Work Text:
New York was getting weirder. It was a widely accepted fact. Ten years earlier, only lunatics had truly believed in aliens and monsters were unheard of except for in stories and children’s imaginations. Iron Man had been the first of the new world really. And a few years after Iron Man went public, strange people and things started appearing everywhere it seemed. They had to have been around before—maybe in lesser numbers but at least better hidden. Matt himself had been one of those early strange occurrences. The truck accident and chemical spill that had stolen his vision and enhanced his remaining senses had been before everything seemed to start falling apart on a global scale. And if Matt had been one, there had to have been others. It had seemed recently however, that that the strange was becoming commonplace at an alarming rate. It was perhaps because of that when Matt, disguised as Daredevil, found himself in the middle of a situation that was incredibly bizarre.
As much as Matt hated the mob bosses and underground criminal rings that infested Hell’s Kitchen, he was coming to hate one particular group of people even more: supervillains. It was inevitable that with the rise of so-called superheroes that supervillains also would emerge and make a general mess of things. As a rule, Matt usually left their ilk for the Avengers or Spiderman. Spiderman in particular it seemed was especially inclined to go after supervillains if the news was to be believed. There was of course Vulture, but typically the villains Spiderman targeted always tended to be a bit more of the harmless variety. Matt had been forced to break his own rule, however, when the newest supervillain was practically right on Matt’s doorstep.
If the man hadn’t set up his base of operations in Hell’s Kitchen, Matt wouldn’t have interfered, but as it was, the villain—who the media was calling The Engineer—started causing mayhem right in the middle of the area Matt usually patrolled. Matt had not been planning to go out the night that The Engineer decided to attempt to take over the city but when Matt had decided to listen to the news, every station was flooded with reports of mayhem and chaos. Extending his senses just a little, Matt was flooded with the sound of sirens and screaming and general panic. Continuing to listen to the news as he quickly pulled on his costume, Matt was out the window in two minutes and running on the rooftops toward the center of the mess.
It turned out that The Engineer had decided to attempt to take over by use of robots but what had made his attempt truly impressive and set him apart was that he had discovered a way of cloaking the robots, making them as good as invisible to the human eye. The Engineer was truly a gifted engineer in both the mechanical and electrical sense. The robots were a work of genius in that way and the cloaking technology was years ahead of anything else around. However, the downfall of The Engineer’s plan had been that he was at best mediocre at programming but, unwilling to bring anyone else in on his plan, he had muddled through and coded the robots himself.
Apparently the initial plan seemed to have been for the robots, invisible and unnoticed, to maneuver into strategic locations in Hell’s Kitchen. Then, when all were in place, to act and cripple Hell’s Kitchen in one move. From there, The Engineer meant to move on to take Manhattan as a whole. However, instead of sneaking unnoticed to where they were meant to be upon being released, the robots had been so poorly programmed that they unwittingly unleashed mass chaos on the city. Well-armed, six foot tall, invisible robots almost immediately began roaming the streets, causing traffic accidents, setting fires, and blasting holes in buildings. None of them seemed to be following any particular sort of plan.
Initially Matt had left the police to try and gather the robots up. He had instead begun to listen to the city, searching for The Engineer who had yet to be found. It was surprisingly simple to find The Engineer and even easier to get him to talk. The Engineer was a middle-aged man with a large potbelly who reeked of cigarettes and body odor. When confronted with Daredevil, he had begun swearing almost immediately, laying out his entire evil scheme amid an almost constant stream of expletives. Knowing what the original plan was, however, had little benefit.
“How do I turn them off?” Matt demanded, his voice dropping into the gravely tone he used when out as Daredevil. He took a threatening step forward, but The Engineer had no intention of getting beaten up for what he knew.
“You can’t.” He responded immediately. Truth, Matt discerned with a frown. He was about to prompt the man for more when he once again began to ramble. “I already tried to stop them. This is humiliating!” He shook his head in disgust. “They are entirely autonomous. They won’t look for further instruction for another twelve hours.” He groaned. “I really should have put in a kill. No one is ever going to take me seriously after this!”
“How many of them?”
“Fifteen.” The man told him with a few more curses.
Deciding that he wasn’t going to get anything else useful out of the man, Matt informed the police of his whereabouts and set out to see if he could help corral the robots and get them off the streets. It turned out that despite their shoddy programming, the robots truly were exceptionally well built. Matt had attempted to subdue one and was left with bruises for his trouble. The police had been having difficulties finding the robots, and just as much difficulty containing them. They were bulletproof and tasers had no effect on them either. If the police tried to block them, they merely climbed over whatever barrier was in their way or blasted through. Matt had similarly been unable to stop even one of the menaces. It seemed that a few had been taken out in car crashes, but Matt could hear at least twelve still functional. He had taken to following them and doing what he could to ensure that there were few casualties.
As he was clearing the streets ahead of one of the rogue bots, there was a man—a kid—standing in the street. “Get out of the way!” Matt called to him, jogging up. “I have one coming.
The kid made no effort to leave. “You look like you could use some help.”
Matt turned back in a bit of shock at being ignored as well as at the confident tone of the kid talking. “No offense kid, but I don’t really think you could help much. Find yourself somewhere safe and wait it out.”
There was a bit of a pause and Matt thought the kid might be offended. “Not cool, dude.” The kid said with a bit of a whine. Definitely offended. “I can’t honestly do much worse than you have been doing.” He sniped.
Matt had to admit the kid had a bit of a point. “You could get hurt. It’s almost here. You need to run.”
“No. This is my city too and I can help if I want. I know us vigilantes don’t usually work together but don’t you think you could make an exception?” A sudden wave of confusion rushed through Matt as he tried to think what vigilante the kid could possibly be. Possibly he was new. The kid started talking again and Matt wondered if he ever stopped. “Look, let’s start again. It’s nice to meet you, Daredevil. I’m Spiderman.” He held out his hand to shake.
“But you only have two arms and legs.” The words were out of Matt’s mouth before he could stop to think about them.
Spiderman seemed baffled. “Yeeeeaaaah.” He answered, long and drawn out. “And two eyes and two ears as well. What were you expecting?” There was a pause as Spiderman realized what Matt had been expecting. “Why would you think I had eight legs? Don’t you watch the news at all? It’s just a codename.” The kid seemed torn between amusement and offense.
As the pieces fell into place. Matt cursed Foggy internally. He couldn’t even explain himself without giving away the knowledge that he was blind. “Never mind that.” Matt snapped. “You think you can stop them?”
“Pretty sure. But I need to be able to target them for the webs to have any effect and can’t accurately find the things. It’s why I tracked you down instead. You don’t seem to have any problem finding them but you can’t seem to do anything to stop them.”
“We have one about a hundred feet away.” Matt said, pausing to listen to the robot that was working its way down the street, for the moment not causing too much destruction. “How exactly did you want to do this?”
“Umm…” The kid considered it for a moment before running to the alley and back. He returned with some old torn police tape he had ripped down. Definitely illegal, but Matt rather thought the police would be okay with it in this case. “Think you could wrap this around it.”
Matt grabbed the tape and carefully moved toward the robot. He was aware of Spiderman climbing one of the buildings to get a better angle. Already bruised from his previous encounter, Matt was careful as he drew close carefully dodging as the robot made to fire on him. As quickly as he could, Matt wrapped the tape around the thing and darted away. Now able to see where the robot was, Spiderman was on it in a second and Matt was a little awed as the kid swung from building to building, webs binding the robot in place. After about a minute of covering it in webs, Spiderman landed next to Matt with a thud. “One down.” The kid remarked.
“Eleven more to go.”
“Eleven?” Spiderman repeated, sounding dismayed. Matt called in the robot for the police to deal with and climbed a fire escape with Spiderman close on his heels. It was clear that the kid was uncomfortable with any silence because the within a minute of them moving across the roofs he was talking again. “Did you actually believe I had eight legs?” There was incredulity in his voice. Matt ignored him. “Because that would be kind of cool and everything but how would it even happen? And everyone would know exactly who I was.” Matt leapt to the next roof, already trying to come up with a plan to get revenge on Foggy. And possibly Karen. They crossed two more roofs when Spiderman called for him to stop. “Wait a minute. I have an idea.” He paused. “Do you have any money on you?”
“What?” Matt asked in surprise. “No. Why would I—? What do you need money for?”
“The store down there. I don’t want to steal.”
Matt was even more confused. “Steal what? And couldn’t you just pay them back later? If you have something that will help…”
“Yeah.” Spiderman agreed and with that he jumped off the building. In three minutes he was back, carrying two cans of something. He pressed them into Matt’s hands. He held them blankly, unsure what he had been given and unsure how to figure it out without asking. He contemplated his options for a few moments, Spiderman watching him expectantly, before sighing. Lives were at risk and Spiderman truly thought whatever he had given Matt was useful. “What is it?” He finally asked.
“Can’t you read?” Spiderman asked suddenly. “Woah, I’m sorry. That was totally rude, man.” He paused. “But you can’t, can you?” He didn’t give Matt any opportunity to respond. “But it’s pretty obvious what they are even if you can’t read.” Spiderman gasped. “Unless. You’re blind!” He suddenly exclaimed. “That is so cool! I mean totally not cool you can’t see. I’m sorry? But you’re an amazing fighter? How do you—? Nevermind. That’s not important right now anyway. But that’s why you thought I had eight legs. You can’t see the news! But still—” The kid forced himself to stop talking. Matt was tempted to leave the kid on his own. “Okay.” The kid breathed, apparently sensing Matt’s annoyance. “It’s Silly String. I thought you could find them and mark them with it and then I can take them out.” It wasn’t a bad plan. And it would allow Matt to mark them without getting too close.
“How does it work?” He asked simply.
Spiderman grabbed one of the cans from him and ripped off a tab before handing it back, turning it in Matt’s hand. “Put your finger on the button on top, point, and shoot.” Matt raised it and pressed the button. The string that shot out was weird—he had a vague memory of it from is childhood—but it had decent range.
Matt took a deep breath. “Alright. “There are two about a block to the east right now. Those are the closest. Come on.” Matt took off with Spiderman right behind him once more. Spiderman was being strangely quiet—though he occasionally said something to his suit which spoke back. Matt actually found himself a little pleased with the kid. He had discovered Matt was blind and helped with what he needed but made no more assumptions on what Matt was or wasn’t capable of doing and was perfectly willing to be led across the rooftops by a blind man. They arrived at the street the two robots were at and found it in flames. Matt had to be careful of the flames even as he targeted the robots. The Silly String was surprisingly effective and Matt was able to efficiently mark both robots without getting to close. The string hung off the robots loosely, but allowed Spiderman to locate them almost flawlessly. Once again, Spiderman took them out and Matt called the police to them.
In short order, all nine remaining robots were taken care of. In taking out the second to last, Spiderman had been clipped by a flailing arm and Matt had smelled blood. “Follow me.” Matt said, exhausted now that the fight was over.
Spiderman followed. “Where are we going?” He asked curiously.
“Back to my apartment so that I can take care of that cut for you. Unless you were planning to go somewhere else to have it looked at?” Spiderman shook his head and continued to follow.
“If I follow you back to your apartment, I’ll know who you are.”
Matt sighed. “You already know I am blind. There aren’t that many blind people in Hell’s Kitchen and you seem like a smart kid. You could put it together pretty quickly.”
They climbed in through the fire escape and Matt shut the window. “What makes you sure I wouldn’t say anything?”
“Were you planning on it?”
“No!”
“Then it’s fine. And just so you know, I know your name is Peter and you live with your Aunt May.” The kid was gaping at him. Matt gave a soft laugh. “I heard it over the speakers in your suit. Karen.” Matt explained. “And don’t worry, I doubt anyone else would be able to hear anything.”
Peter was silent for a few moments before speaking again. “Would you mind having a light on?” He asked. “That billboard gives off quite a bit, but…” Matt hadn’t considered that all the lights were off. He shut the curtains—since both of them were still in uniform—before flipping a light on.
“My name is Matt.” He said as he pulled a first aid kit out. “Move your suit, I need to be able to get to that cut.” The cut was on the front of the kid’s shoulder. It had been about twenty minutes since the fight. The cut had initially been bleeding heavily enough to worry Matt but now it was only bleeding sluggishly, partially closed up. “You heal faster than normal.” Matt observed. “I thought you’d for sure need stitches, but I think it will be fine if we just clean this. How long do you normally take to heal?”
Peter shrugged and then winced as it pulled at the cut. “I don’t know. Fast. It’s not like it’s something I’d test.” He watched as Matt cleaned the wound and then carefully bandaged it. Peter cleaned up his suit a bit and then pulled it back on fully but he threw the mask aside. “Can I ask you how you can move and fight like you do or is rude?”
“I don’t mind.” Matt answered honestly. He knew anyone would be curious when they relied so much on sight and it was nice to have someone to talk to that was also enhanced. “I was in an accident when I was nine. It took my sight from me but a bit after that my other senses started to get stronger and I don’t mean like everyone’s senses do when they lose one. It wasn’t just a little. I’d realize that I could hear things several blocks away. Stuff like that. Not just the senses you normally think of either but all of them. My balance, special awareness, everything. A man trained me to use it. When I fight, I listen to the echoes off of objects—like sonar—and it allows me to get an idea of where things are. I can feel air currents to determine how things close to me are moving. By taking everything together, I can put together a picture of my surroundings.” Peter was quiet for a while. “What about you? Those webs come from a device but you were sticking to the walls on your own. And you are definitely faster and stronger than normal and I’d wager your senses are better too.”
He received a nod as an answer and then listened as the kid explained being bitten by a radioactive spider and everything that followed after. Matt was surprised to hear the kid was fifteem. It was young, but by his size and voice Matt had guessed even younger.
“So why did you think I had eight legs?” Peter asked and Matt groaned. He had thought that question had been forgotten in the chaos.
“Because I need better friends, clearly.” Matt answered, deciding he might as well answer. It was clear Peter wasn’t going to let it go. “None of the news articles were exactly clear what you looked like.” He explained. “They expected the pictures and videos to be clear enough, but obviously that didn’t help me so I asked my friend.”
Peter laughed. “And he told you I had eight legs.” The kid was grinning widely.
Matt gave him a wry smile in return. “Among other things.”
“And you believed him.”
“I can usually tell when someone is telling the truth or lying, but I explained to him how I did it and he took advantage of that to mess with me and got one of our other friends in on it as well.”
“Your friend sounds awesome.” Matt snorted. The kid yawned suddenly and Matt remembered how late it was. And how young Spiderman was. Another thought crossed his mind.
“Isn’t tonight a school night?”
“Seriously?” Spiderman asked, his voice holding a note of complaint. “I just helped you save Hell’s Kitchen and you play the school card?” He yawned again and Matt laughed at him. “My aunt thinks I’m staying over at my friend’s house. He’ll cover for me. Can I crash here? If I try to make it back to Queens I’ll probably end up splattered on the side of a building.”
After a few moments Matt shrugged. He went into his room and came out a minute later, tossing a pair of sweats and a t-shirt to Peter. “My alarm goes off at six. That enough time for you to get there?” Peter nodded. Matt retrieved a spare blanket and pillow from the closet and tossed them onto the couch before walking to the window. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Where are you going?”
Matt smiled darkly. “Letting my friend know to watch his back.”
It took five minutes for Matt to arrive at Foggy’s. He forced the window and jumped into Foggy’s room. Still half asleep, Foggy sat up. Matt stood still for a moment, observing his friend for a few moments before speaking. “You have no idea how much I hate you right now.” His words set Foggy off into an almost hysterical fit of laughter. Matt’s annoyance at being made a fool slowly gave way to wry amusement. As obnoxious as Foggy’s prank had been, it had been well done. That didn’t, however, mean that Matt didn’t intend to take revenge for it. He moved back to the window. “I just came to give you warning. Turnabout is fair play.” With those parting words he left, grinning to himself as Foggy’s amusement gave way to concern. Matt could hear his heart pounding a bit too fast. Slipping back into his own apartment, Matt ignored Peter’s questions and ditched the Daredevil outfit.
The next morning, which came far too early for how late they were up, Matt made Peter breakfast and sent him on his way after exchanging phone numbers in case of emergency. It took Matt a week to decide on appropriate revenge for Foggy, and if, in the meantime, Foggy grew increasingly twitchy and paranoid as he waited all the better. The anticipation was half the fun. And when the time for the revenge prank came, it would be all the sweeter.