He didn't think she'd want to join him in the shower, expecting she was just taking a break from work for lunch. His thoughts weren't on fooling around. Diego was focused on what had just taken place with his student, anger rising at himself for not having worked with her differently just as the anger over the predicament she was in.
Jessica likely felt all the frustration in him. Usually their connection was enough to make him mindful of his soulmate but if Diego had a weakness (beside his soulmate), it was anyone defenseless being abused. He carried so much guilt after discovering how Vanya was treated. It didn't matter to him that he didn't know what their father was doing to her, Diego recognized how isolated she must've felt when they all excluded her and called her ordinary.
It wasn't as if he could undo their childhood but getting pulled into a different world after finding that out did haunt him. He'd never have a chance to apologize and show her how sorry he was. Diego tried to push the thought out of his head whenever they came up, knowing it was something he could never change. Seeing Mary desperate, beaten physically and emotionally...
Diego shut off the shower that was barely warm. There was snow outside but frustration kept him from feeling the cold. Mirrors in the bathroom weren't fogged yet he didn't see his reflection as he dried off. Memories of the present and past haunted him. He roughly toweled off his head then got dressed, heading to the kitchen in the time promised.
"Hey," he greeted at seeing Jessica in the kitchen. "I need you to find her for me. I could do it but you'd be faster. The asshole who hits her is a cop so she doesn't report him. She doesn't leave because the kid is his. As trauma nurse, she treated him after the fire that killed his biological mom and grandparents. Claire works with her. She knows the situation and I'm sure if she finds out Mary was hurt this bad, she'd try to go after the cop herself. That's why Mary doesn't want her to know."
He unpacked a lot yet the heaviness on him didn't get any lighter. Diego spoke to Jessica unlike anyone else in his life. That was the biggest benefit of a soulmate; being able to bear his soul. He'd been used to keeping things in. He called himself a lone wolf. Maybe he bonded with his siblings unlike Vanya, Ben had been the only one Diego confided in and he died.
She'd opened a Red Bull and was sipping at it as he came in, listening to the request, the excuse, and knowing that this stemmed from that little boy trying to talk to himself in the mirror.
Sighing, she set her can down and came over to him, slipping up behind him because she wanted him to feel safe. Cared for. Her arms came around him, her chin hooking over his shoulder as she just held him, the image of the woman and her badly hidden bruises flashing in her mind. Of course it was about a kid. And of course the problem was stickier than it looked. "Has he ever touched the kid? Any random hospital visits that would be something I can compile and use to nail his ass?" Abusers sometimes had preferential targets. Women. Partners. Kids. If you were super unlucky, you got ones that were just rancidly evil and spewed that kind of shit all over anyone in their path. Him being a cop led her to believe he was more controlled than that. He kept it contained to one source that he'd made sure wouldn't say anything.
His hands immediately slid on top of her arms that wrapped around him. The hollowness that he was filled with before meeting Jessica, threatened to create a small existence in him again. Her touch got rid of it and allowed his shoulders to lose a little of the tension that inched them toward his ears.
"I don't know. I do know that Mary didn't want the classes to protect herself. She wanted them to protect Charlie. Since the hospital, he calls her mom and it was how she got wrapped up with his dad. She's mentioned being blind to the signs so maybe. He didn't touch her until after they got married. I think... I think she probably took a beating meant for Charlie."
Diego shook his head but remained mindful of where her face was on his shoulder.
"I don't want you going after him. I just need you to find her so I can keep an eye on her. Everyone in this city knows you. Nobody knows me."
"Well, goodie for me that you're not the boss of me," she answered, tightening her grip around him just a little. If she felt she had to go after a child beater, then that's what she'd do, but for now, she could settle down and dig up info regarding hospital records and any info on this supposed father of the year. If he had any marks on his record, it would do a world of good towards making it a legitimate slap on the wrist, if not something that could be more heavily followed through on. "I know a lawyer that would love to help and take her case to get her custody, if that's what she wants."
Matt might not currently be around, but his partner was, and she had an in with Jeri at the firm if needed. Jeri would be pleased to have a favor to hold over her, and her firm was reputable enough that a claim of abuse against a cop wouldn't just be brushed behind the blue line.
"You're also adorable that you think everyone knows me. A few assholes do. You keep up your little nighttime games and you're going to be more infamous than me. All the needy people out there fantasizing about their heartthrob hero come to save them. Everyone wants a Prince Charming, Diego. Especially if he's hot and has a temper. No one gives a shit about a girl with an attitude problem."
"Jessica," he uttered her name in something between a plea and complaint. "I'm asking." In a strained voice, he pleaded. His hands moved to pull hers apart so he could turn and face her. "Just find her for me. Nothing more. I don't want you in the middle of this."
Diego had a terrible feeling that the situation could go wrong and he didn't want the love of his life in the middle of it. He had enough glimpses of her life before him. Jessica Jones was the last person who needed more blood on her hands. He wanted to protect her from that.
"She came to me for help and I didn't help her. If you find her, I might still be able to help her. Will you find her for me?"
He ignored the talk about being adorable, something Diego hadn't done since they first met. Any levity was leached out of him at the thoughts of the battered woman who needed help that triggered guilt he didn't want to talk about in the moment with Jessica. He wasn't going to argue that plenty of people in New York were attracted to her and most confused him for someone in a red suit.
His hands gripped her arms while his eyes figuratively did the same as he searched her face for a serious response.
"You're an idiot. If you're in the middle of it, so am I. You're going to have to learn pretty fucking quickly to get out of that lone wolf mentality of yours and clue in that you're part of a whole, not just a piece." She let him turn around, let him take her arms, and she saw that determination on his face.
Diego was a stubborn jerk when he wanted to be, and she'd picked that up through her own journey through his memories. Stubborn and machismo-laden. The one sister he had that had visible abilities was her walking nightmare, something too close to Kilgrave to make her ever want to meet her. It made it seem like the women in his life were soft, pliable, and devious. None of which described her.
"Oh, I'll find her, but if you think it's stopping there, you're dead wrong, Diego Hargreeves."
She wasn't wrong but Diego couldn't see clearly. Emotions got the better of him and Jessica saw the unyielding Hargreeves that his siblings couldn't stand. Number Two let her arms go and stood rigid. He shook his head in disapproval.
"Last I checked, NYPD is really familiar with your face." It was the first since meeting that her refusal angered him. He had a hard time asking for help and he felt embarrassed for having done just that. "Forget I said anything. Stay out of it," he barked and left the kitchen to change his clothes.
Diego was determined to head out, canceling any training for the remainder of the day.
A sliver of panic settled in her gut, but she ignored it as her soulmate stormed away from her, pissed off at her for the first time since she'd found him. She shouldn't be all that surprised; most people that knew her got furious with her at some point or another. Or just sick of her. Some part of her had been hoping that would never be an issue with him, but it seemed she couldn't really help herself.
She watched him leave and didn't call out after him. He wouldn't listen. Stubbornness was something she knew he had in spades. Didn't mean she wasn't going to do what she said she would. Her stomach twisted again, hunger reminding her to eat, but there was that slip-sick feeling of her soulmate being mad at her that made her not want to bother. She settled for a protein bar and went back to her office to dig up dirt on Mary's cop. She also sent Claire a text, asking for any info she had on Mary and to keep an eye out for her or the kid. And maybe to look at records if she could to find anything on either of them. As if Diego could tell her where to go or what to do. She was going to have a long chat with him when he pulled that stick out of his ass later, her own anger starting to simmer.
They both had an inclination to be bullheaded. If Jessica thought that he was mad at her now, she'd see what furious looked like should Diego find out that she went to Claire after telling her to stay out of it. Maybe his soulmate hadn't heard Mary plead not to tell Claire but he'd feel it should've been enough that he told Jessica the same.
Night wouldn't fall for another handful of hours but Diego geared up to conduct his own search. Dressing in black wasn't unusual in New York but he was careful to tuck knives away out of view. He shoved his domino mask in an inside pocket of his coat and shut off his cell phone, leaving it by the watch on his nightstand. Hopefully, it wasn't a decision he'd later regret.
Hurt usually manifested itself into anger. He wasn't used to asking anyone for anything and it stung that Jessica mocked him. She nearly got herself killed once without looking for trouble, Diego wasn't going to watch anyone die again. Instead of leaving out through their private entrance, he exited through the dojo.
Rand was his first stop, knowing he and Colleen would be willing to help without questioning him. Danny immediately questioned why Diego didn't ask Jessica to reach out to her police contacts only to realize by the look on the knife thrower's face that he shouldn't mention the private eye again. It left an awkward feeling but Colleen interjected a valuable point; the school that Charlie went to wasn't private so it narrowed down the area they lived in.
The two asked Diego if he needed any help to which the headstrong Hargreeves replied if either could take over the classes he had in the afternoon. Colleen agreed and said she would contact him if anything came up. The couple learned that he was without a way of contacting him and it didn't sit well that he refused to take a spare from Danny.
Not much of an argument could be made with the mood Diego was in but Claire had reached out to Colleen just as the heated discussion took place. She provided Mary's address and warned that her abusive husband had a lot of family in the area in addition to being a cop. Diego insisted he was only going to make sure that mother and son weren't harmed, rushing out before anyone objected.
Rain came down and aided in night falling quicker, or at least, providing more cover than daylight. Diego ran through a hundred scenarios in his head. It wasn't a hostage situation. Domestics were tricky. Mary had already been beaten which reduced the likelihood of another occurrence so soon. Running hot left him without a solid plan but Number Two decided he would figure it out on the fly. He'd get to their apartment building and figure out how easy it would be to find them first.
She was going to tie him down and have a long, drawn out discussion about using the thing between his ears for more than just a placeholder for what might have been a thought. Diego ran hot, which in most cases suited her just fine, but when it came to plans and doing things, it ended up being catastrophic. Busting through windows instead of using a door. Attacking first and figuring out shit later. Maybe there was a reason that she'd been selected as his other half. Not that she was necessarily the best in decision making, but she had a cooler thought process. She was patient. Had to be, to sit in the rain on a fire escape for hours to get a single image if needed. She was a hunter. He was a force of nature.
He could be as mad at her as he wanted to be. His wants didn't supersede the way things needed to be done to work. Claire knew the woman herself and had a better idea of how to handle things, how tricky they were. For all that Diego saw marks on her, Claire would know how long they'd been showing up and how badly it affected her. Diego saw a flash of her day, an hour or two at a time. A work colleague who had training in how to spot and report domestic abuse, child abuse, sex trafficking, had a better chance of knowing when to say something and when to wait until they had to be involved. Diego was also just... a man. A man who'd been raised to use actions instead of words, and this was how he looked after people.
All the more reason to truss him up and throw him in a cold shower.
Claire relayed back to Jessica what had happened with Danny, Colleen, and Diego, and Jess figured it was going to be a long night. She didn't bother trying to reach Diego through their bond; all she was getting was vibrations of anger of different flavors, so she went through the sources she knew to find said cop, Officer Jack McKinnon of the illustrious NYPD, figured out his station house, then where he was living and the name of his son. It was easy enough after that to get the school, and then she debated on which course to take. Talk to the dad and give him a one on one, or try to convince someone to leave an abuser.
Sticky. Leaving would be easy if she was the mother, or, easier. With no biological tie to the boy, and that being the reason for her reaching out in the first place, that gave the cop all the power. She didn't have a mask and a growly voice to go jumping bad cops in alleys and scaring the shit out of them into pretending to be decent people, so that left her with Mary. She knew what the woman looked like, and she opted to just go and wait in plain view at the front of the building. If the cop pulled up first, she'd just say she was waiting for a client. If Mary did, then she'd try to have a talk with her.
It was his own fault, leaving his phone at home for no one to contact him on. He didn't have a clue that Claire had given Jessica the same information and tabs on him. Yet it shouldn't surprise Diego after the backlash his friends gave him over going without a device to communicate with. Not that Danny or Colleen didn't find a way to slip a cell phone into a coat pocket and give Jessica the number.
The rain came down like a cold shower but it did little to clear away the fog of anger and frustration from Diego. He yanked the hood of the trench coat over his head, tipping his chin down for shelter from the rain. The tense vigilante ran down into a subway station and used the available maps in an effort to pinpoint the address.
"Why does this city have so many damn streets?" he grumbled to himself. Or so he thought. There was a hearty chuckle behind him. Diego pivoted to find what seemed like a blind man with a walking stick who apparently heard him. "I used to feel the same way about forty years ago when I first came here. If you tell me the place you're looking for, I can probably tell you how to get there."
Diego held a wary scowl. "You know every address in the city?"
"Just about. I was a mail carrier for thirty years. I've spent the last ten getting used to the dark after some damage from the towers falling became more than my eyes could handle anymore. Subways are safer than the streets up top, as far as I'm concerned. So where are you trying to go?"
The older gentleman made sense but Diego's face didn't change. Yet he did spit out the address.
"Take the 6 to 51st then walk to Lexington and 53rd for the E. It'll take you to Hell's Kitchen. That's where the address is you're looking for. A lot of Irish there so you should see a lot of stuff for St Paddy's." With that, the man tipped his head and continued walking.
Diego knew that Mary couldn't be too far from where the school was but hadn't imagined she'd be in the vicinity of where Jessica used to live. "Thanks," he muttered after the blind man who raised his free hand in acknowledgment in a gesture of waiving him off as if the gratitude wasn't necessary. Number Two did like that about New Yorkers.
It took a little over half an hour of travel which seemed too short and too long all at once. He couldn't think of a good plan on how to intervene. Diego couldn't think of a scenario that worked other than to jump in if the asshole tried raising a hand to Mary or Charlie. That was it. That was his whole plan. Spend however many nights camped out until something happened. Number Two sunk into his seat with a shake of his head in frustration.
Before he knew it, Diego was on the street and a few blocks from the building in question. His eyes caught someone standing in front but the rain made details difficult to make out from the distance. There was something familiar but he kept a vigilant eye on all of his surroundings. It took a block of walking to realize that he knew the silhouette. His jaw clenched, opting to turn down a street and find his way to the back of the building instead.
She'd moved so that she was under an overhang when the rain started. Umbrellas were for wusses. She felt something like a twang go through her bond, but she was still a little peeved at the way Diego had handled this morning. And her frustration about it was frustrating her, because his going hot was something that she loved about him. How very much he threw himself into everything. How much he felt and how deeply it ran. But that deep heat also ran through a wellspring of trauma, and Mr. Hargreeves had never taken the time to sort that shit out, either by himself or with someone else. So he reacted in the moment instead of thinking shit through.
It was going to get him killed, and that was the icy thread of panic that kept prodding at her whenever he was out by himself at night. There were too many fucked up enhanced people around, too much alien tech, too much weirdness he didn't have to deal with back in his world, and it just steamrolled through this city like a seasonal thing. He had her memories, but she wondered if he'd thought about the alien invasion. The decimation of the city from it. The fact there was a god of thunder that occasionally came to be a pain in the ass, or the whole alien planet that had relocated to fucking Norway.
She looked up just as a raindrop slithered through the crack of the awning above her and hit with a splat just above her eye. "Motherfucker," she hissed, wiping at it, then continuing to look out at the street.
Was she worried about an abused kid and his stepmom? Of course, but they were lower on her list than her hot-headed mate. So she'd do what she could to fix the situation and then decide if she wanted to deal with Diego tonight or maybe take a night off to let him think about it. To let her think about it. There hadn't been much in the way of space at night between them since he'd crash landed in her life. Maybe her abrasiveness was finally wearing through that haze of the honeymoon stage for him.
She saw a figure coming up from a couple blocks away. Two figures; one tall and anxious and one smaller and vulnerable. Shit. She felt herself tense up, keeping an eye out for the abusive prick while she waited for Mary and Charlie to come along.
As he walked, something vibrated in the front of his raincoat. His already scrunched face in anger furrowed even deeper as he felt for the device. He watched in the distance as Jessica seemed distracted by someone in the opposite direction. It looked like Mary and Charlie. Diego looked to the device that had a text message on it.
"Fucking, Rand." The mutter was quiet while reading the message.
Looks like you made it. Just squeeze both the buttons on the sides and we'll come help if you need us. The guy you're looking for is Jack McKinnon.
Diego silenced the phone and the screen, slipping it into the pocket it had been in. McKinnon. Mary hadn't used the name. He wasn't sure if she kept her maiden name or hid her married one for his class. Thoughts continued to run through his mind but no clear plan came together.
"Mary, get your ass in here and quit talkin' to that degenerate!"
The voice got his attention and Diego quickly headed back toward the front of the building. Jessica might have been called worse but he didn't like hearing it.
"Buzz off, Lady! You don't wanna make Jack mad! My brother's a cop and he'll throw your ass in jail! Damn it, Mary! Didn't that social worker showing up teach you enough of a lesson? Don't tell me this is another one! That's it, I'm calling Jack!"
Mary shook her head profusely, guiding Charlie into the building. Diego couldn't hear her voice over the rain unlike the asshole who had been yelling from the window on the second floor. The knife thrower picked up a piece of broken sidewalk that was a couple of inches and threw it into the open window, receiving a satisfying yelp in response.
"You fuckin' bitch! What kind of social worker throws rocks?! You broke my goddamn phone! I'm coming down there and teaching you a fuckin' lesson myself!"
And THAT was the reason he wanted his soulmate to stay out of the situation. Diego pulled open the trench and held a knife in each hand as he hurried up to the front of the building. It wasn't as if Jessica couldn't defend herself, he didn't want her to get mixed up with having to teach a cop a lesson. Especially when the lesson was possibly being an amputee. Now they had to deal with an extra asshole.
The closer that Diego got, the more intensely focused he became. He had no idea if the brother shared the same apartment or if Mary was just being watched now by relatives. Number Two could easily be walking into a hornet's nest but he wasn't fazed. His objective remained to get the victims to safety by any means necessary.
Little did he realize the commotion could provide Mary enough of a distraction to pack her and Charlie's things. Maybe something Jessica said convinced her to take the chance. Unfortunately, none of those thoughts came to mind as Diego saw red. He somehow missed there being someone behind him.
"Hey, Asshole! Didn't anyone ever tell you not to bring a knife to a gun fight?" A voice cackled at him as he spun around. Shots rang out and knives dropped to the ground. Number Two held hands out in front of him, somehow redirecting the rounds into the parked car next to them. "What the--"
Diego had no idea if the man was Jack or yet another sibling. A quick strike to the throat stopped any further conversation. Before the one threatening trouble could come downstairs, the vigilante flung the shooter into the side of the nearby building--knocking him out cold in the process. Hargreeves quickly picked up the dropped knives and continued toward Jones.
"I'm going up to get Mary and Charlie. Find a ride out of here," he barked while walking toward her.
"Who the fuck are you? You're not getting anybody! --What did you do to Liam?!"
Sadly, Diego learned that he hadn't laid out Jack. Apparently his relatives thought they could carry guns or were also cops. He didn't give it much thought as his wrath was now aimed at the idiot yelling in front of Jessica.
Irritation flared in Jessica as she saw Diego coming in hot. Any attempt at making this a covert operation went out the window as her soulmate flung rocks and fists at the relatives left as guard dogs for Mary and her charge. While Diego was busy and Mary was standing there in shock, Charlie gaping at the unrestrained violence, Jessica decided that a hard lesson was due. "Look, lady, I don't know you and you sure as shit don't know me, but what you're doing is absolutely bugshit stupid. There are resources for domestic violence. There are ways to get you and the kid out, especially with your dickshit of a husband being stupid enough to leave a medical trail that anyone with five cents and a cell phone can find out all on their own. You want to save the kid? Save yourself. There are places you can go to hide out until the right brass knocks his ass out. I promise you, you'll feel a whole hell of a lot worse if you stay and suffer for his sake if you walk in on a dead body. Or he walks in on yours. That's not saving shit. So we're going to get the hell out of here and sort this out. And I don't want to hear any bullshit about you don't really want to. You got him-," she said, tipping her head back to indicate Diego, "all worked up over you and the kid, so go grab what you need and then we're gone."
Mary gave her a blank look for a moment before something stony fell over her face and she grabbed Charlie and ran into the building. Jessica watched Diego take care of what needed taking care of, though she was still silently pissed off at everything going on the way it had, and when whichever McKinnon or kin of came close, she snapped a punch at his face, hard enough to make the man's head snap back, his eyes roll into his head, and for him to collapse in a crumpled heap. Hard enough to knock out, but not to kill. She'd figured that limit out awhile ago. Then she just stood and glared at Diego, waiting for his pet project to come out with her kid as she gave him the finger, then went to go stand in front of a cab to get it to stop.
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Jessica likely felt all the frustration in him. Usually their connection was enough to make him mindful of his soulmate but if Diego had a weakness (beside his soulmate), it was anyone defenseless being abused. He carried so much guilt after discovering how Vanya was treated. It didn't matter to him that he didn't know what their father was doing to her, Diego recognized how isolated she must've felt when they all excluded her and called her ordinary.
It wasn't as if he could undo their childhood but getting pulled into a different world after finding that out did haunt him. He'd never have a chance to apologize and show her how sorry he was. Diego tried to push the thought out of his head whenever they came up, knowing it was something he could never change. Seeing Mary desperate, beaten physically and emotionally...
Diego shut off the shower that was barely warm. There was snow outside but frustration kept him from feeling the cold. Mirrors in the bathroom weren't fogged yet he didn't see his reflection as he dried off. Memories of the present and past haunted him. He roughly toweled off his head then got dressed, heading to the kitchen in the time promised.
"Hey," he greeted at seeing Jessica in the kitchen. "I need you to find her for me. I could do it but you'd be faster. The asshole who hits her is a cop so she doesn't report him. She doesn't leave because the kid is his. As trauma nurse, she treated him after the fire that killed his biological mom and grandparents. Claire works with her. She knows the situation and I'm sure if she finds out Mary was hurt this bad, she'd try to go after the cop herself. That's why Mary doesn't want her to know."
He unpacked a lot yet the heaviness on him didn't get any lighter. Diego spoke to Jessica unlike anyone else in his life. That was the biggest benefit of a soulmate; being able to bear his soul. He'd been used to keeping things in. He called himself a lone wolf. Maybe he bonded with his siblings unlike Vanya, Ben had been the only one Diego confided in and he died.
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Sighing, she set her can down and came over to him, slipping up behind him because she wanted him to feel safe. Cared for. Her arms came around him, her chin hooking over his shoulder as she just held him, the image of the woman and her badly hidden bruises flashing in her mind. Of course it was about a kid. And of course the problem was stickier than it looked. "Has he ever touched the kid? Any random hospital visits that would be something I can compile and use to nail his ass?" Abusers sometimes had preferential targets. Women. Partners. Kids. If you were super unlucky, you got ones that were just rancidly evil and spewed that kind of shit all over anyone in their path. Him being a cop led her to believe he was more controlled than that. He kept it contained to one source that he'd made sure wouldn't say anything.
She already hated his guts.
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"I don't know. I do know that Mary didn't want the classes to protect herself. She wanted them to protect Charlie. Since the hospital, he calls her mom and it was how she got wrapped up with his dad. She's mentioned being blind to the signs so maybe. He didn't touch her until after they got married. I think... I think she probably took a beating meant for Charlie."
Diego shook his head but remained mindful of where her face was on his shoulder.
"I don't want you going after him. I just need you to find her so I can keep an eye on her. Everyone in this city knows you. Nobody knows me."
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Matt might not currently be around, but his partner was, and she had an in with Jeri at the firm if needed. Jeri would be pleased to have a favor to hold over her, and her firm was reputable enough that a claim of abuse against a cop wouldn't just be brushed behind the blue line.
"You're also adorable that you think everyone knows me. A few assholes do. You keep up your little nighttime games and you're going to be more infamous than me. All the needy people out there fantasizing about their heartthrob hero come to save them. Everyone wants a Prince Charming, Diego. Especially if he's hot and has a temper. No one gives a shit about a girl with an attitude problem."
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Diego had a terrible feeling that the situation could go wrong and he didn't want the love of his life in the middle of it. He had enough glimpses of her life before him. Jessica Jones was the last person who needed more blood on her hands. He wanted to protect her from that.
"She came to me for help and I didn't help her. If you find her, I might still be able to help her. Will you find her for me?"
He ignored the talk about being adorable, something Diego hadn't done since they first met. Any levity was leached out of him at the thoughts of the battered woman who needed help that triggered guilt he didn't want to talk about in the moment with Jessica. He wasn't going to argue that plenty of people in New York were attracted to her and most confused him for someone in a red suit.
His hands gripped her arms while his eyes figuratively did the same as he searched her face for a serious response.
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Diego was a stubborn jerk when he wanted to be, and she'd picked that up through her own journey through his memories. Stubborn and machismo-laden. The one sister he had that had visible abilities was her walking nightmare, something too close to Kilgrave to make her ever want to meet her. It made it seem like the women in his life were soft, pliable, and devious. None of which described her.
"Oh, I'll find her, but if you think it's stopping there, you're dead wrong, Diego Hargreeves."
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"Last I checked, NYPD is really familiar with your face." It was the first since meeting that her refusal angered him. He had a hard time asking for help and he felt embarrassed for having done just that. "Forget I said anything. Stay out of it," he barked and left the kitchen to change his clothes.
Diego was determined to head out, canceling any training for the remainder of the day.
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She watched him leave and didn't call out after him. He wouldn't listen. Stubbornness was something she knew he had in spades. Didn't mean she wasn't going to do what she said she would. Her stomach twisted again, hunger reminding her to eat, but there was that slip-sick feeling of her soulmate being mad at her that made her not want to bother. She settled for a protein bar and went back to her office to dig up dirt on Mary's cop. She also sent Claire a text, asking for any info she had on Mary and to keep an eye out for her or the kid. And maybe to look at records if she could to find anything on either of them. As if Diego could tell her where to go or what to do. She was going to have a long chat with him when he pulled that stick out of his ass later, her own anger starting to simmer.
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Night wouldn't fall for another handful of hours but Diego geared up to conduct his own search. Dressing in black wasn't unusual in New York but he was careful to tuck knives away out of view. He shoved his domino mask in an inside pocket of his coat and shut off his cell phone, leaving it by the watch on his nightstand. Hopefully, it wasn't a decision he'd later regret.
Hurt usually manifested itself into anger. He wasn't used to asking anyone for anything and it stung that Jessica mocked him. She nearly got herself killed once without looking for trouble, Diego wasn't going to watch anyone die again. Instead of leaving out through their private entrance, he exited through the dojo.
Rand was his first stop, knowing he and Colleen would be willing to help without questioning him. Danny immediately questioned why Diego didn't ask Jessica to reach out to her police contacts only to realize by the look on the knife thrower's face that he shouldn't mention the private eye again. It left an awkward feeling but Colleen interjected a valuable point; the school that Charlie went to wasn't private so it narrowed down the area they lived in.
The two asked Diego if he needed any help to which the headstrong Hargreeves replied if either could take over the classes he had in the afternoon. Colleen agreed and said she would contact him if anything came up. The couple learned that he was without a way of contacting him and it didn't sit well that he refused to take a spare from Danny.
Not much of an argument could be made with the mood Diego was in but Claire had reached out to Colleen just as the heated discussion took place. She provided Mary's address and warned that her abusive husband had a lot of family in the area in addition to being a cop. Diego insisted he was only going to make sure that mother and son weren't harmed, rushing out before anyone objected.
Rain came down and aided in night falling quicker, or at least, providing more cover than daylight. Diego ran through a hundred scenarios in his head. It wasn't a hostage situation. Domestics were tricky. Mary had already been beaten which reduced the likelihood of another occurrence so soon. Running hot left him without a solid plan but Number Two decided he would figure it out on the fly. He'd get to their apartment building and figure out how easy it would be to find them first.
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He could be as mad at her as he wanted to be. His wants didn't supersede the way things needed to be done to work. Claire knew the woman herself and had a better idea of how to handle things, how tricky they were. For all that Diego saw marks on her, Claire would know how long they'd been showing up and how badly it affected her. Diego saw a flash of her day, an hour or two at a time. A work colleague who had training in how to spot and report domestic abuse, child abuse, sex trafficking, had a better chance of knowing when to say something and when to wait until they had to be involved. Diego was also just... a man. A man who'd been raised to use actions instead of words, and this was how he looked after people.
All the more reason to truss him up and throw him in a cold shower.
Claire relayed back to Jessica what had happened with Danny, Colleen, and Diego, and Jess figured it was going to be a long night. She didn't bother trying to reach Diego through their bond; all she was getting was vibrations of anger of different flavors, so she went through the sources she knew to find said cop, Officer Jack McKinnon of the illustrious NYPD, figured out his station house, then where he was living and the name of his son. It was easy enough after that to get the school, and then she debated on which course to take. Talk to the dad and give him a one on one, or try to convince someone to leave an abuser.
Sticky. Leaving would be easy if she was the mother, or, easier. With no biological tie to the boy, and that being the reason for her reaching out in the first place, that gave the cop all the power. She didn't have a mask and a growly voice to go jumping bad cops in alleys and scaring the shit out of them into pretending to be decent people, so that left her with Mary. She knew what the woman looked like, and she opted to just go and wait in plain view at the front of the building. If the cop pulled up first, she'd just say she was waiting for a client. If Mary did, then she'd try to have a talk with her.
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The rain came down like a cold shower but it did little to clear away the fog of anger and frustration from Diego. He yanked the hood of the trench coat over his head, tipping his chin down for shelter from the rain. The tense vigilante ran down into a subway station and used the available maps in an effort to pinpoint the address.
"Why does this city have so many damn streets?" he grumbled to himself. Or so he thought. There was a hearty chuckle behind him. Diego pivoted to find what seemed like a blind man with a walking stick who apparently heard him. "I used to feel the same way about forty years ago when I first came here. If you tell me the place you're looking for, I can probably tell you how to get there."
Diego held a wary scowl. "You know every address in the city?"
"Just about. I was a mail carrier for thirty years. I've spent the last ten getting used to the dark after some damage from the towers falling became more than my eyes could handle anymore. Subways are safer than the streets up top, as far as I'm concerned. So where are you trying to go?"
The older gentleman made sense but Diego's face didn't change. Yet he did spit out the address.
"Take the 6 to 51st then walk to Lexington and 53rd for the E. It'll take you to Hell's Kitchen. That's where the address is you're looking for. A lot of Irish there so you should see a lot of stuff for St Paddy's." With that, the man tipped his head and continued walking.
Diego knew that Mary couldn't be too far from where the school was but hadn't imagined she'd be in the vicinity of where Jessica used to live. "Thanks," he muttered after the blind man who raised his free hand in acknowledgment in a gesture of waiving him off as if the gratitude wasn't necessary. Number Two did like that about New Yorkers.
It took a little over half an hour of travel which seemed too short and too long all at once. He couldn't think of a good plan on how to intervene. Diego couldn't think of a scenario that worked other than to jump in if the asshole tried raising a hand to Mary or Charlie. That was it. That was his whole plan. Spend however many nights camped out until something happened. Number Two sunk into his seat with a shake of his head in frustration.
Before he knew it, Diego was on the street and a few blocks from the building in question. His eyes caught someone standing in front but the rain made details difficult to make out from the distance. There was something familiar but he kept a vigilant eye on all of his surroundings. It took a block of walking to realize that he knew the silhouette. His jaw clenched, opting to turn down a street and find his way to the back of the building instead.
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It was going to get him killed, and that was the icy thread of panic that kept prodding at her whenever he was out by himself at night. There were too many fucked up enhanced people around, too much alien tech, too much weirdness he didn't have to deal with back in his world, and it just steamrolled through this city like a seasonal thing. He had her memories, but she wondered if he'd thought about the alien invasion. The decimation of the city from it. The fact there was a god of thunder that occasionally came to be a pain in the ass, or the whole alien planet that had relocated to fucking Norway.
She looked up just as a raindrop slithered through the crack of the awning above her and hit with a splat just above her eye. "Motherfucker," she hissed, wiping at it, then continuing to look out at the street.
Was she worried about an abused kid and his stepmom? Of course, but they were lower on her list than her hot-headed mate. So she'd do what she could to fix the situation and then decide if she wanted to deal with Diego tonight or maybe take a night off to let him think about it. To let her think about it. There hadn't been much in the way of space at night between them since he'd crash landed in her life. Maybe her abrasiveness was finally wearing through that haze of the honeymoon stage for him.
She saw a figure coming up from a couple blocks away. Two figures; one tall and anxious and one smaller and vulnerable. Shit. She felt herself tense up, keeping an eye out for the abusive prick while she waited for Mary and Charlie to come along.
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"Fucking, Rand." The mutter was quiet while reading the message.
Looks like you made it. Just squeeze both the buttons on the sides and we'll come help if you need us. The guy you're looking for is Jack McKinnon.
Diego silenced the phone and the screen, slipping it into the pocket it had been in. McKinnon. Mary hadn't used the name. He wasn't sure if she kept her maiden name or hid her married one for his class. Thoughts continued to run through his mind but no clear plan came together.
"Mary, get your ass in here and quit talkin' to that degenerate!"
The voice got his attention and Diego quickly headed back toward the front of the building. Jessica might have been called worse but he didn't like hearing it.
"Buzz off, Lady! You don't wanna make Jack mad! My brother's a cop and he'll throw your ass in jail! Damn it, Mary! Didn't that social worker showing up teach you enough of a lesson? Don't tell me this is another one! That's it, I'm calling Jack!"
Mary shook her head profusely, guiding Charlie into the building. Diego couldn't hear her voice over the rain unlike the asshole who had been yelling from the window on the second floor. The knife thrower picked up a piece of broken sidewalk that was a couple of inches and threw it into the open window, receiving a satisfying yelp in response.
"You fuckin' bitch! What kind of social worker throws rocks?! You broke my goddamn phone! I'm coming down there and teaching you a fuckin' lesson myself!"
And THAT was the reason he wanted his soulmate to stay out of the situation. Diego pulled open the trench and held a knife in each hand as he hurried up to the front of the building. It wasn't as if Jessica couldn't defend herself, he didn't want her to get mixed up with having to teach a cop a lesson. Especially when the lesson was possibly being an amputee. Now they had to deal with an extra asshole.
The closer that Diego got, the more intensely focused he became. He had no idea if the brother shared the same apartment or if Mary was just being watched now by relatives. Number Two could easily be walking into a hornet's nest but he wasn't fazed. His objective remained to get the victims to safety by any means necessary.
Little did he realize the commotion could provide Mary enough of a distraction to pack her and Charlie's things. Maybe something Jessica said convinced her to take the chance. Unfortunately, none of those thoughts came to mind as Diego saw red. He somehow missed there being someone behind him.
"Hey, Asshole! Didn't anyone ever tell you not to bring a knife to a gun fight?" A voice cackled at him as he spun around. Shots rang out and knives dropped to the ground. Number Two held hands out in front of him, somehow redirecting the rounds into the parked car next to them. "What the--"
Diego had no idea if the man was Jack or yet another sibling. A quick strike to the throat stopped any further conversation. Before the one threatening trouble could come downstairs, the vigilante flung the shooter into the side of the nearby building--knocking him out cold in the process. Hargreeves quickly picked up the dropped knives and continued toward Jones.
"I'm going up to get Mary and Charlie. Find a ride out of here," he barked while walking toward her.
"Who the fuck are you? You're not getting anybody! --What did you do to Liam?!"
Sadly, Diego learned that he hadn't laid out Jack. Apparently his relatives thought they could carry guns or were also cops. He didn't give it much thought as his wrath was now aimed at the idiot yelling in front of Jessica.
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Mary gave her a blank look for a moment before something stony fell over her face and she grabbed Charlie and ran into the building. Jessica watched Diego take care of what needed taking care of, though she was still silently pissed off at everything going on the way it had, and when whichever McKinnon or kin of came close, she snapped a punch at his face, hard enough to make the man's head snap back, his eyes roll into his head, and for him to collapse in a crumpled heap. Hard enough to knock out, but not to kill. She'd figured that limit out awhile ago. Then she just stood and glared at Diego, waiting for his pet project to come out with her kid as she gave him the finger, then went to go stand in front of a cab to get it to stop.