Civil War Part 3
"Look, it's Spider-Man!"
Peter looked down at the crowd below him as he swung above them and waved. He watched them all wave back and kept swinging around until he heard a faint, "Ahh! Someone help!" coming from a block or two away. He switched directions in midair and swung to the scene of the crime. Three men, all armed with pocket knives and Uzis, were harassing and old man, threatening to kill him if he didn't give them his money. They were shoving him around, throwing him down on the ground, and kicking him. Peter landed nearby silently and leaned against the wall before clearing his throat to get their attention. They all stopped, looked over at him, and pulled out their weapons.
"Waddaya want, Spider-Man?" one of them asked.
"Well, I noticed that you were bullying this old man. As a person who used to be bullied, I'm going to have to ask you to stop."
The three men all doubled over in laughter. Peter rolled his eyes, shook his head, and kneed one of them in the face, knocking the thug out instantly. The other two men stopped laughing and went to attack Peter, but Peter was ready. He webbed one of the thug's foot to the ground, keeping him in place for a moment, and he launched the other thug into the air with a huge uppercut. In the air, he punched the thug hard. Once he was unconscious, he attached a web to the thug's foot and hung him from a streetlight. The one remaining guy was met with a sock to the jaw from Peter and went down hard. Peter put his hands on his hips and looked around at the three men with happiness.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked the old man. The man nodded and got up.
"Thank you, Spider-Man. I owe you one."
Peter shook his head and put his hands up. "Don't mention it. Just get home safe, alright? Have a good night, sir!" Peter prepared to jump up and swing away but he saw the flashing red and blue lights of a police car. He stuck around to see what the cops would do with the criminals but he didn't expect it when the cop aimed his gun at Peter.
"Freeze, Spider-Man! Don't move!"
Peter shot his hands into the air. "You serious? I just did 80% of your job, and this is how you repay me?"
"For failing to coincide with the Superhero Identity Act, you are under arrest!"
"What?"
"If you fail to reveal your identity, then you will remain a fugitive of the law and you will be arrested on sight!"
Peter's mind was racing, but eventually he remembered something: he had super powers. He could get out of this situation easily. He remained still for a moment longer before launching himself into the air ans swinging away. He had half a mind to go back and let himself be arrested in order to stay on the NYPD's good side, but that would mean that he would have to reveal his identity and he couldn't do that. He swung for a while before finally landing to rest on a rooftop. He hung his feet over the edge and laid back, but a figure stood over him. Peter freaked out and got up into a fighting stance, but the figure smiled and shook his head.
"Calm down, Spidey. It's me."
Peter looked at the figure up and down before letting his guard down. "Daredevil. What are you doing here?"
Daredevil sat down on the edge of the building and motioned for Peter to do the same. Peter looked at Daredevil's costume. It was sleek and simple, but effective. It was simply red and had horns on the head.
"I can sense that you're worried and I understand."
"Sense it?"
"I'm blind. It heightens my other senses. I can hear your heart beating at a rate that suggests that you're worried. Anyway, I get it. The law is unfair. You want to be able to help people like you used to before." Daredevil paused for a moment before continuing. "Do you know how many people died on February 17th? The day Stark Tower fell?"
"I don't know."
"1,821 people. Most of them were in the collapse. A lot were in Times Square, too. I don't think that General Ross or Tony Stark realize that it wasn't the heroes that caused the tower to fall or Times Square to be destroyed, it was the super... I don't know. Supervillains? Is that a thing?"
Peter chuckled. "Well, if it wasn't then you should put down a copyright claim on it. Get a quarter every time someone says it."
Daredevil smiled and continued. "Ross doesn't trust heroes. He wants to place the blame on someone that he knows he can get a bunch of people behind. Tony is just trying to save his own ass. I don't think he really agrees with Ross at all."
"How do you know? Can you sense that he's lying? The heartbeat thing?"
"What? No... I'm just guessing here. Anyway, you need to keep doing what you're doing. Resist the law. Help people no matter what. Don't let injustice corrupt the city just because Ross has had a few bad run-ins with heroes." Daredevil stood up, patted Peter on the back, and ran off.
"See you around, Daredevil!"
Daredevil turned around and shook his head. "Funny."
"What? I was just being... oooooh. 'See' you around. My bad."
Daredevil saluted Peter and jumped over the edge of the building. Peter jumped over the edge as well and swung around for a while more before heading home.
Author's Note:
I'm sorry for the shameless insertion of the '80% of your job' line from The Amazing Spider-Man movie. Also, I love Daredevil. Until next time!
