Frank shrugs off his jacket from one arm before ripping the sleeve off of his shirt and folding it up to press to Matt's side to staunch the bleeding from where he caught the bullet.
Matt tries to sit up but Frank just pushes him back down on the concrete floor. "Jesus, stay down a second, Red," he hisses.
Peter's trying to hide his panic because oh shit, Daredevil just took a literal bullet for him. He kneels down next to Matt as well.
"Um, here, let me…" he says shakily as he uses a bit of webbing to hold the scrap of fabric more securely in place over the wound. "Should we—do we need to go to a hospital?" he asks nervously. Even after his and Matt's talk about death, he hadn't really thought out a plan for what to do when he inevitably gets severely injured.
"No hospitals," Matt and Frank say simultaneously, though Matt sounds a lot more pained.
"Come on Red, up you go," Frank says with a sigh as he picks Matt up bridal style to carry out of the warehouse. He starts walking only to turn back and look at Peter. "C'mon kid, I know where to take him."
Peter didn't even realize he's just been standing and staring down at the pool of Matt's blood until the Punisher's words snap him out of it.
"Uh, yeah just…" Peter hesitates a second before shooting a web at the pool of blood from Matt to cover it. Hopefully, that'll absorb it and then dissolve so the police won't be able to test the blood for DNA.
Frank nods before leading Peter out, still carrying a vaguely protesting Matt. Once they're outside he takes a second to grab a gun out of one of his holsters and fire it into the air until the clip is empty. "Hopefully that'll get the cops' attention," he explains before he starts walking deliberately towards the sedan that a few of the gangster had arrived in.
Frank must've grabbed the keys off of one of the men at some point, because he unlocks the car and sets Matt in the backseat, gesturing for Peter to get in next to their bleeding friend. Peter gets in and notices that Matt's definitely unconscious. Fortunately, the rise and fall of his chest as he breathes is still prominent enough that he doesn't have to worry about Daredevil dying in the next few minutes in the backseat of a beater car that stinks of weed and body odor. The car starts and Frank floors it down 12th Avenue like the madman he is.
"Um… Where are we going, Mr. Castle..?" Peter asks hesitantly after they blow through a third red light.
"Harlem," Frank answers simply before glancing in the rearview mirror to look at Peter for a second. "Hey, he's gonna be alright kid," the man assures in a much softer voice than the one he'd been using just seconds prior. "He's a tough son of a bitch, yeah? Hell, I've given him worse than what he's got right now."
Peter nods and suddenly realizes that his hands are shaking. Harlem takes a while to get to from where they are, but Frank seems sure, and Peter's not positive Matt would appreciate being dragged to Avenger's Tower for anything less than a bullet to the chest. He's even less sure that Friday would even let the Punisher into the Tower in the first place. He'll have to ask her about that the next time he's there, just for future reference.
Despite the fact it should've taken them nearly half an hour to get to Harlem, Frank manages to get them there in just a little over fifteen. He parks the car on the street, cutting the engine and getting out, coming around the side to lift Daredevil out of the backseat to carry him to wherever they're going. It seems like a residential area, so he really hopes that Frank knows what he's doing.
Peter gets out of the car and follows after Frank as he takes them into an apartment building just around the corner. They walk up one flight of stairs into the fairly nice building before Frank leads him down the hall and starts pounding on the door with the hand that's supporting Matt's shoulders.
"Dude, quiet down or you're gonna wake up their neighbors!" Peter hisses, getting an eye-roll in response.
Frank resumes his pounding on the door and a second later it opens up to reveal a dark-skinned man in pajamas who's tall enough that even Frank has to tilt his head back a little to meet his eyes. The man gives them a once-over before sighing and turning back into the apartment, gesturing for them to follow after him.
"Lock the door behind you," he says, and Peter does after he makes his way inside.
Once they get in the living room there's a pretty woman also in pajamas waiting for them, and she groans loudly the second she sees the troupe of costumed idiots in her home.
"You stupid motherfucker," she says, pointing at Matt though there isn't any real venom in her words. She pulls open one of the drawers of the coffee table and takes out a plastic tarp like the ones Peter's seen on Dexter before spreading it over her couch.
"Alright, set him down. Luke, boil some water for me," she says, pulling a big bag of serious looking medical supplies out from under her couch while the man heads into what Peter assumes is the kitchen. Another second and his brain catches up for him to realize that the man is definitely Luke Cage: Harlem's Hero.
"Gunshot wound in his side," Frank says as he lays Matt down on the plastic-covered couch. "Bullet's still in there. Lost a fair amount of blood on the way here."
"You the one who shot him, Frank?" she asks, pulling on a pair of blue rubber gloves. "Help me get the suit off."
"Nice to see you too, Claire," he drawls as he walks closer to help with getting the suit off. "Nah, some gangbanger piece'a shit got him. Bullet was meant for Spidey over there, but you know Red. Too much of a drama queen to just tell him to get outta the damn way."
While Frank works on getting the top half of the costume off, Claire spares a glance at Peter for just a second. He waves, not quite sure what he can do to help.
"Dammit, Matt," she mutters as she looks over the wound that's still bleeding a little too heavily to put Matt in the all clear. "Castle, what's your blood type?" she asks as she frowns at some of the older bruises littering Matt's torso.
"AB positive," he answers.
Claire frowns at that. "How about you, Spidey?"
"Huh?" Peter asks, taking an extra second to process the question. "Sorry, O positive. Does he need blood?"
"He might. He's A positive, so you'll work," Claire answers honestly, as Luke comes back with a bowl of steaming water and sets it on the coffee table. "Right now I'm more worried about collapsed lungs. He has a history of them," she adds, as she pulls out a stethoscope and listens to his chest for something. After she listens in a few different places she sets the stethoscope back down and grabs a rag. Claire dips it into the water and wipes away the blood around the wound before grabbing a pair of forceps from the bag and taking a deep breath.
"Luke, come over here and hold him down in case he wakes up," she says.
Luke joins her, his hands positioned on Matt's shoulders. Claire says something in Spanish to herself that Peter doesn't quite catch before she's using the glorified tweezers to carefully root around in Matt's side to get the bullet out. It's nerve-wracking as hell, and Peter doesn't realize that he's shaking again until he feels the Punisher's hand on his shoulder and he's being turned away from the sight of the at-home surgery.
"Hey, kid. I know it's scary, but like I told ya he's gonna be fine…" Frank soothes, squeezing his shoulder gently.
Peter nods but doesn't say anything, he's trying to hide the fact that he's definitely close to crying beneath the mask, and his voice would give him away in a heartbeat. Frank seems to know anyway because he pulls Peter into a hug and rubs his back gently. Peter hugs Frank back even though the guy's nothing but guns and Kevlar and hard edges; and despite all that the Punisher still gives good hugs. The sharp sound of metal clanking against ceramic pulls Peter's mind out of its fog and in turn he pulls away from Frank. Claire's just dropped the bullet, thankfully all in one piece, into a small bowl next to the one filled with water.
She reaches back into the bag and pulls out a curved needle while Luke wipes the blood away from the wound again to give Claire a better area to work with. Three stitches later there's a softer clink of metal on ceramic again as the needle is dropped into the bowl with the bullet. Claire uses a square of gauze and some medical tape to cover the wound before she grabs her stethoscope from where she'd set it on the table earlier. After a minute or two of listening, she sits back on her heels and sighs before turning to Frank while she peels off her bloody gloves.
"He should be fine. Come here and help me get his costume the rest of the way off. Can you get him some clothes to wear, Luke?"
Luke hums in agreement and heads off towards what must be a bedroom as Frank heads back to the couch. He helps maneuver Matt's dead weight around while Claire fiddles with the closure of the suit for a minute, before Frank just steps in and does it for her. Luke comes back a second later with a black t-shirt and sweatpants that are both definitely too big for Matt. Frank and Claire dress him, and it's honestly a little funny to watch them try and get his arms through the sleeves. Peter's been assigned the task of hiding the Daredevil suit in a big shopping bag, and he's taking his job very seriously.
Matt comes to right around the time Frank is pulling the sweatpants up over his hips and he sits up abruptly to get his bearings in the new area. The first words out of his mouth get him punched (in the shoulder and definitely not at full strength, but they get him punched nonetheless).
"I'm flattered, Frank—really—but are you sure we should do that with the child right there?" he jokes with a big grin.
Frank gives him a flat look as Matt rubs his punched shoulder. "You're an ass, Murdock."
"Part'a my charm," he shoots back as he sits up. "Hey Claire. Hey Luke."
"It's good to see you again, Matt. But next time can we do brunch instead of you bleeding out on my couch at one in the morning?" Claire replies.
"No promises," Matt says, groaning as he gets to his feet with Frank's assistance. "You alright, Spidey?" he asks softly, his head tilted as he listens to the way Peter's heartbeat is still unusually fast.
"I'm good. But for future reference, I can definitely handle getting shot better than you. Accelerated healing and all that," Peter replies. "Don't get yourself shot for me again, okay?"
Matt's expression softens a little. "I can't just let you get hurt."
"Well tough shit. Don't get yourself shot for me again," Peter repeats. He hopes that the frown translates through his mask somehow.
"Alright, kid," Matt agrees, sounding pretty sincere. He tilts his head slightly and frowns. "Frank?"
"Yeah, Red?"
"Did you kill the guy who shot me?"
"You bet your goddamn ass I did."
The two of them are back to arguing in no time, but neither Luke nor Claire seem too concerned about it, so Peter assumes it must be on par for their usual conversations. Claire makes her way over to Peter's side, and she's nearly as tall as he is.
"How old are you, sweetheart?" she asks softly, giving him a slightly concerned look.
"Um… almost sixteen," he answers hesitantly.
Claire looks a little sad, and Luke's eyebrows go up to his hairline as he takes in Peter's words.
Claire puts her hand on Peter's shoulder and gives him a serious look. "You ever get hurt, you can come here, alright? I'll help you. No questions asked."
"Oh, thanks Ms. Claire," Peter replies, not having expected that. He was more expecting something along the lines of 'you're too young and you need to stop'. "But my Aunt's a nurse, so I'm in good hands. Plus, accelerated healing."
Claire groans. "God, I wish that dumbass had a healing factor. Instead he just fights with his broken ribs like a moron."
"I can hear you," Matt replies, immediately halting in his argument with Frank.
"I know you can, idiot. Speaking of your non-existent healing factor and common sense, you either need to call someone to come get you and stay with you or stay here tonight. Just in case there's any sort of complication."
Matt frowns at her, but he seems to know that she won't change her opinion about it no matter how many sad, puppy-eyed looks she gets. "I'll call Foggy," he says with a defeated sigh.
"Good choice."
"Not for me. We have court in the morning. He's gonna be pissed. "
"Lucky for you I already texted him right after you got here," Luke says. "He's on his way. Karen too, since she's the only one of you with a car. Also, court tomorrow? Really? I thought you were done going out during trials after the stuff that went down with you missing so much of Frank's."
"Gang initiations don't wait for the justice system to give me free time."
"Couldn't have pawned it off to Frank?" Claire asks.
"He'd kill them."
"Jess?"
"She's strong but she can't handle that. Especially not drunk."
"Deadpool then? He probably wouldn't kill anyone if you asked him nicely."
"He's out of the country right now. Same for Danny."
"What about Spidey?"
"It was supposed to be a learning experience for him," Frank interjects. "I think he learned a lot."
"I did, actually. And I have more stuff to learn tomorrow. At school. And it's late, so I should be going. It was nice to meet all of you," Peter says politely.
"You need a ride, kid?" Frank asks.
"Nah, I'll be alright. Thanks for the offer though." Peter waves him off casually and Frank nods before looking through his pockets for something.
Peter really hopes it isn't a gun.
When Frank pulls his hand back out there's a flip phone in it similar to Matt's burner. He walks over to Peter and hands it to him.
"My number's in there. Call if you ever get in over your head, yeah?" He pats Peter on the shoulder before walking around him to leave the apartment.
Before Frank can escape, however, there's knocking at the door that isn't unsimilar to what he'd been doing earlier so he answers the door to Karen and Foggy.
"Frank?" Karen says with a frown. "Please tell me you aren't the one who shot Matt."
"Why do people keep asking me that?" Frank says, like it's completely unbelievable to think that the Punisher might shoot Daredevil. "No, I didn't shoot him. I gotta go, but I'll call you or something, yeah?" With that, he pushes past Karen and Foggy (who seems much more reasonably terrified than his friend) and leaves the apartment.
"Oh, hey. That's Spider-Man," Foggy blurts out once he's done being terrified of the Punisher.
"Hi," Peter says, waving awkwardly.
Karen narrows her eyes at him once she hears his voice. "Peter?"
Wow, she's sharp. She must be the investigative service provider of Nelson, Murdock & Page.
"Umm, hi?"
"Stop bothering him, guys. He needs to get home," Matt defends, walking towards Foggy and Karen slowly, his hand over the wound on his side.
Foggy immediately puts his arm around Matt to help him, and Peter takes that chance to pass off the bag with the Daredevil suit to Karen, who takes it from him without asking.
"Thank you for sewing this dumbass up yet again. I owe you a very nice bottle of wine," Foggy says to Claire who just smiles and shakes her head slightly.
"Yeah, you really do. You want the bullet?" she asks, and Karen nods emphatically.
Claire grabs the bullet with a clean rag and drops it into a Ziploc bag before passing it to Karen who puts it in her purse. Peter seems to be the only one who finds this odd, and Luke catches him looking around between all of them.
"She says it's a secret. I've given up on asking."
"Ah, gotcha." Peter so doesn't got it, though.
"Alright, well we'll all be getting out of your hair and not-hair alike now," Foggy says, gesturing to Claire and Luke respectively.
Peter walks with the DD trio out of the apartment but splits off from them to head for the roof rather than the front door. He takes in the sights of this area of the city for a moment before slinging a web onto the building across the street and swinging away, the present from the Punisher tucked safely into one of the suit's pockets. It takes him a while to get back home, but once he does make it he barely has the energy to take the suit off before collapsing into bed.