Work Text:
July 1995
As things go it wasn’t the oddest thing for Alea Carter’s phone to ring while she was working. When she answered it and it wasn’t an active SHIELD agent that's when it was odd. It was one that wasn’t supposed to contact her without due cause with the kid that she had in her custody needing to be protected.
“What is it that you need, Agent Backer?” Alea pulled herself out of the guts of the jet she was working on. It was to replace the quadjet that Danvers managed to destroy a few weeks before.
“A child just came back. Paul was with me when I went to supervise his shower. He was covered in bruises and marks. Ones that we know weren’t there when he left.”
“Did they run away?”
“No, someone came by and picked him up. It was back in January.”
“I’ll be there as soon as possible. But I can’t guarantee that I can do anything. You know this.”
The voice sighed, “I also know that you can get us some information that we didn’t have before.”
“Backer, I mean that’s true, but also it’s a kid. I refuse to just wander around in a kid’s head, especially if it wasn’t a foster home that you want me to look into.” Alea grabs a few things and tosses the hatch that she had been laying in closed.
“Yes, but this is the other child you had me keep tabs on.”
Alea shakes her head. “We’ll go over this again once I get there. It’ll be a couple of hours before I can reach New York. Got that?” She gets an affirmative hum before hanging up. She calls down to the base to see if there were any flights headed back to the Triskelion or New York. She lucked out with one that's going straight to New York. She grabs a faded hoodie that was plain black with a US Army seal on it. She also grabbed her glasses.
Once back in New York she heads for St. Agnes Orphanage. It was on the same block of land as Clinton Church and she goes into the church. She sees Father Lantom at the front along with one of the nuns. She wasn’t sure until the nun turned that it was Backer. Alea makes her way to the two.
“It has been a while since I last saw you, but you look no older.” Lantom looks Alea over. Currently, both her hair and eyebrows were bleached and it was the same look she had sported when she had come not long after Agent Avery had dropped the 0-8-4 off.
Alea shrugged. It wasn’t widely known that she didn't age and wasn’t going to be revealing that quite yet. "I've always been blessed with looking younger than I am."
Lantom just raised an eyebrow in suspicion. Alea was glad that he let it go. It was always hard to keep people out of her business, especially with SHIELD being an underground organization. “Sister McKenna was just telling me that you may be able to help with one of the children that have just come back.”
“Perhaps, but I’m not going to make any promises. Children are both very resilient and very resistant to change.” They lead her through the church to the orphanage. Children were running about out on the grounds. As they went Alea was given a bit more about the child, Matthew Murdock.
Matt Murdock was indeed the other child that Alea had asked McKenna to look after. He’d been covered in chemicals from a shady company that SHIELD was affiliated with, which is why. Alea had already known that they took his sight, hell most of New York knew that, but it was possible that being exposed to them that the rest of his senses had been enchanted.
They came to a small room at the back of the orphanage and Alea heard two voices talking, a boy and a girl. McKenna knocked on the room where the voices were coming from and the girl squeaked. “Skye, you aren’t in trouble. We weren’t doing anything that we weren’t supposed to.” The male voice spoke. “You can come in.”
McKenna opened the door and at the small table in the back of the room was Matt Murdock and a girl just a few years younger than him.
“Mary, can you go play with the other children for a little while? We need to talk to Matt alone.” Lantom was the first into the room and Alea stood back. Mary or Skye as she probably preferred to be called was of Asian descent and was likely the 0-8-4.
“Fine. I’ll be back later to help you with your math, Matt!” Mary runs from the room, just barely missing running into Alea’s metal arm. Father Lantom looks back at the girl before sighing and following her. McKenna leads the way into the small, undecorated room. There was a bookshelf full of Braille books though.
“Matthew, do you remember yesterday that I was going to get a special doctor to come to look at your injuries?” Matt nods. “Well, she’s come to look at those injuries that we noticed last night.”
Alea steps in front of Matt. “I’m Alea Sousa and as Sister McKenna just said I’m a doctor.” The only lie there was that she wasn’t officially a doctor, but it wasn’t enough for most people to pick up. Especially when she was already going by the second half of her last name.
Matt’s head tilts just a little. “You don’t sound old enough to be a doctor.”
Alea huffs a laugh. “I get that a lot. But Matt, you need to let someone look at those injuries, and just like the Nuns and Father Lantom, I’m bound by duty not to tell anyone what I find out.” It was a lie, to a point, Alea wouldn’t tell what she found on the pre-teen, only because it wouldn’t be necessary. SHIELD wouldn’t know about Matt Murdock if she could help it.
Matt shrugs, but he does stand and take off his long sleeve shirt. His torso is covered in bruises. It was little wonder why McKenna had called her and not a normal doctor. “Matt, I’m going to touch a few of these bruises and I need you to tell me if any of them hurt partially badly. Okay?” Matt nods and Alea goes to work. Feeling out the bruises and healing them.
As she had gone along the worn edges of her hoodie brushed up against Matt. As she was about to pull away he reaches out and grabs ahold of it. “Something wrong?”
Matt shakes his head. “No, I just haven’t felt anything as soft as your jacket.” Alea chuckles before dislodging Matt’s hand. She pulls the hoodie over her head before handing it to him. “Take it. I have others just like it.”
“But. . .” Alea cuts Matt off. “Kid, I have money and I have other baggy hoodies that are just as soft. Just don’t intentionally destroy it, okay kid?” Matt nods and pulls it over his head. It was overly large in a way that reminded Alea of the first time she had worn it. It hung down to his knees and his hands were hidden by the over-long sleeves.
Alea stood straightening out the long sleeve shirt that she was glad wasn’t covered in machine oil. “Matt, do you want me to go get Mary for you?”
“Yes, please. She promised to help me finish up my math homework.” McKenna leaves the two of them alone.
Alea looked over at the table to see that there were a few sheets of paper that had braille on them along with a set that had pencil. There was a print textbook open as well. Matt’s brailler sat on the edge of the table next to the brailled papers. “Does the math textbook not have a braille version?”
“Not one without mistakes every three problems. Skye reads me the problem out of the math book and I work it out. She writes it down for me because none of the teachers can read braille.”
Alea knew that the school systems didn’t have the money to provide every kid with the necessary help, but Matt should have someone in the school that he could dictate his work to at the very least. “Is there not someone that can do that at the school?”
“There is but she’s also got to help the other kids. She found out that I was getting help from someone here and said it was fine. She was the one to clear it with my teacher.” Alea makes an understanding hum.
“I used to correct my textbooks and my teachers. I was always too smart. My dad wouldn’t let me skip grades though.” Matt gives a wide grin at that.
“I guess then that not only translations are full of mistakes then.”
“Yes, but the thing is that you’re probably the only person that knows that those mistakes are there in your school because not everyone can see them. Keep on learning and you’ll go far, I know it.” As Alea finished Mary came running back into the room. This time Matt pulled her into a conversation with Alea and him.
After only a few words, Matt flinched. But it didn’t seem to be from pain or anything else so Alea let it go. After a little bit longer Alea leaves so they can get back to work. Alea makes her way out of St. Agnes and back through Clinton Church before leaving. She knew that she had made a difference in Matt’s outlook on the world, if only by a small amount. The world was full of mistakes and well if you let yourself be overtaken by them you will never see the truth.