Chapter 4
There, in Peter's dumpster, lay the Devil of Hell's Kitchen himself. He had heard a lot of stories about the guy, but he'd never seen him before. The guy tended to stick to Hell's Kitchen. Peter opened his window and crawled out, making his way down to the dumpster.
"Hey, man," he called out, "you good?"
"Yeah, just peachy," Daredevil replied sarcastically.
"Point taken." Peter hauled Daredevil out of the dumpster and propped him against a wall. "Anything I can do?"
"I'm fine."
"Yeah, the whole gasping and groaning thing is really selling your point," Peter remarked dryly. "I'll rephrase my question, what am I supposed to do?"
Daredevil sighed. "Call Claire. There's a burner phone in my pocket."
"Who's Claire?"
"A nurse. She pretty much patches everybody up."
"Hold up. Are you talking about the Night Nurse?" Peter asked excitedly as the number dialled.
Daredevil smirked. "She's not a fan of the name."
"What crap did you get yourself into this time, Murdock?" a female voice barked from the phone.
Daredevil tensed, and Peter laughed nervously.
"Who's there?" the voice asked suspiciously.
"Um, hi? My name's Peter and I got Daredevil here who's glaring at me because I overheard part of his identity."
"Where are you, kid?" Claire asked.
"Queens."
Claire cursed. "That'll take about half an hour to get to. How bad is he?"
"Um, not sure."
"No broken bones, Claire," Daredevil rasped. "I have a bunch of cuts and a possible concussion."
"Wait," Peter said, "I have an idea. I think I can get him to you. Can you tell me your location?"
"Harlem," Claire said and listed off an apartment number. "What are you going to do?"
"Don't worry about it, just keep yourself ready," Peter said and hung up.
"She going to kill you for doing that," Daredevil said hoarsely. "What's your idea?"
Peter grinned. "You think you can handle a swing to Harlem?"
Ten minutes later, Peter was ringing the doorbell of an apartment with Daredevil over his shoulder in his mostly ruined Spider-Man suit.
The door flew open to reveal a murderous-looking woman in nurse scrubs.
"Your patient cusses like a drunk Scottish sailor," Peter told her brightly. "Where do I set him?"
Claire got over her surprise quickly. "Spider-Man. Nice to see you. Set him over there, please."
Peter set Daredevil down gently on a sofa before moving out of the way to let Claire do her thing.
"Is he unconscious?" she asked as she began to peel off the suit.
"He called a bunch of things I'd rather not repeat when we landed, so no, I don't think so."
She snorted. "Sounds like him."
Daredevil groaned as Claire started to treat his wounds.
"Stop moving," she told him sharply. "If you want me to patch you up, then lie still. What'd you get yourself into this time?"
"Some goons with machetes."
She groaned. "Really? Really? Machetes? "
Daredevil gave a tired smirk and she whacked him lightly before resuming her work, muttering something about idiotic vigilantes.
The next few minutes passed in silence, then Claire set down her tools and sighed. "There, you're good to go."
"Thanks, Claire." Daredevil tried to get up but was stopped by Claire. "You're not going anywhere. You're staying here for the night."
"What about Luke?"
"He doesn't sleep on the couch, I save it for hardheaded idiots like you."
"Wait, by Luke, do you mean Luke Cage?" Peter asked.
"Yes," Claire answered, turning towards him, and she gasped. "Spider-Man, what happened?"
"What do you mean?" Peter asked, confused.
"Your suit! It's ruined!"
"My . . ." Peter looked down and saw the state of his suit. It was burned, ripped, and covered with dried blood. "Oh. That's what you mean. Don't worry, this was last night."
"Last night?"
"Yeah, don't worry about it. I have fast healing and I got treated at the Avengers Compound."
Daredevil whistled. "Avengers Compound. That's right. You're with Stark, aren't you?"
"Not anymore."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
And that was when Peter finally remembered. "Oh, right! I forgot! You-" he pointed at Daredevil, "are a vigilante!"
"I think I knew that," Daredevil said dryly.
"No, I mean, I was trying to figure out who to approach-"
"Approach?" Daredevil echoed.
Peter nodded. "Yeah, for help and stuff. I'm kinda new to the vigilante scene, so I was trying who I could go to for some help when you decided to take a dive in my dumpster."
Claire snickered.
Daredevil leaned forward. "So Peter, you, as Spider-Man, are looking for help?"
"How'd you know I was Peter?"
"It's not that hard to figure out," Claire said. "I mean, you told me that you had a way of getting to me, and then Spider-Man just happened to show up? That's not a coincidence."
"Yeah, I guess that's fair," Peter conceded.
"How old are you?" Daredevil asked.
Peter considered lying, but decided against it. "I'm fifteen," he admitted.
Claire gasped and Daredevil sucked in a sharp breath.
"You're just a kid," Claire said disbelievingly.
"Yeah," he said quietly.
"Why are you doing this?" Claire asked.
"I have to," Peter said earnestly. "I've been given these abilities for a reason. I can get out there and make a difference, and if I don't. People die, they get attacked, they get stolen from. Whatever happened, it gave me these abilities, and with great power comes great responsibility."
Claire and Daredevil stared at him for a long moment, and then Claire sighed.
"Well, I doubt I can stop you, Peter," she said, "but I want you to know that you can come to me any time, for anything, whether you want to talk or you need me to patch you up."
"Thanks, Ms. Claire."
"Daredevil spoke up. "Peter, I'm here to help you if you need it, I just need a day or two."
Peter nodded. "Yeah, that would be great, Mr. uh-"
"Matt Murdock."
"Mr. Murdock."
The man in question shuddered. "That makes me feel very old. Please, call me Matt."
"Okay, Matt," Peter said, testing out the name.
Matt quirked his lips in a barely-there smile. "Tell you what, Peter, how about you stop at the place where I work tomorrow afternoon. He handed Peter a card that read Nelson & Murdock.
"Yeah, I can do that," Peer said, taking note of the address.
He caught sight of a clock on the wall and cursed. "Crap! I got to go. My aunt's going to kill me. I'll see you tomorrow, Matt!" He waved cheerily before flinging himself out of a nearby window.
"Good news, Aunt May," Peter said with a smile as he entered his apartment. "I found a guy."
Nelson & Murdock: Attorneys At Law, the sign read.
Peter didn't know what he had been imagining, but Daredevil being a lawyer was definitely not what he was expecting.
He pushed open a door to reveal a neat-ish waiting room. He heard Matt and another person arguing through the wall as he took a seat.
"Matt, I swear, if you misplaced the file again- "
"I didn't misplace it!"
"That's what you said last time!"
"Last time was a fluke! I swear, it's right here, somewhere . . . "
Peter heard Matt rummaging through papers and he snickered as the other man tutted.
A blond woman poked her head out of the door. "Hi! Welcome to Nelson & Murdock: Attorneys at Law. My name is Karen Page, what can I do for you today?"
"I'm here to see Matt," Peter said politely.
She raised her eyebrows but nodded. "Well, come on in."
She opened the door and Peter stepped inside a messy-looking office.
He recognized Matt almost immediately, but the difference between his civilian identity and Daredevil was huge. But then again, so was his.
He assumed the other man was Mr. Nelson.
"Peter!" Matt said. "Glad you could make it."
"Matt?" the other man asked, looking confusedly between Matt and Peter. "Care to introduce me?"
"Peter, Foggy. Foggy, Peter."
"Nice to meet you," Peter said cheerfully, sticking out a hand to shake. Foggy took it, still looking at him with slight suspicion.
"How, exactly, do you know Matt?" he asked.
"Uh . . ."
"He's an acquaintance from work," Matt said smoothly.
Five seconds passed, and then . . .
"Matthew Murdock. "
Foggy sounded absolutely scandalized, and Karen looked queasy.
"Why is there a literal teenager involved in your line of work?"
Matt shrugged. "It happens."
"It-it . . ." Foggy seemed to choke on his own indignance. "It happens?! "
"Yeah, you know how it goes," Peter piped in. "You get bitten by a radioactive spider, get abilities, become Spider-Man, the usual."
Foggy gaped at him, his mouth moving soundlessly.
"I think you broke him, Peter," Matt said solemnly.
Foggy blinked, and then said, "Spider-Man?"
"Spider-Man is actually a tiny little cinnamon roll." Karen sounded like she was going into shock.
"Hey, I'm not a cinnamon roll!" Peter protested.
Karen snorted. "You totally are."
"Now, now Karen," Matt said as Peter spluttered. "Try not to embarrass him too much."
"But seriously, Spider-Man?" Foggy asked.
"Yep," Peter said. "Started about seven months ago, and yesterday, this idiot-" he jerked a thumb at Matt, "decided to take a dive in my dumpster."
Karen and Foggy snorted.
"So, I asked him for help and here we are," Peter concluded.
"I thought you were with Stark or something," Karen said. "Why would you need help?"
"I, well, I might've yelled at him before storming out of the Avengers Compound two days ago," Peter said sheepishly.
Karen whisted. "Damn, kid. What brought that on?"
"Well, you see, there was this day . . . " and he went on to narrate the full story of Germany and the Vulture. By the time he was done, the three looked furious.
"So basically, Stark waltzed into your apartment, blackmailed you into fighting a war you had no place being in, then brought you back and left you with no means to contact him or anything. Then he tells you to stay away from something he should've been dealing with, but doesn't. Instead, he calls in the FBI, who have no idea what's going on, and then takes away your suit. He still doesn't take care of your problem, instead, he leaves you to fend for yourself and then has the nerve to try and get you to quit, is that right?"
Peter hesitated and then said quietly, "That's pretty much the gist of it."
"Asshole," Karen muttered.
"Well, Peter," Foggy said, clapping him on the shoulder, "Stark seems to have set a pretty low bar when it comes to mentoring, so I'm not sure it means much, but I'm pretty sure Matt will be better than that.
"He better be," Karen said, poking Matt in the chest. "Or else I'll kick his ass, Daredevil or not."
"Fear the mighty Karen Page," Matt drawled. "Got it."
Peter looked at his watch and cursed quietly. "I have to get home soon. So, when will I see you again?"
"Come to Claire's place tonight," Matt told him. "And before you go, you have a burner phone, right? Did Claire give you one?"
"Yeah," Peter answered.
"Hand it over, I'm going to add my number to it."
Foggy and Karen also added their numbers and Peter was about to exit when he turned back. "Hold on a second. I don't know if you can help me with this, but I need a new suit. This one's pretty totalled, as you saw last night, and I don't have another one."
"I can help you with that," Matt said, "but not right now. You need to get home."
Peter chuckled. "Yeah, I do. I'll see you tonight, Matt."