Chapter Text
“Well”, Daredevil said while trying to get out of the ropes binding him to a chair, “could be worse.”
“Really”, the Punisher replied pleasantly from above, “how so?”
“We could both be dangling from the ceiling?” Matt tried. “And there could be sharks waiting in that water tank you’re about to get dropped in. That’d be worse.”
Matt didn’t need any superhearing to know that Frank was grinding his teeth. “You’ve read too many comic books, Red”, he grunted.
Before Matt could give any snarky reply, the door to the warehouse opened and the mobsters they’d previously tried to beat up strolled in.
“Well well well”, the boss’ right hand sounded like a second class Bond villain, “if those aren’t our favorite friendly neighborhood heroes!”
“Vigilantes” Matt and Frank interrupted in unison.
“Whatever” Right Hand said. He spread his arms wide and sounded like he was grinning. “Not to worry, this will all be over soon… or, well”, he snickered, “you’ll be over soon.” He turned to the two goons who had entered with him: “Get that stupid mask off his head!”
Matt had wondered why he still had his mask on, but it would seem the mobsters wanted to humiliate him and therefore waited until he had regained consciousness. Every muscle in his body strained as he showed his teeth, ready to fight off those goons if the opportunity presented itself.
One goon stopped short, grabbing the other’s arm. “Wait”, the goon said, “I don’t think we should do that. That thing could blow up in our faces!”
The other one blinked, unsure, and looked at Right Hand, who looked back incredulously. “Why the hell should it do that?” Right Hand narrowed his eyes at the first goon, “what do you know that we don’t?” he asked while lifting his gun, clearly suspecting the guy of some sort of betrayal.
The first goon raised his arms and shook his head. “No, no, nothing, but..” he hesitated. Right Hand rolled his eyes and motioned with the gun for him to go on. Goon one sounded like he bit his lip. “It’s just… well, okay, so yesterday I read a, uh, magazine and it warned about just taking off people’s red helmets without checking for explosives… and yeah.”
Right Hand sighed. “Again, this is not a comic and we’re not some Batman villain, that-”
“Antihero”, Matt, Frank, and the two goons interrupted.
“Whatever!” Right Hand replied.
When both goons still looked unsure, he shook his head. “Fine! Let him have his horns, it’s not that he’ll matter after today.” Matt tried not to look too relieved.
“Now” Right Hand said, stepping in front of Matt, “if you tell us what we want to know, we’ll be nice and just shoot the both of you. If not, we’ll dunk that idiot Punisher longer and longer everytime and it’ll be a long, unpleasant death. You understand?”
Matt nodded. The ropes around his wrists finally fell away, but he had to stay still and wait for the three mobsters to be near enough to take them out all at one time. From above Frank yelled “You tell them nothing, Red, you hear me? Nothing!” Matt would have liked to cross himself after the next curses The Punisher let out. “Language” he muttered. Even the mobsters seemed to have had enough after Frank questioned their courage in an especially colorful way. All three of them turned around in silent agreement to just shoot Frank now and get it over with.
As distractions went, it was a good one and it took Matt not even one minute to knock them out. Then he turned in The Punisher’s direction and tilted his head, considering.
“If you leave me hanging here, Red, I’ll never buy you a bagel in the middle of the night again!”
Yeah, that wouldn’t do. Matt needed his midnight bagels. His revenge for chaining him to some chimney would have to wait.