SANTORUM SANCTUM


Peter was still wholly baffled inside the destroyed hallway as his night took another insane turn. He now found himself standing in front of not just Daredevil and Dr. Stephen Strange but also three other men who officially made up this team of 'defenders.'

Out of all the team members, Luke Cage made his opinion known about the kid in tights that stood before them. "Well, the first thing this kid proved is that he really needs to watch that mouth of his!"

It was here that Peter realized that, in his shock, he uttered a particular unfavorable four-letter word that started with the letter 'f,' which made him use his left hand to cover his masked face in shame. "Sorry, sorry!" Peter said, embarrassed, then moved his hand away to address Luke and the rest of the team. "It's just that everything is happening so fast! From fighting hitmen to being transported to some strange room," As he continued, Peter looked around and was shocked at the damage he saw. "Which clearly has seen better days."

Once Peter's words reached his ears, a not-so-pleased Daredevil turned in Stephen's direction. "And why is that?" The annoyed Daredevil asked. While he understood that this was not his home, this was, for the time being anyway, the group's base of operations.

Stephen could tell that Daredevil wasn't exactly thrilled when he heard the status of the Sanctum. A place that was, if anything, HIS home, but he still defended himself to avoid a lecture from Daredevil about keeping the group's headquarters in check. "Well, we had a little bit of a snag earlier. One that kept me from making it to the meeting with Parker. But don't worry, it wasn't anything I could handle."

The Sorcerer's answer only made Luke and Wong roll their eyes and shake their heads, as they knew it wasn't the whole story. And it was Luke, known for telling the truth, who interjected to give the entire story. "Strange accidentally set some lizard thing free, and it tore the place to hell. So, Wong called us in for help because 'our Sorcerer Supreme' was too damn proud to do it himself."

Lin could tell that Daredevil was about to explode and didn't want a huge argument to break out. Especially in front of a potential new recruit. As such, he shifted the conversation to a more positive direction while instinctively giving the Kung Fu salute. "But we defeated the creature using or combined might and fought as one," Lin said quickly and somewhat nervously. "As a team! Something to which you are always wanting from us!"

Wong, on the other hand, remained annoyed and disappointed by Stephen's actions. "Yes, and we did so at the cost of a few valuable and priceless items in this Sanctum." At that moment, Wong's irritation soon transformed into sadness. "Such as the Vase of Angarrumus. Six hundred years old…really tied the library together…!"

"MOVING ON!" Stephen barked, clearly not wanting to hear Wong's guilt tripping, despite knowing that deep down inside, he deserved it. Afterward, he turned to Daredevil's reaction to ask about the essential matter at hand. "How did the kid do?"

Upon hearing Stephan's question, Daredevil placed his billy clubs back in the holsters on each of his hips, then let out a disappointed sigh. "Well, for lack of a better term, a successful failure." Naturally, this answer left the team stunned and confused, especially Peter. "While he does have impressive speed, strength, and reflexes, he has no real skills and appears to rely solely on instinct and pure dumb luck. And it's a miracle that he hasn't gotten himself or anyone else killed by now."

Lin couldn't disagree with Daredevil's judgment over Peter, as he did engage in a few sparring matches with the horn-headed vigilante to know that he knew what he was talking about when it came to fighting. However, he still heard stories of 'the Spider-Man' saving a few residents in Chinatown, or at least in the parts where he could not get to in time due to another crime he was dealing with. As such, Lin felt obligated to come to Peter's defense." Well, you said, Spider-Man possesses excellent speed and strength, yes? Then that means he still has great potential that we can help him unlock!"

Luke chose to counter Lin's point with a stone-faced expression, all while crossing his massive arms. "IF he's smart enough to accept our offer."

Peter not only grew more confused by the situation, but he also felt offended. Not just from what Daredevil said about him lacking skills, but mainly by every team member talking about him like he wasn't there. And so, he decided to make himself known by raising his hand. "Okay, first of all, I'm still in the room!" Peter clarified in frustration. "And second, what offer?!"

The member to answer that question was Stephen after he composed himself from snapping at his fellow Defenders earlier. "The offer to join our group, the Defenders of New York. Or simply, the Defenders." Stephen stated matter of factly, earning him a stunned Peter's reaction. "Look, kid, your heart's in the right place, but based on watching you work from the past few weeks to tonight, you are in DIRE need of someone giving you some pointers. And by 'someone,' I mean us. Because, just as Iron Fist said before, we see great potential in you to be a true protector of the people of this city."

Though the offer seemed promising, Peter still felt a little suspicious, as he felt there must be a catch somewhere. But at the same time, he would lie to himself if he figured he could manage his double life as a superhero, especially how Peter struggled to defeat the Enforcers and the Shocker from earlier in the day. The young man also felt that Stephen did a better sales pitch for this deal than Daredevil, whom he turned and gave him an angry narrow brow behind his eye lenses. "Potential that apparently Horn-head over there doesn't see! Especially when I used it to save his life from those goons earlier!"

Upon hearing those words, Daredevil let out a somewhat defeated sigh, as he knew that he had come off a little too strong on Peter, especially with their little skirmish back in Hell's Kitchen. "Actually, I do," Daredevil replied in a softer tone; then, in a move that surprised even his teammates, he removed his mask to reveal that he had red hair and the irises in both of his eyes were pale. He appeared to be staring off into space, which was often the characteristic of people who were blind. He also pulled out the billy club from his right holster, then pressed a button on the upper right side, which activated a mechanism that caused a collapsible pole to pop out of the bottom, turning the club into a walking cane. This confirmed that Daredevil, a vigilante whose one of many other nicknames was 'The Man Without Fear,' was sadly a man without sight. A burden that Matthew 'Matt' Murdock, the man behind the horned mask, received as the result of an accident and has lived with ever since.

Naturally, this revelation shocked Peter, whose eyes nearly came out of his bugged-eyed lenses. "Wait! You're blin-?!" Peter immediately stopped himself from finishing that question, fearing he would sound insensitive. However, he soon realized he may have already done that when he mentioned Matt's incapability of 'seeing his potential.' All of which made him hang his head in shame and bury his masked face in his hands. "Oh my god," said Peter with a saddened, muffled voice, then looked back up at Matt in regret. "I am so sorry! I didn't mean to-!"

With a smile, Matt raised his right hand to cut the young man off. "It's fine, Peter. I'm used to it." Matt said in reassurance. "I'm not showing you this to make you feel bad or garner your pity. But rather than show that I'm living proof that with PROPER training, you can surpass limitations and do anything." As Matt continued, his facial expression soon turned to a sympathetic one. "Look, I don't know why you do what you do, but I can tell that you have the best intentions. Unfortunately, what's keeping you from being a true asset to this city is your lack of discipline and tactic of jumping around like a child jacked up on sugar. Something that hindered you from beating me and taking down the Enforcers much sooner than we did. Not only that, but it also kept you from stopping Shocker in a matter of seconds instead of chasing him all over Queens and putting innocent bystanders at risk."

Peter's shame increased once he was reminded of his fight with Herman, as he couldn't disagree with how the young man could've handled that fight a lot better than he did. Not to mention how he endangered the lives of the people at the bank and in the streets by chasing the padded criminal all around the district.

Matt could tell from Peter's silence that what he said hit the young man pretty hard, so he decided to use a gentler approach. "Let us take you under our wing, kid. Let us train you and teach you ways to make you not just an effective hero…but a phenomenal one!" Suddenly, Matt's uplifting demeanor soon transformed into a sad one. "And it's much better than the alternative."

Peter was naturally troubled by Matt's change in mood and looked at him with suspicion. "Alternative? What do you mean?"

Mat let out a regretful sigh as he called out the name of the one teammate who had remained quiet until now. "Moon Knight."

The cloaked crime fighter in white heeded Matt's words and soon walked over to him and the confused Peter. Once he approached the two, Moon Knight used his right-hand reach behind his belt to pull out an envelope, to which he opened the lid and pulled out a photograph. "We mean this," Moon Knight said to Peter in an emotionless, almost robotic tone.

Despite Peter being baffled and intimidated by Moon Knight's cold remark, he took the photograph nonetheless. And what Peter saw left him aghast. "Your 'alternative' is to turn me into a hot girl sunbathing on a beach?"

Peter's remark stunned everyone in the room, including Moon Knight, who was so shocked much, he seemed to revert to a different person, who was meek and nervous. "Oh, sorry, mate!" Moon Knight said in a meek British accent and quickly snatched the photo out of Peter's hand and placed it on the small table right next to him. Afterward, he returned to the envelope and found the photograph he had meant to pull out earlier. "Right, here we are," said the delighted Moon Knight with accent still in tow, then pulled out the photo and held it out for Peter to reach over and grab.

A dumbfounded Peter stood motionless for a few moments before taking the photo. He was still trying to figure out how this night went from fighting mercenaries to being magically transported to an unusual place with four costumed men. One of them showing him a picture of a half-naked woman and switched from one way of speaking to the next, but regardless, Peter still took the photo, and what he saw was not only shocking but made his eyes grow wide with fear.

From what appeared to be a birds-eye view, the photo showed Peter in an alleyway, in costume but had just now taken off his mask as he was in the middle of putting on civilian clothing after dealing with a few thugs terrorizing a family-owned convenient store. Not only that, but he had his handheld camera on top of a trashcan and had used it to videotape him webbing up the thugs so he could send them to the Daily Bugle.

After viewing the photo, a shocked Peter frantically looked back and forth and Matt and Moon Knight. "How did you guys get this?!"

Moon Knight's eyes of innocence disappeared, and his narrowed and piercing eyes returned, along with the almost unfeeling voice American accent. "We have our ways."

Matt could sense Peter was getting angry enough to get into Moon Knight's face. And upon hearing the Crescent Crusader's voice change, he knew it would get messy if Peter took it that far and instantly got in between them. "More importantly," The worried Matt said loud enough to get Peter's attention and directs it towards him, as he felt he was the one who truly deserved it with what he was about to say. "That photo proves that we've been keeping an eye on you and all your activities. Including you filming your own battles as Spider-Man and selling them to Jameson, which is, as far as I'm concerned, a form of fraud." The somber tone in Matt's voice returned as he continued. "Something which I can't allow, given my day job and why I'll have no choice but to hand it, and you, over to the police."

At that moment, the wide-eyed Peter desperately took two steps towards Matt to let him know that he only did so to help his aunt and didn't want her to get involved in any of this. Not to mention that she would be emotionally destroyed if she found out that he was risking his life as the superhero he shot those videos for and would be put in jail because of it.

Something which made Matt hold up his right hand defensively. "Which we don't want to do!" Matt exclaimed, causing Peter to stop in his tracks, thus allowing him to continue, all the while giving the young man a sympathetic look. "Especially to someone who's still young and has his whole life ahead of him." Here, Matt gave a slight shrug as he brought up this next point. "Not to mention someone who's saved my life in the fight with the Kingpin's most notorious hitmen. So, I'll give you twenty-four hours to think it over to return the favor. Be here tomorrow night, same time. If you accept our offer and show up, we'll do what we can to help. But if not, you'll leave us no choice but to find you and bring you in. Here's hoping that we have you back here, kid."

"No, wait-!" Peter protested, but suddenly, one of Stephen's Mystic portals appeared before him, and he found himself walking through it and ending up back in…


THE PARKER RESIDENCE


…More specifically, Peter's basement workshop caused Peter to stop walking and look around at his surroundings, completely stunned. As Peter quickly spun around, he noticed the portal behind him, but before he could run through it again, it soon dissipated into nothing. To make things even more mind-boggling for the young man, he was alerted by feeling what felt like a small card in his right hand. This caused Peter to look down and confirm that it was indeed a business card, but this time, it showed the address of the Sanctum.

From everything that just happened, Peter's confusion soon turned to anger as he realized the situation he got himself in. And as he threw the card on the table, he pulled the mask off his head to show his contorted face and threw it across the room in a rage. And it was here that Peter blamed the only person he could blame for getting himself mixed up in this; himself. "Way to go, Parker!" Peter thought, cursing himself. "Not only are MJ and Aunt May mad at you, but now you've got a group of vigilantes blackmailing you into joining their side!" As Peter angrily sat down on a chair near the workbench, something caught the corner of his right eye that briefly quelled his rage. Namely, a picture of him and Uncle Ben together, back when Peter was eight and he and Ben had just finished building a model spaceship together.

This reminder of the time he spent with Ben, who was just as big a fan of building things as he was, brought a smile to Peter's face and made him calm down. Moments later, however, he spotted something else that made that smile disappear. And that was the video camera he used to make videos, which helped Peter earn a significant amount of money but also became the source of strain between him and his loved ones. All of which made the young man let out a sad and defeated sigh. "And the root of it all is how you get the money to help pay for your gadgets and help with the bills."

As he came to this sad but true conclusion, the remorseful Peter reached over and lightly touched the piece of the picture that had Ben's smiling face on it. "It may be a way to get paid, but it's not exactly honest. And it sure is hell isn't one which Uncle Ben would approve of since it puts a lot of stress on Aunt May, Harry…and MJ!" As he pulled his hand away from the picture, Peter caught a glimpse of the card that appeared magically in his hand earlier, and for a moment, his suspicion of the group that transported him briefly returned. However, he soon decided to let out a sigh and cast those thoughts in the back of his mind as he remembered he had an uncle's memory to honor and to atone for worrying the two most important women in his life.

"I'll figure out how to get out of this mess with Horn-head and his posse later," Peter thought to himself, then turned his attention to the camera and stared at it as he came to this conclusion. "For now, I might need to consider a career change."