Part Seven

            Uncle Ben stared at the clock on his wall tick by quietly. It was almost twelve o' clock. Peter had been gone for hours. The sun had set long ago. He sat in the kitchen eating a jelly sandwich.

            "He is going to be grounded for until he's ninety."

            "So this is your base?" Peter asked as they walked through the isolated corridors of the city sewers. He spotted a rat staring at him nastily. "Cheery place, really, you've got good taste."

            DareDevil raised an eye, "We make due with what we have." He walked over to a rack full of clubs and individual pieces of his costume, "Are you sure you're up to this?"

            "Hey, I've gone up against guys made out of sand, symbiotes and overgrown reptiles, I think I can handle a mob boss with an eating disorder." Peter reached out for a white-colored disk, "Hey what does that do?"

            "Don't touch that!" DareDevil barked stepping in the path of Peter's outreaching hand, "Just stand there for a minute."

            Peter shrugged, "Fine." He looked across the outpost. It was a small rectangular room with a single lamp bulb serving as a light source. Somehow, Peter got the feeling that Matt had no need of it. "So, you and this Kingpin have some history or something? What's the deal?"

            DareDevil grimaced, "He blinded me." Peter's face dropped in surprise, "When I was younger after my father had died in a botched robbery, I myself fell into a bad crowd. I met Wilson Fisk; he was a punk then like he is today. We did stupid stuff, robbed kids; maybe stole from stores once in a while. Nothing that was overly serious. Then Fisk decided to make it serious." Matt grimaced as he prepped his equipment with an almost feverish dedication, "He'd been working his way up in the ranks for a while, he'd been given an offer to kill somebody. He wanted my help."

            "You agreed?" Peter wondered how many of the kids he'd beaten the snot out of had been like Murdock.

            "At first I did, but when we got there I chickened out. My bad luck would have it that he worked at a toxic plant. I got into an argument with Fisk that turned into a fight and he ended up dumping my face into some nasty chemicals. I lost my sight thereafter."

            "He didn't recognize you today?" Peter asked.

            "I haven't seen Fisk for years."

            Peter leaned forward slightly, "If you're blind then how can you tell where I am?"

            DareDevil laughed, "I imagine the same way you got yours, a freakish random event that strengthened us instead of doing us in. Anyway, after my initial requirement I got myself back together. I became a lawyer, no easy task considering my…disability."

            "Wow and I only missed a test because of him." Peter laughed, "I'm feeling a little insignificant over here, horns." He added with a smile.

            DareDevil stepped behind a curtain and began to put on a fresh costume, leaving his worn-torn one lying on the floor. "How'd you end up in this business? You're pretty young to be starting bar fights."

            Peter frowned, "I let somebody down when they needed me." He sighed, Matt had poured his soul out, given up some deep secrets, why shouldn't he, "I let a man escape, and for my trouble he killed a person I cared about."

            "I see." Matt emerged in a new costume, full decked out and ready for combat. "And you blame yourself?"

            Peter shrugged, "Well, yeah, I let the killer go, I could have stopped him."

            Matt nodded, "I won't lie, it was your fault, but you shouldn't dwell on it, what's done is done."

            "Are you to the one to be giving advice on revenge? We are about to attack Fisk after all."

            "This isn't revenge." Matt replied, "The Kingpin has turned Hell's Kitchen into just that a living hell. I won't go by another day living in the shadow of that man without doing something about it."

            Peter ran his hand along the small gash in his mask where a stray bullet had grazed him. "Well then, let's go see the fat man; I guess we can't wait until the doughnuts finish him off."

            Security was always present in the building as Fisk actually lived in his penthouse at the top of the building for protection. There was no single location in his criminal empire more secure.

            The guard on duty spotted the two costumed men entering the lobby of Fisk Towers. They casually walked right in; he checked his watch it was almost one in the morning. He rubbed his eyes. "Am I nuts?"

            The other members of security, six in total, focused around the entrance to the lobby, "Who the heck are you two supposed to be."

            "Out of our way, we're here to meet the Kingpin and you will not stop us." DareDevil quietly vowed.

            Peter smiled, "He means it."

            "Get out."

            DareDevil readied his club, "We warned you."

            The Kingpin stumbled out of bed at the knock to his door. He rubbed the side of his skull wearily; it was far too late for such a distraction. He peered through the peephole and saw Fancy Dan, "What is it?"

            "They're here; both of them." He replied grimly.

            The Kingpin grimaced, "Those impudent fools! Take the rest of the Enforcers and intercept them!"

            Peter slammed his shoulder into one of the guards throwing him against the wall. He ducked low to avoid the clumsy swing of another. With a simple roundhouse kick he brought him down.

            Two more advanced on him. The first reached for his nightstick and thrust forward with it. Peter easily dodged it and hit him with a jab to the face forcing him to tumble to the ground, defeated. The other backed off surprised, clearly ready to surrender. Peter enveloped him in a burst of webbing and it was over.

            Meanwhile, DareDevil handled the rest of them. With a simple uppercut he knocked the wind out of one guard, while another swung his nightstick aiming for Matt's head. He wrapped his arm around the attacker and smacked him in the face with his small club. The last guard was easy pickings with kick to the jaw.

            "See, wasn't that easy?" Peter asked jokingly as the last guard dropped to the floor. "Now let's get that code working." He mumbled walking over to a computer panel. Then the lobby's only elevator opened and out came the three Enforcers.

            "Hey, look who it is?" Ox said cracking his knuckles in anticipation.

            Fancy Dan cocked the two weapons in his hands, "I've been itching for this since last night."

            Montana began to twirl his lasso, a lasso that could slice the bodies of Peter or Matt effortlessly, "Let's clean house."