On the third floor of an ordinary apartment building in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York, one door bore a simple sign: "Alias Investigations." Matt Murdock arrived at the office door and knocked.
A chaotic rustling sound came from within. Matt mentally pictured the occupant scrambling to tidy things up, and waited patiently for the door to open. A woman in her twenties opened the door. Seeing it was Matt, she couldn't help but sigh.
"If I'd known it was you, I wouldn't have bothered tidying up."
"I wouldn't call sweeping all the trash to one side 'tidying up,' but you seem to be doing well, Jessica."
Matt smiled and entered the apartment. This woman was Jessica Jones, a super-powered individual with flight capabilities and superhuman strength, as well as the owner and sole employee of this detective agency.
The two had met through a unique case. To make a long story short, Jessica had killed a psychic, super-powered pervert named Kilgrave. Matt, as her defense attorney, had successfully argued for her innocence, and their connection stemmed from that.
Matt's cane tapped on the floor. Listening to the subtle vibrations echoing back and the sound of Jessica typing on her keyboard, he walked to the wall and asked Jessica, "You changed your pictures?"
"Mac Gargan, the infamous Gargan."
Jessica Jones didn't directly answer Matt's question. "Didn't you ask me to find him? I posted some clues about him on the wall."
"Ah, yes, about that..."
Matt scratched his head awkwardly, then offered an embarrassed smile. "You don't need to pursue it anymore."
Jessica: ???
"Yesterday, the modified Gargan attempted to kidnap a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent's family member and was arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D."
Matt adjusted his glasses, a bit sheepishly. Just as they had started investigating Gargan, everything came to an abrupt halt, much like with Kingpin.
He had received definitive information from Spider-Man that Kingpin had indeed hired Gargan and some other super-criminals. He had also hired a scientist named Otto Octavius to help him modify Chitauri weapons.
Conservatively, just from Gargan's hints, Kingpin had earned approximately 2 billion USD from these weapons, enough for a massive transition. As for the true situation, there was undoubtedly more.
However, this couldn't be submitted as evidence in court. Memories extracted by telepaths were explicitly illegal evidence, and illegal evidence couldn't be used to press charges against Kingpin.
Hearing this, Jessica Jones stopped typing. She took the laptop off her lap and looked at Matt. "If you just wanted to tell me that the Mac Gargan problem has been resolved, you could've just called me."
"Since you specifically came all this way, it means... you have something else, right?"
Matt sighed and nodded, then sat on the sofa.
"I met with Fisk today. He seems very eager. Eager for the greater chaos that will emerge once his influence in New York diminishes."
Jessica Jones listened silently as Matt finished, frowning. She understood what Matt meant. Undoubtedly, as a detective, Jessica was more familiar with the criminal underworld of Hell's Kitchen than Matt, and thus more easily perceived where the problems lay in Hell's Kitchen.
"Hell's Kitchen has been restless since yesterday. I'm not sure if it's because Fisk left, but you can approach it from that angle."
Matt nodded and thanked her. Kingpin definitely knew something; he had been suppressing certain things, or rather, gangs. These people would surge forth once Kingpin's power weakened. And this was precisely what Kingpin wanted to see.
Until he made Matt admit that Kingpin truly was protecting the city.
So Matt needed to stop the newly emerging gangs. He had to prove to Kingpin that New York didn't need his presence.
He thought carefully for a moment, then looked at Jessica Jones again.
"Has anything noteworthy happened recently?"
Jessica thought for a moment, then started searching for recent cases on her computer. Matt listened to the sound of Jessica typing. Soon after, her lazy voice rang out.
"Uh, there's a missing persons case here. Looks very strange. A girl named Tandy Bowen suddenly disappeared, no trace. Her family is quite wealthy, and she rarely runs away from home or anything."
"Why do you say it's strange?"
Jessica heard Matt's question and reiterated what she had found—scattered gold jewelry on the floor and nearby surveillance footage.
"According to the surveillance, this girl didn't leave the building... I'm sorry, you can't see it, but she vanished into thin air. And the jewelry wasn't taken."
Jessica made her assessment: "This is a kidnapping, no doubt. Someone kidnapped Tandy Bowen for specific reasons, but there's no identifiable motive for the kidnapping."
Just as Matt was about to continue discussing with Jessica, his other phone rang. Matt recognized the ringtone; it was his good friend Foggy. He apologized to Jessica, then answered Foggy's call.
"Oh... really? Okay, I know. We'll discuss it tonight."
Slightly curious, Jessica asked Matt, "What's going on? You look so serious."
"There's a case. A client came to our firm, discussing whether we could take on his request."
Matt smiled helplessly. "The client is an escaped convict from ** Seagate Prison**. But he keeps claiming he's innocent, even now at the law firm."
Jessica Jones nodded, not yet realizing the seriousness of the problem.
"He has superpowers: invulnerability and immense strength." Matt's words sparked some curiosity in Jessica, but then Matt's next words made Jessica realize that this man was a lot of trouble.
"He said his abilities weren't acquired by accident, but through human experimentation. The U.S. military conducted human experiments inside the prison, creating a super-soldier serum."
Matt sighed, then looked at Jessica. This time, he really needed Jessica's help.
"I need you to help me investigate this man named Luke Cage. We must determine who he is."