#67889 daredevil

[ask-spidersisters]

“Hey! Get down from there!”

Thalia shouted, rushing forward to grab the long haired chihuahua who was smashing her front paws into the keyboard of her laptop.

“The hell is wrong with you.”

She muttered as she carried Furby out of the room, dumping her on the floor in the hallway where she laid flat on her side making strange gurgling noises. Her uncle emerged from the living room, looking down at the dog for a split second before looking back up at his niece.

“Have you heard anything from Athena?”

Thalia shook her head, clasping her hands together nervously.

“Nothing. She said she had a plan but…”

Thalia was cut off by the doorbell suddenly ringing, making every occupant of the apartment jump.

“Are you expecting anyone?”

Nikos whispered, Thalia shook her head, wide eyed. Both of them stood still staring at the door for a while before the bell rang again. Nikos gathered himself, moving to grab a hammer from his open toolbox on the living room side table, raising it high in his right hand as he advanced toward the door. As he made his way closer the doorbell rang again, but this time it was accompanied by a voice.

“Hello? My name is Matt Murdock. I'm a friend of Athena. Please we just want to help.”

Thalia perked up at the familiar name, rushing over to her uncle’s side.

“It's okay! Let him in.”

Slowly Nikos unlocked the door.

“Jennifer Walters?”

Thalia exclaimed as the two lawyers walked into the apartment quickly, wearing matching expressions of unease. Jen raised an eyebrow as she saw Niko’s hand with the hammer.

“Uh-“

She started before Matt cut her off, tilting his head down to face Thalia.

“Have you heard anything from your sister?”

Thalia shook her head.

“No she been gone for-“

Matt’s phone chimed. Confused, he fished it out of his pocket. Jen leaned into his side to read the screen as it wasnt announcing who the alert was from.

“Wait what? It's just a set of coordinates.”

Thalia was the first to connect the dots.

“That’s Athena!”

Thalia’s brain knocked her back into last week when Athena was showing her an episode of an anime she watched. The protagonist sent out his location when he found the villain.

“Where does it say?”

Matt asked, Jen bit her lip.

“That’s kinda far from here. It's outside of the city. OH I HAVE A CAR!”

Matt gripped the gym bag he was holding tighter as Jen grabbed his arm, directing him out the door.

“Oh uh it was nice to meet you Thalia and Mr. Castellanos!”

Matt awkwardly called back as he and Jen darted out the door. Nikos looked down at his youngest niece, a look of utter confusion on his face.

“I’ll explain later.”

[the-tangle-web]

“H-Holy shit-“

Hair frazzled, breathing almost uncontrollable. Inhaling and exhaling rapidly through her mouth, chest rising and falling unevenly as the hulk slowly rose to her feet.

Down below her lay the horrific scene. She swore that even up on this building, she could see the splatters of blood staining the pavement. She came as fast as she could- but apparently not fast enough.

Jennifer shook her head, brows furrowed and mouth agape, “Shit-“

And she fumbled for her phone with her large hands. She made sure not to totally crush her phone in her palm before she dialed a number and lifted the phone to her ear, the ringing barley louder than the ringing already playing in her ears.

And it barley even registered that anyone had picked up before she heard that familiar voice call her name-

“Jen?! Jen- are you there? What happened?”

She exhaled sharply and swallowed the bile in her throat.

“Matt- Matt, they took Anthony…”

—

“Why isn’t she picking up?!”

“I’m sure she’s busy, besides, doesn’t she have school? Or- I don’t know- that spider vigilante stuff you literally just told me about?”

Matt shook his head violently and rose his hands to his head, gripping his hair, “I know, I know-“

Jen bit the inside of her cheek, her knee bouncing up and down as she sat on the couch, hands clutching her biceps and digging her blunt nails into the skin to ground herself.

All this new information. Turns out both of their teenagers are spider vigilantes.

And that means Athena is Scarlet Spider.

And that mean Anthony is Tangle Web.

Ok. Maybe it was obvious for Anthony. She knew him well and all about his powers, she should have guessed. But all that shit Tangle Web did… the murders… he could be taken to court for more than just ruining the peace. That’s first fucking degree murder!

She couldn’t even consider Tangle Web and Anthony the same in her head. It just- it can’t register. She thought she knew him. He was an angry kid, sure, but- not like this…

He couldn’t have done this by his own free will… if he did…

“Fuck!” Matt tore his phone away from his ear again, gripping it and inhaling slowly, then exhaling.

Jen stood up, titling her head to the side and took a step forward,

“Everything’s shitty right now… at least have a seat,” she rose a hand to his shoulder, then set her other on the small of his back.

He was tense. She swore she could hear the gritting of his teeth. But surely, he followed her lead and let her guide him to the couch. Both were now settled on the couch, holding each other’s hands- until the TV flashed to a different channel.

Breaking news. Who could have guessed.

“-Police are on the case and SHIELD has been contacted- it is said that at least five people have been kidnapped by who the media calls ‘Doctor Octopus-“

“Many know him as one of the infamous criminals Scarlet Spider has wrangled with once before- but what is with this dramatic and horrifying return? The streets and buildings are destroyed- at least 10 are dead, in counting, and several wounded-“

Matt’s ears were perked, Jen couldn’t take her eyes off the screen. Even when seeing the carnage in person, it still shocked her when they showed it on television.

She has so many questions. And, by God, Anthony won’t be dying until he answers them.

[ask-spidersisters]

Athena: Stark and Fury have been trying to get me to join the Avengers. But in order to do that I would have to reveal my identity and also be ordered around by SHIELD. (Aka I won’t be able to do literally anything without permission).No thank you. I’ll stick to being a vigilante.

I do occasionally work with other street level vigilantes like Daredevil and the turtles, but I wouldn’t call us a team.

are any of you guys in a team? like 616's Avengers or something? or maybe something more street level like Team Red? I am, but i wanna hear about you guys..and if not, would you wanna be? not with me, but i mean in your own universe :)

[ask-spidersisters]

Athena: Ah fuck I never got Matt’s number so he probably has no idea why I disappeared for like several weeks.

[ask-spidersisters]

NYC is Full of Surprises

Daredevil finally came to a stop on a rooftop, crouching behind its chimney. Scarlet Spider followed suit, landing in a forward roll and ending in a similar crouch at the older vigilante’s side.

“This is quite a bit away from Hell’s Kitchen. What were you doing here?”

Daredevil turned his head in the direction of the spider vigilante’s voice, his solid red lenses staring blankly at her.

“I have a life outside of this.”

“You do? …. Really?”

Scarlet smirked under her mask as The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen poked her in the chest with one of his bully clubs.

“Just be quiet kid.”

Scarlet Spider peered down at the alleyway below. Her curiosity grew by the second. Tonight had started out normal, with Scarlet deciding to head out on a patrol to clear her head. She didn’t expect much as it had been pretty quiet crime wise, so she was extra surprised when Daredevil appeared, asking her to come with to visually identify four new people he had heard emerge from the sewers the other day.

“Why’d you need a visual?”

“They seem… unusual. Like they were wearing something hard on their backs. I couldn’t pinpoint what.”

“Here they come.”

Scarlet Spider snapped back into focus as she saw the manhole cover start to shift as something opened it from below. She had to bite her tongue as she saw what had emerged from the New York underside. Four different sized humanoid turtles stood in the alley, each with a different colored bandana with eye holes tied around their faces.

“Scarlet?”

Scarlet Spider took in a deep breath, her eyes glued on the creatures below.

“Uhhhhh. Well you were right about them having something on their backs….”

Daredevil tilted his head to the side as Scarlet sat in silence for a while, watching the turtles bicker amongst themselves while simultaneously trying to figure out how in the world she was going to describe this to a blind man.

[ask-spidersisters]

Spider Sense

Scarlet Spider scowled as she roughly emptied her utility belt of her darts. She could sense a shift in the air behind her.

“Fuck off Stark.”

She muttered, not needing to turn to know it was the billionaire who had entered the room.

“Woah someone’s cranky.”

She roughly closed the cabinet which now housed her darts and turned around to face the man, mask lenses narrowed to mirror her less than pleased expression underneath. Stark took a sip from his plastic coffee cup as he looked back at her.

“Hey spandex, little tip, go for his legs.”

Scarlet said nothing, striding out of the room and into the hallway to get to the training room of the Tower.

Rogers had caught her today, just before she was going to leave, having made her appearance to appease the SHIELD director. He wanted to do a one on one training session.

“Since you don’t join the team for training anymore.”

Ever since she bit Barnes, he and Wilson refused to do group training with her, not that she cared, she didn’t want to join those sessions anyway. It wasn’t like she was an Avenger or anything. But she knew that if she knocked down this request from Rogers, he would go to Fury about it, and then he’d make her do it anyway, and she did not want another lecture from Fury.

Scarlet strode into the propped open door of the training room, to find Rogers standing tall near the middle in his uniform, his signature vibranium shield resting on its holder on his back. He flashed the young vigilante a picture perfect smile as she approached him.

“Great, with the darts out of the way we can begin. Just a simple sparring match to start off, fists and one weapon for us each, your web shooters, my shield.”

Scarlet bit back a snarky remark, shifting into a fighting stance.

“Fine.”

Seemingly pleased with the younger hero’s cooperation Rogers followed suit, grabbing his shield and shifting into his own fighting stance.

“Ok… Go!”

Scarlet snapped her fist forward, aiming a punch at the bigger man’s jaw, he tilted his head out of the way and brought up his shield to push it against her chest. She stumbled back from the force, silently surprised at how quick Rogers' reflexes were, as if on cue he rushed forward to slam the shield at her again, her spider sense snapped her back into the moment as she sprung up into the air, leaping over the super soldier's head. She twisted her body mid air and shot a web at his face, which he blocked with his shield. She quickly released the web line before he could try and tug at it, shooting another web from her other hand at his legs and using her momentum as she fell to knock the man off his feet, causing his back to slam onto the ground and his shield to fly out of his grasp as she landed neatly in a crouch.

Huh, Guess Stark wasn’t just being sarcastic.

She turned her attention to the shield that lay further away. She stood upright and raised an arm to shoot a web at it, when a foot collided with her ankles, causing her to crash onto the ground. Rogers had recovered quicker than she anticipated he would, and was already back on his feet, rushing forward and retrieving his shield, turning back around as Scarlet regained her footing.

“Not bad.”

He snapped his shield arm forward in a motion alluding to throwing, Scarlet flinched, raising her arms in anticipation to catch the shield, which Rogers used to strike a kick to her chest. She managed not to fall by sticking her feet to the ground, her spider sense buzzed as Rogers closed the gap between them. She blocked a punch aimed at her jaw with her forearm, swinging out her other arm to try and strike her opponent's nose. Rogers brought up his shield. She bit her tongue as her fist collided with the indestructible metal, wincing as a loud echo pierced through the room. She pulled her hand away, shaking it as it started to throb.

“Okay, maybe we don’t punch so hard there kid. This is just training.”

“Fuck, maybe you should get a softer sheild.”

Scarlet automatically retorted, a hiss starting to form in her throat. Rogers frowned in disapproval.

“You seem to be striking out whenever you think you see an opening, you have tunnel vision.”

Scarlet’s stance loosened as she took in the comment.

-(+)-

“You’re focusing on the wrong details. Your sight is distracting you.”

Daredevil inquired, as Scarlet rubbed her throbbing hand.

“Well then, what am I supposed to do?”

Daredevil brought up one of his bully clubs, gently resting the tip of it against her forehead. Scarlet blinked, standing still in confusion.

“Your eyes will deceive you. However, your sixth sense, by how you describe it, seems to never lie. You need to trust it more. To believe it over your vision.”

-(+)-

“Here, let’s go again.”

Scarlet snapped back into the moment as she saw Rogers re-position to his original fighting stance. She took in a deep breath, standing up straight and slowly raising her fists up again.

“Go!”

As Rogers rushed forward, Scarlet closed her eyes.

Now!

She ducked to the side, grabbing onto his outstretched arm and sticking her feet to the ground for leverage as she flipped the super soldier onto his back. The loud clang of the shield hitting the ground made her wince, but she did her best to try and not let it get to her.

Jump

She sprung up into the air as she sensed an arm outstretching to try and grab at her ankles, landing with a forward roll. The floor vibrated as the super soilder got back onto his feet.

Behind

Scarlet threw herself to the side as Roger’s figure lurched forward, twisting her body around and shooting a web where she last felt the shift in air nearest to the floor. As soon as the web caught, she pulled. A short shout and a thud later she opened her eyes to see the older Avenger slowly lifting himself into a seated position on the floor, wincing slightly as he tried to sit up straight.

“Did you just do all that… with your eyes closed?”

Scarlet couldn’t help the grin spreading across her face as she shrugged, standing up.

“Maybe.”

[ask-spidersisters]

Where Have You Been?

Athena looked up at the small sign posted next to the glass door.

Nelson and Murdock

Attorneys At Law

It only took her about half an hour to find it, it was interesting how different an area looked when you’re on the street as opposed to swinging between rooftops. She opened the door and walked inside.

It wasn’t anything remarkable. A small office space with three rooms. The walls were rather plain and the lighting was a bit poor. At the back center of the main room a blonde woman looked up from her desk, putting down her pen and smiling brightly.

“Hello! What can I do for you?”

Athena stuffed her hands awkwardly into her hoodie pockets.

“Oh um. I'm just looking for Mr. Murdock. Is he here?”

Before the woman could reply, a door to one of the side offices swung open.

“Athena!?!”

Athena stiffened, letting out an awkward chuckle as the lawyer walked up to her.

“Hey Matt… uh-“

He quickly placed his hands on her shoulders, tilting his head to the side.

“What happened? Where have you been? Are you hurt?”

She could faintly hear him sniffing the air to detect the smell of blood.

“No, I'm okay.”

Matt raised an eyebrow, tilting his head so that his face was looking down at her.

“Really!”

“Uh.”

Both of them turned, suddenly remembering the presence of the blonde woman still in the room with them.

“Oh! Karen. This is my uh… niece, Athena.”

Karen nodded, accepting the explanation.

“Oh, it’s nice to meet you, Athena.”

Athena waved awkwardly back at her as Matt started to move her towards the exit door.

“Will you excuse us for a minute, uh, family business.”

“Of course.”

The two walked out of the building, Matt keeping his hands firmly on her shoulders as if she would run as soon as they stepped foot outside.

“Okay, talk. What the hell happened?”

[ask-spidersisters]

Big Fans!

The turtles had moved from the original alleyway they had emerged from, jumping from rooftop to rooftop in what appeared to be a race. Scarlet Spider followed in pursuit, more out of curiosity than suspicion. Daredevil, after she had found a way to articulate to him what she had seen, had decided that he’d continue to stick to the streets of Hell's Kitchen leaving “all that mystical bullshit that happens everywhere else in this city” to someone else. Scarlet couldn’t blame the older vigilante, if she wasn’t so used to random things like this she’d have done the same. But dealing with the multiverse does give one a bit of a desensitization to the unknown. Besides, this unknown didn’t seem like a bad one, at least, not yet.

Through her super hearing she could pick out a few phrases the turtles were shooting at one another.

“Hey! You can’t use your tech! That’s cheating!”

“It’s not cheating dear brother, it’s utilizing my genius intellect to enhance my physical performance.”

“Cheating!”

“Doesn’t matter, you’re both slow!”

Siblings. As if the bickering hadn’t been a big enough clue in it of itself. Though they all looked like different species of turtle, but Scarlet knew well enough that family bonds go beyond blood.

“Ayo! Time out!”

The biggest one suddenly announced as they all stopped and gathered near him. Scarlet landed on the edge of a fire escape a couple of buildings over, straining her ears. She only caught the last part.

“Split up.”

The four turtles sprang in different directions into the night with shocking coordination and out of sight. Scarlet Spider sat on the edge of the fire escape, baffled for a split second before she refocused, leaping off to follow the one she had seen last, the biggest. She chased him down a couple of rooftops before her spider sense kicked in. She quickly leaned to the side and grabbed the end of a nunchuck as it came flying at her head and pulled. A yelp and the smallest turtle came flying over her head, landing on his shell a few feet in front of her and holding onto the other end of the nunchuck. Scarlet Spider just started down at him as he got back onto his feet, rubbing his shell. His eyes widened as he looked at her, dropping his nunchuck.

“Ohmigosh! The Scarlet Spider!”

And in a flash the small turtle sprung forward, wrapping his arms around her waist in a shockingly tight grip.

“I’m your biggest fan! You’re so cool! Can I get a picture!”

“Mikey? What’s- oh great pizza supreme in the sky is that the SCARLET SPIDER?!”

The biggest one from before came rushing over, his eyes as big as his smaller brother’s.

“I’m a huge fan! Oh and see! My favorite color is red like you!”

“Scarlet Spider! Woah!”

The last two turtles finally joined them, completing the crowd around the baffled vigilante as they all spoke at once.

“Big fan of your tech! How do you make it? What’s the operating system in your suit? Please sign my goggles!”

“No way! You gotta sign my sword! Oh! And I have an action figure back at home! You gotta sign that too please!!!”

“Uh… okay???”

Scarlet muttered out in confusion. The smallest turtle hugged her tighter.

“Wow! You sound cooler in person!”

“Uh. Thanks?”

She awkwardly patted the smallest turtle on the head, and he let out an excited squeak in response.

“And uh. Who are you?”

——————————————————————————

Small part two to NYC is Full of Surprises

[ask-spidersisters]

Athena flipped up her hood as the cold breeze grew stronger. It was early autumn by now, and the days have been getting colder. It’s already reached the point where she needed to turn on her suit’s heater for night patrols. Her frown deepened under her face mask. She decided that her messed up thermoregulation for cold temperatures was by far the worst part of her mutation. Maybe it’d be fine if she lived somewhere warm, but nope, NYC baby, where it gets extremely cold.

Her leading foot caught on something, snapping her out of her thoughts as she started to fall forward before a hand grabbed the back of her hoodie.

“You can’t space out in Hell’s Kitchen kid.”

Athena tensed as she regained her balance and turned around to see a man with circular red lens glasses and a white walking cane, which was the object she had tripped on. He raised a brow as he tilted his head to the side.

“We both know that you know it’s me, kid.”

He stated as Athena sighed, bringing a hand to her head awkwardly.

“Sorry… guess I should have told you I knew…”

“How did you know?”

“Multiverse.”

“Ah.”

The two vigilantes in civilian clothes stood there for a while in silence before the older broke it.

“You should change your bandages. I have more at my place.”

“How the hell do you afford a place like this?”

Matt chuckled as he closed the door behind him, folding up his cane and placing it down on the table nearby.

“Look out the window.”

Athena made her way across the room to get a better look out the window to the building next door.

“Oh my god.”

Large light up boards and neon lights lined the walls of the buildings next door. In the daylight, they were dim, but Athena could tell they most likely shone like a thousand suns at night.

“Yeah.”

She turned to see the blind lawyer walking out of the bathroom with a medical kit in his hands, as he motioned with his head toward the couch.

“There’s med kits over both sinks in the kitchen and bathroom, if you ever need them.”

He handed her a roll of bandages.

“Thanks…”

“Anytime kid. Now how about telling me who did that to you?”

[ask-spidersisters]

Night Ninjas

“WOOOOOO!”

Scarlet smiled under her mask as the mutant box turtle cheered from his piggy back style position on her back as she swung through the night sky of New York City.

“Mikey! Not so loud!”

Raph not so quietly shouted up at his younger brother as he hopped rooftops nearby.

After a while they stopped and gathered on the rooftop of an old factory building. Mikey slid off the spider vigilante’s back as soon as she landed, jumping up and down and waving his hands over his head.

“That was so fun! Can we do it again?”

Scarlet chuckled, patting his head.

“Some other time.”

“Oh come on, web swinging can’t be cooler than traveling by my portals.”

“Literally anything is ‘cooler’ than traveling through your portals Nardo.”

“Hey! I’ve gotten better!”

“Zero times zero is still zero.”

“Guys!”

It was then that Scarlet picked up the sound of clattering nearby, and before any of them could move a man in red and black body armor pulled himself onto the rooftop.

“Ma- Daredevil? What are you doing here?”

Scarlet exclaimed, walking forward to stand in front of the older vigilante, who crossed his arms.

“Well apparently last time you were out on a patrol you were dragged into a mystic portal and beaten so badly you disappeared for weeks.”

He tilted his head upwards.

“Are your friends here those-“

“Yes.”

“Okay… so is being a teenage vigilante like a trend nowadays? There is no way any of you are over 18.”

Mikey was the first to bound over, his eyes wide.

“You’re The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen!”

“What? No way!”

Leo pushed his way forward, moving aside Scarlet and Mikey to stand face to face with the older masked vigilante.

“Is it true you can teleport?”

Daredevil stood there in silence for a couple of seconds.

“What?”

“You appear out of nowhere and beat up bad guys!”

“No, I can't teleport.”

“Then you’re a ninja!”

Raph joined in from behind.

“We’re ninja’s too!”

“Or at least, ninja’s in training.”

“Oh! Oh! Maybe you can teach us some ninja skills!”

The turtles continued to rant excitedly, eager at the proposition of ninja training from an actual ninja while Daredevil stood stiffly in a confused silence. Scarlet smirked, hitting him in the arm.

“Yeah, show us some ninja moves, ninja man.”

Daredevil instantly swatted at the back of Scarlet’s head.

“Let’s at least get off the roof first.”

[ask-spidersisters]

Heart

Scarlet Spider found herself sitting on the railing of a fire escape. She had gone back to wrap her bleeding cuts, but found that there was no way she was going to get any rest, so she suited up again and went out swinging around aimlessly. She had a few pit stops along the way. A car broke down in the middle of the street, with the driver’s permission she carried it off to the side. A teenage employee of a 7/11 was struggling to take out the trash by themselves, she did it effortlessly for them. A woman flagged her down to ask if she would walk her home. Scarlet didn’t mind, in fact the constant activity helped to ease her racing thoughts. But now she found herself stuck again.

“Shouldn’t you be resting?”

Scarlet Spider jumped slightly from where she sat, putting a hand on her chest as she turned to see Daredevil looming over her from the higher level. He tilted his head.

“You should have heard me coming. You’re spacing out. That’s dangerous.”

Scarlet huffed, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

“Yes, yes I know.”

She really didn’t feel like getting another senses lesson from the older vigilante right now. He seemed to pick up on that fact as he walked down to stand beside her on her level.

“I know that confrontation with Tangle Web was difficult, but you can’t let it get to you.”

She didn’t respond, only shifted her sitting position.

“You can’t let people like them get to you. I know that you know what you’re doing is right. You are helping people when the law fails them. And you’re doing that while not going down to the level of the people you face. You’re doing that and keeping your heart.”

He put a hand on the top of her head, causing Scarlet to tilt her head to look up at him. She saw the small smile he gave her. Something loosened in her chest, and she felt able to breathe clearly again.

“Also. Your wrist is bleeding.”

Scarlet Spider lifted up her wrist to see blood seeping through her bandages under the torn section of her sleeve.

“How long were you waiting to say that?”

“The entire conversation. It’s partly how I found you. You practically reek of it.”

Scarlet found herself letting out a short chuckle as Daredevil took out a bandage roll from his utility belt to hand to her.

“You really shouldn’t be swinging around, it's just making it worse.”

“Well is this our injury?”

Daredevil slapped the back of her head as she continued to giggle while she started to re-wrap her wrist.

——————————————————————————

Aftermath of Moral Battlefield

[ask-spidersisters]

Scarlet Spider landed silently in a crouch on the rooftop, despite her stealthy approach, the other occupant was immediately aware of her arrival.

“What are you doing here kid?”

The masked man asked, his attention not wavering from the building he was scouting out.

“Same as you.”

She responded curtly. The masked man sighed and dropped his head slightly. A short silence followed.

“Ok, but you follow my lead this time. Understand?”

Scarlet Spider never liked when the older hero’s would boss her around. It happened a lot with the Avengers, thinking her less capable because of her age, even when the task they were handling was something she had more experience with. But she knew this time it was Daredevil who had more experience with Fisk and his operations.

“Okay.”

She turned her gaze toward the building as Daredevil started to explain an entrance plan.

“The second floor is the least guarded, only four, armed. We can get in through the east side window.”

And with that the two vigilantes swung around the building, Scarlet Spider using her webs and Daredevil using his grappling hook extension of his billy clubs. Once stuck to the side of the building below the window Scarlet Spider could hear the footsteps of the men inside. She knew from the spiderverse that Daredevil had exceptional super hearing, but she still found it impressive, and also felt a little bad for the other vigilante. Can’t imagine how he manages to fall asleep, sometimes I have trouble and my hearing is nowhere near his. She looked over at the older vigilante, who had his free hand out in a ‘wait’ gesture. She strained her ears to try and hear what was giving Daredevil pause. A familiar sounding whoosh followed by a shout caught both vigilante’s attention.

“Shit.”

Daredevil muttered, quickly kicking in the glass of the window and throwing himself inside, Scarlet Spider followed, the men had all left the room, and she could hear them frantically running down a stairwell. They ran in pursuit, catching up with them quickly. Scarlet Spider webbed the nearest two together and then to the wall, while Daredevil jumped and wrestled one of the men to the ground, kicking the other square in the jaw in the process. They continued on and the sounds of fighting got louder as they neared the ground floor. Scarlet Spider skidded to a stop when they emerged from the stairwell.

“Clint?”

Barton’s eyes widened as he swung his head to meet the gaze of the baffled spider vigilante.

“Scarlet?”

A head popped up from a crate behind the archer, a pale face plastered with a mixture of surprise and excitement store back at her. Scarlet Spider’s bafflement grew.

“Who is she?”

Barton shot the nearest goon with an arrow before sweeping his eyes over to Daredevil, who was fighting four men in the far corner of the room.

“Who is he?”

He countered.

“Less talking, more fighting!”

Daredevil’s strained voice yelled out. That seemed to snap everyone else back into motion. Scarlet Spider swept out the legs of the nearest lanky and webbed his arm to the ground, then took a running start and jumped onto the ceiling, kicking another in the head in the process. An arrow pierced another in the shoulder before he could aim his gun at her. As she shot a web at another gunman’s face she also ejected a spider tracer out into the open. She really hoped Thalia was paying attention to the computer right now.

“Scarlet!”

Daredevil shouted. It was then that Scarlet Spider could hear the sound of sirens approaching. The vigilantes fought their way over to one another. That’s when the sirens were close enough for the other occupants in the room to hear them, and everyone started to break apart. Scarlet Spider aimed a web at the same roof that Daredevil fired his grappling hook to and they both shot upwards, rolling onto the rooftop and darting behind a chimney out of view. Daredevil sat up against the chimney, a hand on his head as he caught his breath.

“I think your friend wants to talk.”

He stated suddenly, which made Scarlet Spider jolt and turn her head to the rooftop of the adjacent building where Barton and the black haired archer from earlier stood facing them.

“Great.”

She groaned before jumping over to meet the Avenger, making it in a single bound. The other archer gasped when she landed.

“Oh my god! You’re the Scarlet Spider!”

She exclaimed as Barton sighed triedly as she started patting his arm in excitement.

“She’s-“

“Yes Kate, I know.”

The other archer, Kate, stopped patting Barton’s arm and seemed to collect herself slightly, though she still had a large, goofy grin on her face.

“I’m Kate! Kate Bishop. Big fan.”

She introduced herself, waving slightly.

“Uh… ok.”

Scarlet Spider spluttered out, baffled by her reaction. She looked Kate over a bit more closely. She couldn’t have been too much older than herself, and she had to be new with the way she seemed overly excited even after that terrible raid failure. She turned to Barton.

“Did you pick up an intern or something?”

Barton pinched the bridge of his nose.

“No- ugh, just ignore her for now ok?”

Barton then did a quick glance to the roof where Daredevil stood, no doubt listening in.

“What I want to know is what the hell you’re doing messing with Kingpin and the freaking Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.”

Kate Bishop’s eyes widened, and she could see more excitement wash over her, but she contained herself this time.

“Hammerhead’s crew has been doing dealings with Fisk’s. They’re connected.”

Scarlet Spider summarized. Barton’s brows furrowed.

“Hammerhead? You mean the guy with the weird forehead that almost beat you up last week?”

The young vigilante’s lenses narrowed with her eyes in annoyance.

“Yes. Him.”

Barton sighed and took a second to collect his thoughts.

“Ok. This is serious, Wilson Fisk is no joke kid. You’re going to communicate with me what you find out and you will not continue this alone, understand?”

“I didn’t do it alone this time.”

Barton’s eyes darted back at the other rooftop before looking back at hers.

“Scarlet you can’t work with that guy, he’s dangerous.”

“Daredevil’s been on Fisk for a while, he knows how he operates-“

“Scarlet no!”

Scarlet Spider blinked at the archer’s harsh tone before tilting her head slightly.

“Why.”

“Excuse me?”

“Why Clint? Why is he dangerous?”

Barton froze, and Scarlet Spider could practically see the gears turning in his head. They both knew what he was going to say. A tense silence followed before Scarlet Spider turned away from the Avenger.

“Scarlet-“

“Barton, I really don’t want to hear it. I have enough going on.”

With that she leaped off the roof and swung off toward her apartment. Right now all she wanted was to lay down.

[ask-spidersisters]

Moral Battlefield (4)

Tangle scoffed, exhaling sharply through his fangs under his mask,

“Or maybe Daredevil is just making you soft,”

He inhaled sharply, standing tall again with his head low, rolling back his shoulders and opening his palms to his side, his claws covered in stains of blood,

He inhaled slowly and muttered something under his breath, “One batch, two batch…” he trailed off.

Though, when he said it, all Tangle could hear from his own mouth was Castle’s voice leaking through his own.

Why was he saying this? It had no value to him as it did to Castle. He remembered Castle reciting it often. Castle even taught it to him, as if wanting him to say it back, But why? The words felt wrong, and in that quick moment, he vowed to never say it again.

(+)

Vaguely through her super hearing Scarlet could pick up the phrase Tangle had muttered. It sounded awfully familiar. But at that moment she couldn’t pinpoint why. She set her jaw under her mask, ignoring the taste of her own blood in her mouth.

“So it’s soft to help people because you genuinely want to? And not because you need a living punching bag?”

(+)

“What makes you think I don’t want to help the way you do?” Tangle asked in a hushed tone,

“What if you're doing it all wrong and you can’t admit to your own faults?”

He inhaled sharply in delayed laughter, “New York’s friendly neighborhood Scarlet Spider. Face it, you can’t get everywhere by being friendly. Why let them go unpunished when you can stop them for good? That’s letting a wound fester and infect until it spreads around the body,”

He let out a shaky breath, “I’m getting rid of the disease. You’re just a poster boy for New York, something they can make money off of,” He spat.

(+)

How fucking dare you! Scarlet somehow managed to restraint herself despite the pure disgust and anger at the notion Tangle Web had just spilled. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides. She was not a poster boy like Stark or Rogers or any of the Avengers who simply dealt with world ending events. She worked her ass off every day to make it out into the city, to check up on everyone, to keep tabs on the crime, to get into places authorities couldn’t or wouldn’t go. And it had almost gotten her killed so many times.

“I don’t risk my life out here for someone to try and say I’m a fucking faker.”

She started, a hiss building up in her throat as she continued.

“You think you’re so much better. Well let me ask you this. How many people do you know? Huh? Do you know the names of the people you ‘helped?’ Do you know the community you're working to ‘save?’ I saved a man’s restaurant from being robbed a year ago. We still talk. He has brother who lives on that street you murdered those criminals on last night. His nieces and nephew haven’t been able to sleep since then. They heard everything. You don’t help people. You instill fear into an already scared community.”

(+)

“And how many criminals have you stopped? Did they ever stop doing crime? Causing havoc? Don’t they always return?” He scoffed,

“Being afraid is what keeps us alive, that’s what you don’t understand. You think I give a shit that you know a man’s name and his family?”

He titled his head, slowly,

“You know that man that you stopped who stole a car? You sent him to jail? He bailed himself out,” he started,

“He stole another car and packed it with explosives, running into a hospital building. Eighty people dead, hundreds wounded, the building was in shambles,”

He let out a long hiss that he couldn’t hold back anymore.

He continued, “You remember that group of men a year ago who were trying to mug a store clerk at a gas station? They got out three months later. They went to a mall and started shooting. They shot and killed twenty kids under twelve. Twenty children.” He punctuated those last two words,

“They killed ten adults. They wounded fifty,”

He titled his head upward, “The crime rate downtown ever since I started went down by forty percent,” his head turned back down, “the crime rate in your area went up by ten percent. What is this shit? A petty freak show? All of these villains on your tail coming back for a rematch? They only want attention and you're giving it to them,” he hissed through his teeth, pointing a stiff and accusing finger at the other, looking down at her.

“I was supposed to be like you,” his hand was shaking, “all my mom wanted was a friendly neighborhood Spider Boy so everyone could watch on TV and love and adore. He’d be just like Scarlet Spider and share her success,” he swallowed the bile in his throat, trying to keep his voice level,

“They made me a freak, all to be like you! I lost my friends, my childhood-“ he pointed finger curled back into a fist with the rest of his fingers, “because they wanted me to be a part of the show. They barely even acknowledged the crimes you fought because that’s how forgettable they are. They only care about the show you put on, not your statistics or if you’re getting rid of danger,”

His fist was shaking, “But I’m not doing this to be like you. I’m doing this to help them and keep fuckers like those you let lose at bay,” he exhaled sharply with a shaky breath,

“Keep up these shows all you want. Let them fear me. Keep your pretty speeches and save them for when a massacre breaks out because of the people you let loose and they’re all waiting for their Friendly Neighborhood Scarlet Spider to stop them once and for all.”

He slowly set his fist down to his side, standing stiffly.

He didn’t wait for another word, Tangle turned around and pointed his hand to a nearby building,

“One batch, two batch, penny and dime.” he gritted through his teeth, not knowing why.

He launched a web and jumped off the edge, swinging away and out of sight.

(+)

Scarlet Spider found herself frozen in place as Tangle Web swung out of view. Her mind started buzzing.

Snap!

The man screaming in pain at Tangle Web’s feet.

Whoosh!

The Vulture grabbing her with his metal talons and soaring hundreds of feet up into the air.

Zap!

Electro’s electricity crashing into her body when she moved to put herself between him and the terrified scientist.

Crash!

Kraven dragging her through the glass roof of a mall, his claws sinking into her flesh.

“Please!”

Mysterio, begging from the ground holding his broken nose.

She held the sides of her head, bending over as if she'd been struck again in the stomach.

The spider bite, the week of bedridden pain as her genes mutated. The weight of the building The Shocker had dropped on her. The Taskmaster stabbing her with a second anesthetic dose, then the feeling of them dragging her away. The Widow whose arm she dislocated and broke in the alleyway breath stopping after an electric current activated in her suit.

“Scarlet breathe!”

She snapped upright, quickly turning around. Familiar red and black body armor filled her vision as it cleared. She opened her mouth to address him, nothing came out.

“I heard most of it.”

Daredevil answered for her. He walked forward, quirking his head to the side.

“You’re bleeding.”

Scarlet found herself taking a step back. Daredevil stopped.

“Kid. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Neither of them do.”

“Don’t they?”

Scarlet Spider took in a shaky breath. Daredevil sighed.

“Showing mercy is not a flaw Scarlet. It’s one of the traits that separates us from the people we face.”

Slowly, Daredevil continued to advance towards the younger vigilante. His tone firm but gentle.

“You inspire people to be better, to help one another. To be kind.”

Gently he placed a hand on one of her shoulders.

“That’s not a failure.”

——————————————————————————

Collab w/ @the-tangle-web

[the-tangle-web]

Family Matters (w/ Cream & Sugar) -2-

Anthony felt himself being pulled down and he let out a little yelp. As the other two were talking to each other, Jen pulled Anthony down by his hoodie strings so she could lecture him quietly,

“Look, I know you’re not the most social person but at least try to look a bit more pleasant, no?” She muttered, “You look like you scared that poor girl half to death,”

Anthony groaned, standing straight again and crossing his arms over his chest, “I’m not trying to…” he muttered,

Jen pushed him lightly, “Come on! Live a little! I’m right here,” she said, looking back at Matt, “are you two busy? We were just heading down to a coffee shop if you wanted to tag along?”

(+)

“That sounds great!”

Matt responded instantly, flashing Jen a smile before leaning down to mutter into Athena’s ear.

“We’ll talk later. Relax.”

Athena resisted the urge to shout, taking in a deep breath to ground herself.

“Fine.”

Matt stood back upright, nodding at Jen to lead the way. He kept a hold on Athena’s shoulder, partly so that she wouldn’t run away and partly because he left his cane back in his office. Athena chose to focus on directing the blind man instead of the other spider’s hostile presence as Jen led them towards a small coffee shop on the corner of the block.

The bell on the door chimed to announce the arrival of new patrons.

“Welcome! What can I get started for you today?”

(+)

Jen smiled as she walked up to the counter, the rest of the party following suit. She and Matt were already ordering at the counter, exchanging jokes here and there and giggles were heard on both ends. After a few moments, Jen turned to the two teens,

“You two want anything? Don’t worry, it’s on me-“

Matt interrupted, “Oh no, it’s quite alright, I’ll get it,” he said with a smirk,

“You dumbass!” She giggled and shoved his shoulder lightly. She let out a soft sigh before recovering and shaking her head, “but really, Anthony, you want your usual?”

Anthony let out a high pitched sound from the back of his throat, shrinking into his hoodie, but nodding stiffly as he stared at the ground shyly. Jen looked over to Athena, “And you? Wanna try a drink or some bread or pastries? Trust me, these are the best you can get!”

(+)

“Uh.”

Athena brought a hand up to touch her face mask. She didn’t like eating in public with her whole fang situation. She felt the weight of her empty stomach. Right. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

“You like cinnamon rolls, try some.”

Matt suggested, something about his tone told Athena he was aware of her hunger. She nodded stiffly. Matt pulled out his wallet, turning back toward the cashier to add onto their order.

(+)

Once the four were done ordering, Jen led them over to a few tables. Matt and Jen at one of those high tables with those high chairs by the window across from each other, sharing pastries and drinking their coffee with lovey dovey giggles and flirts.

Anthony and Athena didn’t sit that far away. One of those tables in a dark corner. Anthony sat against the wall, shrinking into his hoodie with his coffee on the table and a few cake pops in a little baggie. Athena had to sit across from him with her cinnamon rolls. Anthony avoided eye contact at all costs, shoving his hands into his hoodie. It used to be tense, but now it was tense and awkward. What was he supposed to do? Say something? He couldn’t fight because Jen is with her deadbeat date!

What else is he gonna do??? Hnnnggggggg-

Collab w/ @ask-spidersisters

[the-tangle-web]

Family Matters (w/ Cream & Sugar) -1-

“Look! I know you seem pretty iffy about this but I promise he’s a nice guy!” Jen insisted as she continued down the sidewalk, Anthony striding next to her.

The teen scoffed and rolled his eyes, shoving his hands in his pockets, “Fine, fine… if you say so… it’s just last time-“ he cut himself off abruptly and shrugged with a scrunched up face, “I’m just worried, I guess,”

Jen’s expression softened and she nudged Anthony’s shoulder with her own, “Don’t worry, I know you got my back and I have yours,” the woman turned her head forward again and her eyes lit up,

“Hey! That’s him!” She beamed.

Anthony whipped his head around and his lips pressed together in a thin line, eyes going slightly wide.

Matt Murdock? Daredevil?! That’s who Jen’s dating?!

And Athena?!

Well… aren’t they gonna have a pleasant time… Anthony suppressed a groan as Jen looked back at him and gestured for him to follow as she headed for the other man,

“Hey Matt! Good to see you!”

(+)

Matt and Athena turned around to look behind them at the same time. Matt’s face shifted into a smile while Athena’s eyes widened slightly before narrowing as she spotted Anthony, the bandage across her nose shifted uncontrollably.

“Jen! Didn’t expect to run into you here.”

The curly haired woman’s pace quickened before coming to a stop in front of the other lawyer, Anthony following slowly, staying behind her.

“Oh, this is my niece, Athena. Athena, Jennifer Walters.”

Jen smiled brightly and extended an arm forward.

“Nice to meet you. I didn’t know you had a niece.”

Athena slowly took a hand out of her pocket to accept the handshake. Why did that name sound familiar?

(+)

Matt wore an awkward smile as he rubbed the back of his neck, feeling as if he were back in high school falling in love all over again. Jen felt like she was floating on cloud nine.

Anthony? Yeah, no. Whatever the opposite of those feelings are is what Anthony is feeling. The two teens sort of just… stared at each other with distaste. Silent fury, if you will. However, Anthony was the first to snap out of this trance when Jen let out a short giggle at something the other lawyer said,

“Ah! Excuse me,” she said, setting a hand on Anthony’s shoulder, “this is Anthony! We’re not related but like- we’re basically family at this point,” she set an elbow on his shoulder and leaned on him, pointing a finger gun at the taller teen as he let out a short grunt, but you could see a faint smile peeking through his angsty exterior at the mention of ‘family.’

(+)

Athena didn’t know what made her more uncomfortable, the literal Tangle Web standing opposite of her, staring her down like he was trying to bore a hold through her head with his mind alone, or the two grown adults blushing and giggling like high school lovers in the hallway. Though the other spider’s death stare was interrupted by Jen introducing Anthony as ‘basically family’.

Ok that’s sweet.

The sweet moment passed as quickly as it came, with Anthony going right back to staring her down. She adjusted her face mask as she bit her lip. She really wasn’t in the mood to fight him again today.

“I gotta go.”

She spoke up, starting to turn around to walk away. Matt grabbed one of her shoulders to stop her.

“No you don’t.”

He tilted his head down, red lensed glasses boring into her skull.

“I told you I’m fine.”

Athena whispered a bit angrily up at the older vigilante. He frowned, his eyebrows furrowing, he could tell something was up that she couldn’t or didn’t want to say out loud.

Collab w/ @ask-spidersisters

[the-tangle-web]

Family Matters (w/ Cream & Sugar) -3-

Athena sat sideways on her chair so her back was to the wall, and also so that her line of eyesight wasn’t looking at Anthony. She stared down at the cinnamon rolls resting on top of the bag on the table. A couple of seconds went by before she finally gave in. Slowly lowering down her mask and covering her mouth with her free hand as she ate. Jen was right, the pastries here were good. She glanced at the two adults sitting by the window deep in joyous conversation. Oh. They were going to be here a while. Fuck. She finished her first roll and picked at the bandage across her nose. What the actual fuck do you say to the guy who always attacks you when you meet? Her chest tightened as she continued to pick at the bandage.

(+)

Anthony let out a low grumble, then he perked up as he heard the little bell from the front door of the shop ring. He turned his head round just to see who was there and-

His face flushed a bright red,

Tara Williams walked into the shop holding a fluffy brown chihuahua. Behind her trailed her brother, Teddy. Tara wore the most smug grin as always as she chatted with her brother, Teddy responding in kind with a short chuckle as the two siblings ordered at the front counter. Anthony immediately hid behind the wall and back into his chair as he sunk into it, pulling his hood up and shrinking into his hoodie, blushing furiously. God damnit, why does his crush always have to appear at the most inconvenient time?!

However, he couldn’t hide for long when he heard a voice call out,

“Athena! Bestie!” Tara strided over to the table, Anthony straightening up again, hands clasped under the table as he avoided eye contact, wishing he could just disappear right now,

Tara set a hand on the table, Furby was set on the floor, the teen holding her leash. The chihuahua sniffed at Athena’s shoes and let out a strangled sound from the back of her throat, tapping on the ground with her front paws as if tap dancing… or really needing to go to the bathroom… or just not okay…

(+)

Athena's face scrunched up as she screamed internally.

“Ugh. Tara, what are you even doing here.”

She grumbled, pulling up her face mask as she tried to control the soft hiss forming in her throat.

“What do you mean? This is the best coffee place is town! Teddy, come say hi!”

(+)

“I’m literally getting our drinks, Tara!” The other teen called from the counter as he waited for their drinks to be done.

Tara scoffed and rolled her eyes, her gaze landing on Anthony from across the table and she smiled,

“Hey! I didn’t know you two hung out, you on like a date or something-“

“NO WE’RE NOT!” Anthony blurted out, setting his arms rather harshly on the table, his face still red as he gesture over to Matt and Jen, “they dragged us here and now we have to wait…” he grumbled,

Tara hummed and giggled, “Good, just making sure I didn’t miss my shot,” she winked at him and stood up properly, tugging at Furby’s leash as the little dog blinked harshly and waddled back over to her feet,

“We’ll leave you to it then, bye Athena!” She turned to Anthony, “Cya, kitten~” and she turned to walk over to Teddy who was holding their drinks by the door. Furby was walking at a million miles an hour just to keep pace with the teen as the two left out the door.

Anthony was a bright red as he pulled his hood down and covered his face with a groan.

Jen perks up from the other table,

“Anthony!” She squeaked with a mischievous grin, “who was thaaaat~”

“Not now, Jen!” His retort was muffled as he sank in his chair.

(+)

“What the fuck.”

Athena muttered, looking between Jen and Anthony as the woman started to berate him with questions.

Collab w/ @ask-spidersisters