Athena snerked a bit.

"What with Tony and Clint in the same place, I can't say I'm surprised. How often do you tell me they end up shirtless?"

"Often enough I hardly need eye candy anymore," Alana said with a smirk. "Between the two of them, Steve, and Thor, someone ends up shirtless at least once a week. At the very least. If I venture down to the gym, more often than that."

"You have the best job perks," Athena said, making a bit of a face. "You really do." She brightened up. "Oh! But that reminds me! Strange showed up at the gala, told me he found the magic whatever-it-was, so he shouldn't be around when Stark shows up to properly install the Arc he donated."

"Oh awesome," Alana agreed. "I hate Stark wrangling when Strange is around, the two of them just rile each other up, it's infuriating."

"Being fair, Strange is kind of always an asshole," Athena pointed out. "Pretty much all the time. I think it's just his default setting."

"It is, but it is also Tony's default setting, and the two of them being assholes to each other just escalates the asshole-y-ness of any general room to unbearable levels," Alana pointed out. "I have seen this happen. It sucks."

"A negative feedback loop," Athena said, nodding sagely. "Terrible things."

"Yes indeed." Alana made a face. "I don't even like to think about it. Ugh."

Athena just snickered and settled in for the night.

Elsewhere, a few days later, it was a day like any other in Hell's Kitchen. Matt and Foggy were wading through the day's cases, trying to both accept them all and sift through for the ones that would actually pay them. Because being paid with real money was good, rather than being paid in chickens and carrots.

Alana was only a little put out that she was having to run some errands for Tony because he'd scared off the latest PA, again. She did find her way to the little law firm marked Nelson and Murdock without any trouble, in her normal work attire. Which may or may not have included a wonderful pair of heels because Pepper made sure she was stocked. She let herself in, looking around briefly.

Karen noticed her immediately.

"Oh hello," she said. "Do you have an appointment?" She was pretty sure not; Karen was the one to make all of the appointments, after all, and she was fairly certain this woman wasn't one.

Alana smiled. "No, I don't, this was a bit... impromptu." She fished out a business card and held it out to Karen. "If Mr. Nelson and Mr. Murdock aren't available I can come back later, not a problem."

Karen took the business card and read it.

"Just a moment," she said. She hurried over to one of the office doors. She knew Matt and Foggy were both inside, poring over something in the latest newspaper. "Matt? Foggy?"

Foggy blinked up at her, straightening a little from his bent position and wincing. "What's up Karen?" he asked, straightening slowly. Oh that had been a bad idea.

"Someone from StarkIndustries here to see you?" Karen offered, glancing back towards the waiting area.

Foggy's jaw dropped. "What?" he whisper-hissed. "Stark Industries? What in the world are they doing here?" He craned to look past Karen, and he blinked. "And why did they send someone so pretty?"

"I don't know, she just asked to see you," Karen whispered back. "I think you should take this seriously, I can't think of any good reason someone from such a huge company would be here."

"It's alright, Karen," Matt said, standing up and reaching for his cane. "We'll take care of it. Thank you."

Foggy scrambled to his feet as well, smoothed back his hair, and stepped into the waiting area. "Hi," he said, blinking at Alana.

Alana hid a little smile. "Hello," she greeted. "Are you Mr. Nelson or Mr. Murdock?"

"Nelson," Foggy said, holding out a hand. "This is Mr. Murdock." He nudged Matt gently with his elbow.

Matt gave a charming, professional smile and held his hand out in front of him.

"Nice to meet you," he said. "Can I ask what brings you to our firm, Miss...?"

"Alana Davis," she said, taking his hand in a firm shake. "I'm here representing Stark Industries, on behalf of the genius behind it. Mr. Stark was hoping to come to an arrangement with you."

"An arrangement?" Matt asked, raising an eyebrow. "That sounds a little ominous." He grinned a bit. "Please, sit down, let's talk about this."

"I assure you, the only thing ominous about this is the size of Tony's ego," Alana joked right back, smiling and taking a seat. Foggy's eyebrows jumped up, and she winked at him. "I always insult my boss, he knows about it, it's great."

Foggy snickered at that. "So, what kind of arrangement is he looking for?" he asked.

"Honestly? He wants to keep the two of you on retainer."

"The two of us?" Matt repeated, his brow furrowing a little. "Not that I'm not fully confident in our skills, but why us? We're still a... very small firm."

"A small firm, yes, but one that shows immense promise," Alana agreed. "So far, in all of your cases, you've shown skill and integrity." She smiled a little wryly. "You'd be surprised how hard it is to find good lawyers who will keep their integrity when large amounts of money are in the offering."

"Not as surprised as you think," Matt said. "So what you're saying is that Mr. Stark wants us to be his on-call lawyers? We do still have clients around here that need us."