#67889 daredevil

[the-tangle-web]

“Where are you going?”

A low growl.

The red symbiote turned his head slowly over his shoulder, white eyes pale and teeth bared in a forever smile. He saw a flash of his tongue as he licked his teeth before reaching his claws against the ceiling, digging into the wood and leaving marks with a skkt… crack

Anthony stood still, wearing Gabe’s sweatshirt. He wore if for the past few hours and Gabe hasn’t yelled at him to take it off.

He hasn’t for days.

And he hasn’t stopped Gareth from picking at his bandages.

Anthony had to do that.

They moved out of that damn sewer and into a safe house Murdock dragged them to. Jen has been near them ever since. And Jen hasn’t let Anthony outside alone for the last few months.

She argues he has to go back to the tower. That she should tell someone, at least Rogers. Steve was worried as hell. Fury was pissed, apparently even Tony was trying to get full access of surveillance in the city to try and locate him.

But Anthony refused. He didn’t want to go back. Not yet.

Jen still had to tell someone, so she told Bruce the whole story.

And, despite himself, Bruce agreed to not say a word of where he was. But he did tell everyone at the tower that Anthony was safe, but not where he was.

And that would give him a bit of privacy.

Anthony swallowed the lump in his throat and stuck his chin outward, looking up at the symbiote.

“Where are you going?” He asked, more firm this time.

Carnage narrowed his eyes, a heave of his shoulders and a slight downward tilt of his head.

“To fix things.”

“Without me?”

Carnage turned his head back around, “Yes. Without you.”

Anthony clenched his fists to his sides, “You’re a fucking hypocrite-“

“We are not in the mood for this conversation again.”

Carnage snarled, his claws closing in around the wood until it splintered.

Anthony stopped.

Another beat of silence.

“Gareth said his brother isn’t picking up.”

“We know.”

“We need you, man-“

Carnage shook his head, “Stop it-“

Anthony took a step forward and felt his vision get blurry, “You don’t tell us shit anymore- we don’t see you anymore- I haven’t seen Gabe in forever!” He shouted, “I haven’t seen you sleep, I haven’t seen you do anything but come in and out of that door- and sometimes, you’re gone for days!”

Carnage reared his head back and let out a roar, “STOP IT!”

The symbiote snapped, his head turning over his shoulder and the claw gripping the wooden boards over his head splintered and broke, landing on the ground in between the two as he swung his hand around and turned his body, baring his teeth with in arch in his assumed brow.

Anthony stepped back.

Silence.

“You will go back to the tower! You will take off that suit and when it’s night, you’re going to sleep! You won’t fight, you won’t kill, you won’t hurt yourself, you won’t die!”

. . .

“You will stay alive! Both of you! All of you- and you won’t follow us!”

. . .

The door was torn off its hinges. It was fucking cold.

Anthony felt a pair of arms wrap around his middle and messy black hair over his shoulders. He felt Gareth pressed his face against the divot in his back between his shoulders.

It was a little less cold.

But not warm enough.

[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]

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]

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]

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

[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]

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]

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]

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