it's hard to believe you're Watson Wick's son." Matt scrutinized John.

This man had been full of mysteries from the moment he appeared. Learning that he was Watson Wick's son hadn't cleared up any of them. It had only added more.

"If I refuse, will you threaten to expose my identity?" Matt asked.

John shook his head. "No, but you won't be able to get my help either."

"It's an equal exchange. We help each other."

Matt considered it for a while, then shook his head. "Take the money back."

John watched him quietly as Matt continued, "It's too much. It doesn't fit our fee schedule."

A smile tugged at John's lips. He held out his right hand. "Don't let Fudge hear that. He'll kill you."

Matt shook his hand. At the mention of his good friend, he gave a knowing smile. "He really would."

The two reached an agreement.

Matt became John's lawyer and, when necessary, might also become his assistant.

Taking a stack of cash from the bag, Matt slipped it into his pocket and headed outside.

"I'll have Ferdinand drive you back," John joked. "If I end up in jail, I'll give you a call."

Matt shrugged. "That's not exactly unlikely."

The FBI would be watching every member of the Wick family at all times.

He stepped out of the Wick house and walked toward the vehicle.

Ferdinand's attitude had changed completely. He had stuffed the gold into his back pocket.

It made driving a little painful for his backside, but that didn't matter. Keeping it safe was what counted.

John knocked on the window. Ferdinand rolled it down and asked ingratiatingly, "What can I do for you?"

"Come here to pick me up tomorrow night."

John glanced at the pickup and added, "Don't drive."

Ferdinand didn't understand what John meant, but for the gold, he was willing to do anything for the man who had pierced his right hand.

The vehicle started up and disappeared from view. John looked up at the camera and snapped his fingers.

The camera was destroyed.

Working as an assistant at Stark Industries, Natasha watched the image go black, an unusual glint flashing in her eyes.

Stark was in his work laboratory.

Tony stared at the data on the new element he had obtained from his father's model.

Blue Orbs surrounded Stark. Sitting in his swivel chair, he wore an expression of mixed emotion and wonder.

"You've been dead for twenty years, and you're still taking me to school?"

Through his ingenuity, Howard Stark had shown his son that his old man was still his old man.

The problem that had threatened his life had actually been solved by someone who had been dead for twenty years.

A smile appeared on Tony's lips. He now had a new element to replace palladium.

He clapped his hands together firmly, and the surrounding spheres of light contracted into his palms.

The blue glow of the new element reflected in his beautiful eyes, leaving him almost entranced.

"The new element you've discovered should be able to replace the palladium you're currently using," his computerized butler, JARVIS, said in congratulations.

"Thanks, Dad."

Tony looked up at the purple crystal chip being analyzed by a machine and murmured to himself, "Magic."

The palladium that had nearly killed him suddenly had two replacements.

One was the product of science; the other was mysterious magic.

Tony picked up a sledgehammer and began tearing the place apart.

He was going to give the laboratory a major overhaul.

As the new laboratory neared completion, a balding S.H.I.E.L.D. agent walked in.

Agent Coulson.

He had come to say goodbye.