Chapter 2: New legal guardian

Harlem

Tyler Riddle

After waking up from my stupor, I had to inspect myself and organize my thoughts. I had transmigrated to the Marvel Multiverse on my own but almost got myself deleted because I never ran any tests or experiments beforehand. With a stroke of luck, I've taken residence in the don't of one Tyler Riddle. Son to Maria Riddle and Malcolm Riddle, both died a week back in a car accident. My only living relative left is my little sister, Nia Riddle, my grandparents died of cardiac arrest within seconds of each other a few years back. 

Poor Tyler Riddle was more than a little distraught by his parents' death, so he died in a mugging after flying into an uncontrolled rage. I apparently arrived shortly under a minute later while he was on death's doorstep. Somehow, I took residence in his body and absorbed his memories and the emotions that came along with them. Not sure how that worked, but the Marvel Multiverse can be more than a little strange and confusing. 

Now his.. or my parents owned an apartment complex in Harlem, they designated a man named Matt Murdock as our Godfather before they died. They always have excuses like how he gave free legal advice or how he was just a kind blind man, but I'm calling bullshit on that. Me and my sister see him when he comes around to pay rent, play card games (the text and pictures were slightly indented so he could play with us), or more recently, to console us on our loss. He is surprisingly capable despite his blindness and a little too good at cards. 

Social services are supposed to be coming in 5 hours to either place me and my sister in a new home or place us under a new guardian. Now they will designate Matt Murdock as our Godfather, but that means nothing if he doesn't accept custody. He hasn't been very helpful recently, sighting his blindness and lack of financial resources as an excuse for why he can't take care of us. I need to visit him and 'convince' him otherwise. Maybe a reminder that he is paying me and my sister for rent will do the trick. 

Heading over to my bathroom, I get out of my blood-caked clothes and get into the shower. Eight minutes later, I'm out of the shower and dressed. Inspecting myself in the mirror, I touch my neck where the gash used to be, no evidence of its existence left. I'm approximately 5'11 with an athletic body on the slightly thinner side and my skin a golden caramel color. From my black, slightly wavy/curl black hair and large butt, it's pretty clear I'm of mixed ethnicity. My dad was half white, half black and my mother was a mix of different white ethnicities. Russian, American, Norwegian, who knows what else. So I'm pretty much the same ethnicity as my previous life, but I was whiter than most white people then.

I head out of my room to meet up with Matt, dressed up in a plain grey shirt with black squiggles on it and some generic jeans. I notice that my sister's door is still closed, she doesn't leave it often. Knocking on the door, I get no answer. I open the door slightly and see her feigning sleep. I know she can't sleep for more than a few hours at night. 

Me: "Hey Nia, I'm going out for a bit, I'll be back before our meeting with child services. There is cereal in the cabinet and some sliced fruit on the counter"

Nia: "Hnnn.."

Closing the door, I let out a loose sigh and headed out the door. I cross the hallway over to Matt's studio and knock on the door. It's 7:30 in the morning so I know he's up and hasn't left the house yet. 

A few moments later and the door opens and a handsome-ish face appears, but his eyes clearly aren't focusing on me. 

Matt: "No Tyler, I'm not becoming your guardian, you know I'm blind. I can barely take care of myself, much less two teenagers."

"So you would subject us to foster care? In Harlem?"

"...look I.." I just cut him off.

"We both know you are a lot more capable than any blind man ought to be."

"What are you talking abo-"

"Our guardian would obviously not need to pay rent."

"I can pay my rent, wait.. are you trying to bribe me? Still, no dice."

"So bribery won't work huh.. figures for a lawyer for the people. How about this. If you don't agree to be our guardian, I'll tell Foggy that you knew every lie he's ever told you."

"So we're resorting to blackmail now, besides, how do you even know that?"

In a pleading tone, "look man, me and Nia really need you on this one, you're like an uncle for us. I'll help you out and stuff. I just can't let Nia go into foster care."

"Fine kid.."

"Great, get dressed and call out from work because we got a meeting in 3 hours."

I head back to my current place of residence and open the door to find Nia eating two slices of Nutella toast and a banana. Seeing me walk in, she scrambles to grab a napkin and wipes her mouth of an unnecessary amount of Nutella. Man, she's so cute. She's almost a year younger than and 4 inches shorter, at 5' 7”, but she's been at that height for two years now after a very large growth spurt. Other than that, she looks a lot like me, only with long wavy black hair flowing down her back and over her shoulders, stopping just short of her waist.

"Morning sis."

"Morning brother," she says, giving a small but genuine smile before it fades away. She's probably still thinking about mom and dad.

"Hey, I got some good news, I convinced Matt to be our legal guardian!"

"Really! How'd you do it?" Oh, that perked her up a good bit. She must have been worrying about foster care too.

"I out debated him"

"You out debated a lawyer?" 

"Yes, now stop asking questions and eat your breakfast. We need to get ready for our meeting." I urge her, giving her a kiss on the forehead to placate her. Best to distract her and keep her from getting too curious. She gives a dazzling smile in response. Yeah, that's the sister I know. I move over to the living room to watch the news and educate myself on worldly matters while relaxing. After all, everybody knows relaxation is the final step in preparation.

__________

3 hours later….

Me, my sister, and Matt are sitting in the dining room, waiting. A knock is heard from the door and I move to open it. A woman dressed in formal wear and holding a briefcase wait outside. 

Woman: "Tyler Riddle? My name is Maria"

Me: " Yes, come on in Ms.Maria."

I showed her over to the dining room. Where I introduce everybody to each other. 

Maria: turning to Matt, "So you're the godfather and you plan to become their legal guardian?"

Matt: "That's right. After all, I can't let them fall into foster care."

Maria: "Yes, well luckily I brought over the correct docents. Do you have a copy of the will, 2 forms of identification, and proof of residence?"

Matt: "Yes." Matt hands over his proof of residence along with his identification while I hand over a copy of the will. A few minutes later and a couple of signatures, Ms.Maria is out the door and Matt Murdock has become the legal guardian of the Riddle siblings.