Title: The System is Ours to Corrupt or to Ignite
Author: clarahow // blankspaceslayerbabe // charleybradburies (will be posted after challenge)
Fandom: Daredevil
Characters: Karen Page, Matt Murdock, Foggy Nelson, OCs, Claire Temple, Wilson Fisk, mentions of Misty Knight and others
Pairing: (confirmed but fairly minor) Karen/Matt
Length: ~720w
Rating: ~M
Summary: When the sins of my father weigh down in my soul and the pain of my mother will not let me go, well, I know there can come fire from the sky to refine the purest of kings and even though I know this fire brings me pain...even so, and just the same, make it rain, make it rain down, Lord...
Notes: A) Songfic - song is Make It Rain by Ed Sheeran, and this is why.
B) Also inspired by that Tumblr text post where someone's like "I want a superhero movie where like a quarter of the way through the hero dies or gets arrested or something and then his girlfriend takes over and is totally amazing at vigilante heroics and gives everyone a run for their money"
C) There was supposed to be an exchange where she talks to someone and they're like 'that's badass that you're totally cheating the system by taking over for Matt' but I've not managed to make the writing of that happen, so...yeah. (And if you're wondering how this was supposed to relate to the prompt, there you are I guess)


When the sins of my father weigh down in my soul and the pain of my mother will not let me go, well, I know there can come fire from the sky to refine the purest of kings..."

Matt’s kiss is soft, longing, but unfulfilling; even against its surrealness, Karen pulls away quickly.

“They can’t do this, we can’t just let this happen,” she murmurs as he moves the slightest distance away and starts to wipe away the tears staining her cheeks.

“There’s nothing we can do for now, Karen. We both - we all - know that.”

She shakes her head sadly.

“How am I supposed to just let them take you?”

Foggy doesn’t bother trying to stay quiet as he slips into the kitchen to join them in their final moments before Matt’s arrest; Karen’s surprised that Matt doesn’t so much as acknowledge him until he’s answered her.

“As diplomatically as you can manage,” he says in a voice too certain of what it’s saying for her comfort, but the NYPD knock that would draw their world to a close comes momentarily, and she takes a deep breath, kisses him again, and cries into Foggy’s hug once he’s gone.

"...and even though I know this fire brings me pain...even so, and just the same, make it rain, make it rain down, Lord...

Claire’s an equal enough workout and sparring partner, but they only intersect paths during daylight now, so she’s not there when Karen happens upon a scuffle that’s worth intervening in, in the middle of one particular night, some twenty-something girl and a boyfriend who can’t even tell a lawyer the definition of the word ‘no’. It’s easy enough to stop a few of his fists and ground him with a kick to the shin, and Karen doesn’t think much of it for the couple of days afterward, not until she randomly stumbles across the girl outside of Starbucks and finds herself introduced as the young woman’s hero.

"the seed needs the water before it grows out of the ground, but it just keeps on getting hotter, and the hunger more profound..."

Another week finds Karen grabbing coffee with Misty Knight and a couple other Avenger-grade associates, discussing ramifications of recent events.

"...make it rain, make it rain down, Lord, make it rain, make it rain, make it rain, make it rain down, Lord..."

Another fortnight finds her out on the streets in a crimson jumpsuit and a mask, electrically charged batons attached to her immediately beneath her hips, ready for use against those who would have otherwise been crossing her imprisoned boyfriend.

"...the seas are full of water that stops by the shore, just like the riches of grandeur that never reach the poor..."

Another month finds her facing off against Fisk and his defense, legal documents prepared, eloquent, and superior, and a small army of superheroes sitting in the courtroom and scaring the living daylights out of the still-secret villain as she clacks her heels and speaks her well-made mind in front of the judge, audience, and jury.

"...let the clouds fill with thunderous applause, and let lightning be the veins and fill the sky with all that they can drop when it's time to make a change..."

“You didn’t really think this would be as easy as getting Daredevil off the streets, did you?”

Karen’s voice almost doesn’t sound like it’s coming from her; it’s too strong, too confident, too...super. It’s the voice of a masked woman in a dark alley, blonde hair tumbling haphazardly over her shoulders out of a mussed ponytail that’s come apart throughout the rough and tumble of her evening out.

She wonders if this is how Matt felt suited up - so much greater than himself. Like just maybe, he could take on the whole world, and that the knowledge made it that much more in character to be taking on the Kingpin.

"...make it rain, make it rain down, Lord, make it rain, make it rain, make it rain, make it rain down, Lord..."

It takes her that night's bloody fight, and another conversation and some stitches from Claire, to realize that it’s her who’s been the Queen on the chessboard all along.