Ok, Season 1 is all said and done.
Some obvious changes were made with the timeline and certain events and that is going to continue happening as we delve further into the Clone Wars.
I really wish I could spout on and on about Season 2 but that's for the story to reveal itself in due time.
Jebest as per usual is an instrumental comrade that is helping me see this vision to fruition and I'm open to other suggestions. Grimm King brought something up that will come into play in a future unique chapter.
For now though, let's just take a trip back home.
Rate Read and Review and As Always Have Nice Day.
Avengers Infinite Wars Chapter 19: Homefront
"So what do we do now, Stark?"
Tony Stark only rubbed his face tiredly, trying to find the proper answer.
The Avengers HQ was practically empty with only two of its "former" members residing within the facility at the time.
It had been a week since the disappearance of the nine Avengers after their mission to HYDRA controlled base in Eastern Europe and to say that Tony was beginning to feel a new sense of anxiety would be the understatement of the decade.
His friends and allies were missing, gone from the face of the Earth and he had absolutely no idea how that happened.
The minute the line had cut off between himself and Cap, Tony wasted no time in suiting up in his latest armor and damn near flew at the speed of light to their last projected location.
What he found when he arrived was a large cluster of tied up HYDRA agents with a giant Ultron head named Ultimo. There was the Quinjet off to the side and the obvious signs of an intense battle.
But no Avengers.
No sign of Cap, Nat, the wonder twins, the shrinking duo, his best friend, birdman or Ultron light.
They were gone. Vanished into thin air with no means of locating them.
Not the greatest start to his day.
Tony tried his damndest to figure out what the hell happened here but all he got was static and sparks from the malfunctioning technology in the base. So Stark did what he usually did, taking all the technology here and bringing back to base for study.
It didn't take long for him to call up Clint and the expert archer merely told him to send him a jet.
Clint was there in less than an hour.
And for a week the two talked and deliberated on what to do now. Their friends were missing and the Avengers were basically defunct. It was bad enough that the current roster of Earth's Mightiest Heroes were gone. But they also had no idea as to how to contact Thor and they never found Hulk since he went missing earlier this year.
All Earth had in terms of Avengers were just the two of them.
"Stark." Clint's voice cut through Tony's thoughts, making the Iron hero turn to his colleague.
"Huh?"
"I know you're thinking at a million miles a minute right now." Clint wryly stated. "But you didn't answer my question. What are we going to do now?"
"Gee Clint I don't know what to tell ya." Tony said sardonically. "Cap ain't here to lead us and I'm prone to improvise with my long term planning."
"Then what do your long term plans have? And for the love of god, don't make it Skynet."
"Very funny."
"Boss."
Both men looked up at the sound of Friday, Tony's new personal AI calling for her creator.
"Friday?"
"Hank Pym is here to see you."
"Great." Tony grumbled underneath his breath. "This should be good."
No less than a few minutes passed by when the creator of the Pym particle came stomping into the conference room with a damn near livid face.
"Stark." Pym said in controlled anger. "You better start explaining to me why both my daughter and pupil are missing and how I can relay this back to Lang's daughter; who's been wondering where Father up and vanished to."
"I don't know what to tell you, Pym." Tony said impatiently, finding his usual sarcastic wit lacking at the moment. "Cause in case you haven't noticed, the entire team has gone missing and I have no idea how that happened or where they are. So before you tromping into the building, kindly look at the bigger picture right now."
Hank seethed at the words until Clint stepped between the two.
"Alright, save it for the playground both of you." Clint firmly told them. "Right now, we're dealing with nine missing superheroes with none the wiser of where any of them are. The last thing we need is for the two of you to go at one another like a couple of assholes. Save it for another time."
Both men stared at each other unwaveringly before they backed off, Tony slouching against the conference table.
"What the hell happened, Stark?" Hank inquired. "One minute, Hope and Scotts transponders were working fine the next they're not registering on any satellite I could tap into."
"Did you miss the part when I mentioned that it's the entire team missing?" Stark drawled out, eyes half-lidded. "The Earth is suddenly under manned without Avengers to come to its defense. Clint and I could only do so much since there's only two of us."
"Then what are you gonna do about it?"
"What am I gonna do about?" Tony arched a brow. "Listen Pym, in case you didn't realize this you're just a big a part of this as we are. You really think I'm gonna do this alone in finding them? Granted, I probably can, give me a few weeks tops but I'd rather get this done sooner than later."
Pym normally would simply reject this kind of statement but he took a moment to think this over.
Losing track of both his daughter and his protégé was not something Hank was gonna take lightly because as soon as he lost track of them, his heart damn near stopped. He could not handle the thought of losing more people he cared about, especially his daughter and the idiot goofball who he had grown to care for as well. On top of that, Scott like himself was a father. A father who deeply loved his daughter as Hank did Hope and was willing to do everything and anything in his power for her.
And after seeing the sad and worried face of young Cassie Lang flashed through his mind, Hank Pym checked his ego and let out a disgruntled sigh.
"Alright then Stark." Hank gripped the back of a nearby chair. "What exactly can we do right now?"
"First off, we can begin by looking over the technology I took from that HYDRA base." Tony rattled off. "That's the first thing I brought back cause that's probably the reason why the team went missing. We discover how that tech works, we get a step closer to finding our lost friends and family."
"I'm gonna start digging up some old contacts." Clint said, moving to leave the room. "See if any of Nat's or my own connections could get any leads."
"Think you can contact Fury?"
"Got him on speed dial."
"Speed dial? Friday, get Fury on speed dial."
"I don't have his contacts, sir."
"Well next time then. Dr. Pym, if you would. Tech is down in the lab. Better to get started sooner than later."
"Lead the way, Stark."
-Two Weeks Later-
Manhattan.
The city that never sleeps.
Center of the five most well-known boroughs of New York, the city has gained a greater historical significance over the course of the last few years.
Namely being the birthplace of Earth's Mightiest heroes, at one point acting as their main base of operations.
Since 2012, the world had been experiencing a dramatic in individuals considered superhuman or enhanced but none more so then New York itself.
One of these enhanced was currently riding atop the M-transit line while browsing his phone. He had just finished a long day of school and now was out on patrol once more in his homemade suit.
Sophomore year was a weird adjustment now after the big change.
Then again…
Not having Uncle Ben around was the biggest change in his life.
Hanging his head in slight sorrow and guilt at the thought of his deceased father figure, Peter Parker AKA the Amazing Spider-man shook his head to clear himself of those thoughts.
Easier said than done yet nonetheless it worked… a bit, it worked a bit.
Pocketing his phone, Peter tightened the straps on his backpack, jumped from the train and fired off his homemade web shooters and began swinging in between the buildings of Manhattan.
Honestly, these past few months had felt like such a blur.
He constantly asked himself just how in the world did this happen to him but right now, Peter was enjoying the exhilarating feel of swinging up high in the air without a care in the world.
Letting out a whoop of glee, Spiderman performed a corkscrew into a series of flips before firing a line at the last second and heaving himself up to land on a nearby rooftop.
Plopping himself down to sit on the edge, Peter pulled his mask up to his nose while opening up his backpack up to retrieve his lunch.
"No crust." Peter muttered with a smile. "Thank you, May."
Chomping down on his meal, Spidey allowed himself to relax for the brief moment.
Humming to himself, Peter looked out at the Manhattan skyline when his eyes landed on the one building that stood out above the other. Which was saying a lot considering where he was.
Avengers Tower, formerly the headquarters of Earth's Mightiest Heroes stood proud and distinct amongst the Manhattan skyline. He had seen it a number of times by now and it still made him giddy at just seeing the large emblazoned A on the building.
It had been an eclectic year for both himself and the world over to say the least.
From him getting his powers at the end of Freshmen year to the Sokovia incident where an entire nation was lifted into the air by a maniacal robot to his first three months of Sophomore year.
While Peter had been busy with figuring out his powers, the world over had been undergoing through some major shifts.
The Avengers had a serious lineup change with four of the original Avengers either stepping down or leaving on their own for personal reasons. Five new members stepped in to take their place and apparently a few months ago at the start of August, another two members had apparently joined. Something about them being related to bugs.
Hey, who knows. Maybe the arachnid based superhero would get along with these insectoid themed Avengers.
Finishing off one half of the sandwich, Peter moved on to the next half when…
"Hey that looks good, mind sharing." A filtered male voice said from behind.
Peter jolted violently from his seat, his sandwich falling out of his hands.
"Oh… sorry about that." The voice said sheepishly.
Whirling around, Peter's eyes practically bulged out from his head upon seeing just who it was behind him.
It was Iron Man.
Tapping the side of his goggles to make sure they were malfunctioning, Peter dug under his mask to rub his eyes just to be sure.
"Y-you-you're…. I- I don't…." Peter was at a complete loss for words right now.
"Tony." The armored Avenger said simply. "Or more famously Iron Man if you prefer that."
Landing on the rooftop, the front side of the armor opened up to allow Tony Stark to step out in the flesh.
Peter's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, him jumping up to stand and fumble to get his mask back on proper to at least be a bit more presentable.
His thoughts we a jumbled mess as he tried to talk properly but only succeeded in stuttering and stammering.
"I-I-I C-can't believe… Um, Y-You're Spider-man." Peter finally managed out, placing his hands on his hips in an attempt to save face. "No wait, I'm Spider-man."
"Spider-man?" Tony arched his brow a bit. "Really? Not Spiderling? Crime Fighting Spider? Spider-boy?"
"Spiderman." Peter said with more determination this time.
Tony simply nodded his head, pulled out his own hand made phone pulling up a few specific files.
"Spiderman." Tony said conversationally. "So quick question of the rhetorical variety." With a flick of the phone, it displayed a somewhat blurry video of someone in a crudely made red and blue suit swinging by a car thief and snagging the man by the leg with webbing and pulling him away. The footage stopped at a freeze frame of Peter's mask as he was swinging by a street camera. "That's you, right?"
The next video was of Spiderman literally diving in front of a speeding car that nearly crashed into a bus. He stopped it in a split second before jumping away and swinging off.
"Wow, nice catch." Tony praised. "Nice catch, 3000 pounds, 40 miles an hour. Not an easy feat. Got some mad skillz there."
"...That's not me."
"You sure? Who else is wearing a onesie like that?" Tony shot back with an amused expression.
"...It was on Youtube, right? I mean most of that had to be faked."
"Look, Kid, I fly around in a suit of armor i made in a cave." Tony shot him down. "I just saw you swing from the streets down below."
Spider-man sighed, internally kicking himself as he realized he couldn't really argue himself out of this situation.
He certainly wasn't expecting this day to go like this.
"So uh…" Peter began awkwardly. "Are you here… Wait, why are you here?"
"Oh, just stopping by in the neighborhood, seeing the sites and all that jazz."
"Right." Spidey said lowly.
"And to have a nice chat with you."
"M-Me? What for?"
"Well, a lot of reasons actually." Tony said. "See, I had a pamphlet planned out and I wanted to give it to you but since I usually don't like to be handed things, figured you wouldn't like it either."
Peter tried to make sense of what exactly Tony Stark was talking about, something the billionaire Avenger picked up on.
"What I'm trying to say is, I've got an invitation that I-" Tony gestured to himself. "-Am extending to you." He then gestured to the still confused Spider-man.
"An invitation for what exactly?" Spidey asked slowly.
"To the Avengers." Tony answered as if it were the most obvious thing. "You've been on our radar… well, mine really for a while and we've been meaning to talk to you about it. It's just, you know, we've got business to attend to. Avenging and all that stuff."
It could be said in his entire life in known memory, Peter practically felt his heart skipped several beats twice. Once with Uncle Ben's passing… and now.
"You want me to-"
"Yeup."
"...You're joking. You gotta be joking. There's no way I can be-"
"Well I'm offering it to you now."
"But I'm too young." Peter closed his eyes, nearly slapping himself at that small outburst.
"There ain't an age requirement for the team as far as I know." Tony paused before turning around and speaking into his wrist device. "Note to self, think more on Avenger age requirements for future members… after Spidey."
Turning back around, Stark gave Peter one of his patented smiles. "So, about initiation, when joining the team there's a few things you'll need to-"
Tony's prepared spiel was cut off suddenly by Peter's phone ringing loudly.
The two stared at one another with the younger of the two muttering for him to wait a moment. Pulling out his phone from his backpack, Peter cringed a bit at seeing who was calling and looked between the screen and Tony before answering.
Clearing his throat. "Hey May."
"..."
"Yeah, yeah, schools done just finished up… a study session…. With Ned."
"..."
"Eggs? Yeah I'll get some eggs. Bread to? No problem."
"..."
"Love you too, May."
Hanging up, Spidey pocketed his phone back in his pack and looked to Tony apologetically.
"I-uh… gotta go do some grocery shopping." Peter said awkwardly.
"By all means." Tony said, very much amused by what he had just watched.
"Right."
Spider-man didn't know what else to say so he simply jumped from the rooftop and swung away.
Tony watched on with growing interest.
"Hmmm, next stop then."
-The Next Day-
Peter was walking back home, old radio in hand with his headphones on, playing a recording of Neil Degrasse Tyson on the wonders of the cosmos.
Entering his apartment complex, Peter ran up the stairs with his keys in his other hand. Arriving at his door, Peter slid the key in and entered his home.
"Hey May." Peter called out to his Aunt.
"Hey sweetie." His Aunt replied from her seat in the living room. "How was school today?"
Peter shrugged, grabbing a muffin from the kitchen and moving to go to his room. "It was ok. There's this crazy park outside actually-"
Whatever Peter wished to say came to a grinding halt as he just now noticed that there was someone else in his home asides from his Aunt.
Someone he has just seen the other day.
His Aunt was giving him an expectant look whilst Tony Stark was eating his Aunts date loaf with a relaxed demeanor.
"Oh Mr. Parker." Tony pretended to had just noticed Peter's arrival.
Peter was a bit at a loss for words right now. "Uh… um, Hey, I-I'm Peter."
"Tony."
"Right uh, what're you, what're you, what are you doing here?"
"Well, it's about time we met." Tony said, setting down his loaf. "You've been getting my emails, right?" he proceeded to not-so-subtle wink at Peter which went unnoticed by Aunt May.
"Yeah, yeah, Regarding-"
"You didn't even tell me about the grant?" Aunt May cut in making Peter seize on that one word.
"Right, right, about the grant."
"The September Foundation." Tony added. "Remember when you applied?"
"Yes?"
"Well I approved. So now, we're in business." Tony gave Peter one more stare of 'let's-not-beat-around-the-bush-here, taking a sip of his drink a second later.
May held a slightly more disappointed look. "You didn't tell me anything, what's up with that? Are we keeping secrets from each other now?"
"Well I know how you like surprises." Peter quickly said. "So I just thought I would let you know… what… so what did I apply for again?"
"That's what I'm here to patch up." Tony answered. "Just gotta finish finalizing things is all."
"Right… Ok."
"Let me just say that it is quite astonishing that this young lady here is someone's Aunt." Tony said with his old flirtatious charm.
"Well, we aunts come in all shapes and sizes." May said with a bit of pride.
"This wall-nut date-loaf is particularly exceptional."
"Let me just stop you there." Peter interrupted. "This grant has got money involved or whatever?"
"Of course, yeah it is." Tony said. "I mean, look who you're talking to. Can I have five minutes with him?"
"Of course." May said, giving both Peter and Tony a bright smile while standing up to clean up the table with Tony gesturing for Peter to take them to a more private location.
Feeling his palms get a bit sweaty, Peter acquiesced and lead the billionaire to his small room.
Upon closing the door behind him, Tony made sure to lock it before going over to Peter's trash can and spitting out the rest of his unfinished loaf.
"As Walnut Date loaf's go, that wasn't bad." Tony remarked, looking around Peter's room settling on the young teen's desk. "Oh wow, what do we have here? Retro tech, huh? Thrift Store? Salvation Army?"
"Uh, the, uh garbage actually."
"You're a dumpster diver." Tony said plainly. "Have you been keeping up with your shots if you do that?"
"Yes, I have." Peter said. "..."
Tony crossed his arms, waiting for Peter to say something as clearly there was something on his mind.
"Look, I know I didn't apply for anything-"
"Ah, ah." Tony cut him off. "Me first. We didn't finish our conversation yesterday on that rooftop."
Peter's face visibly paled with an audible gulp.
"Spider-man." Tony said, testing out the name once more. "Not a lot of people like spiders, but you make it work."
"S-Spider-man?" Peter attempted to play it off. "Wha-What are you talking about? Who's this spider-guy you're talking about? That guy on YouTube?"
"Uh huh, yeah, see he's a bit of a new sensation. Kind of an urban myth like those UFOs over Phoenix" Tony moved aside for Peter to go to his desk as the young boy stammered out denials when Stark picked up a broom and pushed open a ceiling tile that was clearly out of place with a bundle of red and blue falling out which Peter dashed over to hide though it was all for nothing.
Peter tried to play it off though he knew the gig was up.
"Spider-man." Tony said knowingly.
Peter sighed. "You know I was actually having a really good day today, Mr. Stark. Didn't miss my train, this perfectly good DVD player was just sitting there."
Tony all the while picked up the boys homemade suit.
"And had an Algebra test today." Peter tapped his pen on his table emphatically. "Nailed it."
"Does anyone else know?"
"Nobody." Peter replied.
"Not even your… unusually attractive Aunt."
"No~ no, no, no." Peter said quickly. "If she knew she would freak out and when she freaks out then I freak out and then…."
Peter left his sentence unfinished.
"Lordy: can you even see through these?" Tony said jokingly, bringing the goggles of his mask up to his face making a bunch of noise.
Peter snatched his suit back in slight annoyance. "Yes, I can. I just have really heightened senses. The goggles just help me focus is all."
"Uh-huh. And what of your webbing? Who manufactured that cause the tensile strength on that is off the charts." Tony said, clearly impressed.
"I did."
"Climbing walls? How you do that? Adhesive gloves?"
"Came with my heightened senses."
Nodding, Tony eyed Peter's outfit. "You, my good sir, are in dire need of an upgrade. Systemic, top to bottom, hundred-point restoration." Putting all jokes aside, the billionaire became serious. "Why are you doing this?"
"Excuse me?"
"I gotta know, what's your MO? What gets you out of your bed each morning?"
Peter didn't know what to say at first, causing him to stammer. Thinking of the best possible answer, he blabbed it out. "Because… I've been me my whole life and had these powers for seven months now."
Tony hummed, ushering Peter to continue.
"I read books. I build computers. I had thought of playing football, but I couldn't then so I shouldn't now."
"Sure, because you're different."
"Exactly. But I can't tell anybody that, so I'm not." Pausing, Peter thought on a memory and focused well into it. "When you can do the things that I can, but you don't… and then bad things happen… they happen because of you. No one else. You."
An uncomfortable silence fell upon them with Tony reflecting quite well what Peter was saying. His time in Afghanistan, being taken by the Ten Rings and escaping… at the cost of Yensin's life. And years later, him creating Ultron… and almost wiping out the planet's population by his own actions as a result.
And looking into Peter's eyes, Tony saw the kid too had something happen which was caused by his own actions and they haunted him greatly.
Breaking the silence, Tony spoke. "So you wanna look out for the little guy and you wanna do your part? Make the world a better place, all that, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. Just looking out for the little guy." Peter coughed into his hand in wanting to compose himself. "That's what it is."
Tony stared long and hard at the young superhero.
It was strange really how much he reminded him of both himself and Cap. Kid had a heart for the little guy like Cap always did but his guilt was something Tony was all too familiar with. Heck, his color patterns on his suit may as well have been a combination of Tony's trademark color of red with Cap's blazing blue.
"Well, I'm sold." Tony said, getting up from his chair and walking over to Peter. "I'm gonna sit right here so move the leg."
Peter slid his leg down, allowing Tony to sit down beside him on his twin bed. The Billionaire raised his hand, hovering in the air for a moment before patting Peter.
"So, ever been out of Queens?"
"Uh…"
"Trick question." Tony quickly said. "I'm here for… a proposition so to speak. The one I told ya yesterday."
-Scene Cut-
*THWACK*
"Shit! It's him!"
"The fuck is he doing out here?!"
"For God's sake, shut up and get your gun re-AURGH"
From above, a man dressed in a red and black suit fell upon his next target, his body weight sending the criminal down to the ground and knocked him out with a clean jab to the head.
"The Devil!"
"It's just a guy in a sui-GAH!"
Said guy in a suit through a baton of some kind to a nearby wall which ricocheted off the bricks with an increased velocity which smacked itself dead center in the thug's forehead.
The man's head twitches to the side and with an astonishing display of reaction, reflexes, flexibility and agility performed a corkscrew backflip with him kicking another criminal down for the count.
There was the cocking of a pistol which made the red and black clad vigilante immediately pull out his other baton and flung it at the gunmen.
The gun was knocked out of the man's hand, the thug holding his hand as it throbbed in pain. He looked up in time with an expression of pure terror as the "Devil" stood before him with his fist cocked back.
A jolting pain in his cheek and the rest was just darkness.
The Devil stood over the broken and battered bodies of this small band of criminals and casually pulled out some rope he kept in his small new belt that he had attached to his suit.
He began rounding up the unconscious thugs, the sound of police sirens off in the distance drawing near.
Checking his surroundings one last time, he bolted from his spot and went towards the nearby fire escape. Quickly ascending the ladder and winding way towards the roof, the "Devil" peered down to see the police arriving onto the scene. As the law enforcement started hauling the thugs into their cruisers, the "Devil" finally decided to call it a night and rest.
He began running and jumping across the rooftops, buildings and fire escapes before at long last arriving at his destination.
Home.
Sliding down the ladder to his window, The Devil's hand was about to open the window to his home when he inclined his head down with his ear to the glass.
Eyes narrowing beneath his helmet, his enhanced senses began to pick upon on several things that did not belong in his home.
Cautiously, the Devil went to another part of his home and entered through a secret ventilation compartment and dropped down into the middle of his living room.
"Quite the space you have there."
The "Devil" stopped moving upon hearing the voice in his humble home.
Whirling around, he threw a baton right at the source, which was met with the projectile hitting something metal.
"YEOWCH!" The man cried aloud, shaking his hand in pain. "Whoa there, cowboy. I just wanna talk!"
The "Devil" soon heard his home invader move something across his hand and reconfigured it around his wrist.
"What are you doing here?"
"Like I said, I just wanna talk."
"And I can charge you for trespass."
"Sure you could, ninja boy."
The "Devil" ignored the punny jab at him as he wasn't in the mood on the banter.
"I'll ask you this only once." The Devil spoke in complete seriousness. "Who are you and what are you doing in my house?"
"Scouting."
"Scouting for what?"
"Just to assemble a new ensemble of people to help protect the innocent and all that jazz."
The "Devil" was trying to identify the voice and there was a tinge of something familiar about it. Where had he heard this voice before? He know he had, he didn't have excellent memory for nothing.
"Who are you?" he found himself asking again.
"Oh, no one special."
The look he gave the intruder was enough for said individual to let out a slight sigh of exasperation.
"Look, I see I came in at a bad time. You cranky from a long day and night of work. So you rest up and I'll chat with ya when you're less cranky… or whatever."
The trespasser then made his way towards the window and opened it up. Once stepping outside, he waved his hand and made his way further up the fire escape. The "Devil's" hearing picked soon picked up the man making it to the rooftop before sounds of an engine of sorts fired up and took off into the air.
'Who was that guy?' Came Matt Murdock's thoughts, pulling off his horned helmet and tossing it aside. 'Need to be more careful now since someone saw me here.'
"Foggy, Foggy, Foggy, Foggy."
Pulling out his phone from his utility belt, he answered the call and spoke. "Hey, Foggy, what's up?"
"Checking up on you, duh." Foggy said from his end of the line with a joking demeanor. "Busy night?"
Matt stared out the window, his ears picking up on some kind of burning sound far off in the distance.
"Somewhat."
-Scene Cut-
The air was nice and crisp this fine morning. Something Matt Murdock enjoyed quite well. With a mug of coffee in one hand with his walking stick in the other, the blind lawyer walked towards his law firm, surprisingly relaxed even after last nights unexpected visitor.
You know what they say, a good nights' sleep does wonders for you.
Taking a sip of the freshly hot brew, the lawyer ascended the stairs at a careful pace. He didn't want to spill his precious caffeinated drink, even though his mug was closed off, along with him being careful on what he stepped on. After all, he slipped and fell a handful of times when he wasn't paying attention and he didn't want to make that same mistake for a long time.
Walking into the law firm, Matt's ears were greeted with an all too pleasant voice.
"Well, well, well, look who finally decided to grace us with his supreme presence."
Matt only smiled at his best friends joking tone. "You should feel so honored."
"Oh, we do." Foggy remarked, reclining back in his chair while reading up on a case they had been working on. "Ain't that right, Karen?"
Their blond secretary only chuckled beneath her breath, writing out several forms and contracts for clients that had come to their firm. "Yes. Lord Murdock is here. Now the real work can begin."
Foggy laughed aloud. "You here that, Lord Murdock. It's time to begin our real work."
The blind lawyer shook his head at their antics, making his way towards his desk.
"What do we have for today?" Matt inquired. "Is that Richard Drezin case gotten any headway?"
"There are several topics that came up." Foggy mentioned, pulling out a braille copy of the aforementioned copy. "Something about the driver somehow ending up on the road when he got struck."
"Who drives onto the side of the street?" Karen asked in bewilderment.
"Most people over in Europe and Asia." Matt responded. "Basically anyone outside of the US."
"You could say that again."
"And who is this person filing charges against?" Karen inquired.
"Some guy named Storm, Johnny Storm."
"...That can't be his real name." Matt said, giving his friend an extremely bewildered look.
"Legal documents are right here."
"Sounds something a weatherman would have on a news station."
"You're telling me."
"Speaking of news stations, I also got one from a Mr. Jameson." Karen pointed out.
"Old J.J? From the Bugle?"
"He does or might no longer. Says here he's trying to go through a legal battle against someone trying to buy out his newspaper for some particular set of reasons."
"Why isn't he using his pre-existing lawyers on that?"
Matt would've heard more on this conversation until his head suddenly looked to the side, his ears picking up on footsteps coming up to the front door of their law firm.
He got a whiff of cologne and… was that Axe body spray? Who wears that anymore?
The individual standing at the door knocked with a funny pattern, drawing the attention of Karen and Foggy.
"Oh, a new client so early in the morning." Foggy said with some excitement.
"Might be trying to get the more important stuff done early instead of later."
"I know I would. Especially first thing."
Matt remained silent, staring at the front door. Getting through the ridiculous choice of cologne, Matt caught a scent he had recently sensed just the other day.
"It's open." Foggy called out to the person on the other side, the door swinging open to reveal…
"Oh~ real quaint place you got here."
'That voice.'
Both Foggy and Karen froze in shock, with the lawyer stuttering out something out of his mouth. "Y-You're-You're-"
"Yes I know. You don't need to be too shocked to see me here."
"W-Why wouldn't we? You're Tony freaking Stark!"
Matt inhaled sharply, clenching his walking stick tightly.
"Actually my middle name is Edward, not 'freaking'." Joked the Iron Avenger. "But that is a pretty cool name actually when you say it out loud. So hey, Tony Freaking Stark. Pleasure to meet you all."
While Karen and Foggy stared in complete and absolute astonishment, Matt had his eyes boring into Tony's despite wearing his ruby shaded spectacles.
Tony noticed this and returned the gaze unflinchingly though managing to keep up an easygoing facade to the others.
"Uh… Do you-Would you like something to drink?" Karen quickly asked as she started heading towards the coffee machine. "Or something to snack on?"
"Nah, I'm good. Thanks for the offers though."
"Wh-what-what exactly can we d-do for you?" Foggy questioned in a stammer.
"Well it's not exactly you, Mr. Nelson, but with your friend here."
Feeling Mr. Stark's gaze resting upon him, he asked the obvious question. "Me?" Matt said lowly. "And why exactly are you here to speak to me, Mr. Stark?"
There was a clear tension in the question yet Tony shrugged it off.
"Requesting your help."
"With what, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Putting together a team." Tony said knowingly. "Is it alright if we talk in private?"
Matt narrowed his eyes, giving the billionaire a glare of sorts.
"And what's so important that requires him to talk alone with you?"
Hearing Karen's question was directed at the billionaire, no doubt in a defensive manner, prompted the Iron Avenger to respond back.
"Nothing personal against you, Ms. Page." Tony said placatingly. "It's just something I've been meaning to speak with Mr. Murdock here on a very important topic that I think he should probably consider."
"Are you giving him an offer he can't refuse?" Foggy couldn't help but ask aloud.
"Not really Vito, just a life changing opportunity. Something that'll greatly benefit you three completely."
"And what makes you believe such a thing?" Matt asked somewhat challengingly. "What if I don't want to buy what you're selling?"
Foggy shot up from his seat though Tony was already answering the question.
"Then I think it would be a bit harder for you in keeping the white whale called Fisk locked away longer than he should."
The mention of Fisk cause a visible reaction from the three law firm tenants.
Karen flinched openly with Foggy's eyes widening. Matt tensed up and folded away his walking stick.
"Don't want to be all stereotypical about it, but I do have influences and connections that can help keep him in confinement longer than his scheduled time. And after pulling some Tomb Raiding off the deep web, I was able to find-"
"Stop…." Matt cut him off. "Just stop."
Tony had his mouth open to ramble on, clamping shut a moment later.
"Let's talk in my office." Matt said. "Foggy."
This surprised Tony a bit. "Really?"
"He and I make many decisions together." Matt said firmly. "Whatever you're going to offer, the two of us will hear it together."
Tony nodded approvingly. "Alright, fair enough."
The three men were soon seated within Matt's own office with Foggy nervously thrumming his hand against his best friends' desk.
By his side was Matt, seated upright with his hands crossed in front of him on the desk while facing the relaxed, reclined billionaire with a completely stoic face.
"Let's not beat around the bush here, Stark." Matt said plainly. "Why do you want me to join the Avengers?"
Foggy's face paled, snapping his head back and forth between Matt and Stark with his mouth suddenly dry.
"What makes you assume that?" Tony asked dismissively.
"Mr. Stark, I am not one to play around when it comes to serious matters such as the idea of being on a world stage." Matt said bluntly, making Tony blink at the lawyer's forwardness. "What you are asking of me is to basically declare to the world who I am and in my particular line of work, the safety nets you have is not a luxury I have."
"But that can be given to you." Tony countered. "If you join up, the name alone is enough to ward off quite a lot of basic criminals."
"You know that's not gonna work so easily."
Tony chewed the inside of his cheek. "Ok, yeah, criminals are idiots and don't know when to quit. But think about this. Daredevil, Avengers newest recruit sweeps through Manhattan crime wave. How many criminals will want to come out to play in the dark then?"
"Is this some kind of joke to you, Mr. Stark?"
"Do I sound like I'm joking?" Tony said to himself. "Alright, no facades here. Matt Murdock, I want you to join the Avengers."
Hearing this offer practically got Foggy almost foaming at the mouth… in a comedic manner. Wiping his mouth clean of it all, he quickly bolted from his seat and almost yelled at the top of his lungs.
"You want him to what?!"
"No."
"WHAT?!" Foggy cried out. "Matt, are you serious?"
"Wow, I kinda had the same response." Tony took the rejection in stride. "He's not the first and will surely not be the last in hearing that."
"Matt." Foggy said quietly. "You can't be serious about rejecting this? Think about it."
"I have Foggy, and that's just not me in the slightest." Matt said with conviction. "Mr. Stark here handles the world ending threats but my job is here, down on the ground to pick up the slack that he obviously cannot."
"Alright, that was a serious shade throw right there if ever there was one." Tony murmured. "Ok, listen Matt, can I call you that? I'm gonna level with ya here cause this is something that I take a bit too seriously from what I've been told."
Matt leaned in with intrigue, his sense picking up on the shift in Tony's aura so to speak.
"The world has been under constant threat the past few years." Tony spoke in total seriousness, no room for humor. "And if you haven't noticed, it's only been escalating especially after New York three years ago."
Matt and Foggy were fully aware of course. They were here, in the city when chaos and death reigned from the sky in a literal void above Avengers Tower to the eternal expanse of space. An alien race came charging with six extraordinary individuals coming in to repel the attack.
Since that day, nothing on Earth had been the same.
They were not alone. And they were woefully underprepared for what was out there. It honestly seemed like fate or chance that the Avengers were there to save the day.
"Recently however, something happened." Tony went on, his tone turning grave. "The majority of my team, my friends, have disappeared."
"Whaddya mean by disappeared?"
"I'll pretty much summarize the whole thing for ya. Everyone except for Hawkeye and I went to a HYDRA base, they investigated and something went down over there. End result, they disappeared off the face of the planet."
Matt and Foggy were simply stunned silent. The Avengers were gone?
The entire team was missing? How is that possible?
Tony went on unimpeded with interruption. "Tried everything I could to find them since and I've had no such luck in finding their whereabouts."
Silence hung in the air as the two lawyers attempted to process as to what they had just heard. Matt in particular stared long and hard at the Iron Avenger, gauging at his heart rate, breath pattern, anything that may seem off to him.
"He's not lying…"
"You sure?"
"I would tell if he did."
"Oh~ a human lie detector. That's new." Tony said with interest. "How does that work?"
Rather than answering the current question, Matt chose to address one of the prior ones.
"Mr. Stark." Matt spoke in calm and measured words. "In light of these recent revelations… I'll take into consideration about this invitation. I admit that I was perhaps a bit too… rash and unjustified in my rejection of such an offer."
Tony only grinned in response. "That's all I wanted to hear."
Standing up from his seat, a gesture both lawyers mirrored, Stark held out his hand which Matt shook straight away.
There was one thing Tony was curious of, however, before he leaves. "So~ this whole blind thing…" He gestured up to the ruby glasses. "Is it real or an act?"
"That's… a bit complicated to explain." Matt plainly replied.
"That's the usual response I would expect really." Tony said flatly. "Nothing is ever simple in this world anymore."
"I don't think it has been for quite some time, Mr. Stark." Matt remarked.
"Preaching to the choir, Mr. Murdock." Tony said. "Until next time then."
Stark left a moment later leaving the two friends to their devices.
"So then~" Foggy gave his best friend a certain look. "You're an Avenger now."
"Let's not go jumping to that label just yet, Foggy." Matt said, his hand gesturing down yet his friends grin remained.
"What now then?"
Matt was silent, his advanced hearing picking up on Stark's receding footsteps down the hallways with his mind still on the proposition rich man had offered him. Joining the Avengers was not something Matt had ever even considered or even thought of in the slightest. It always seemed as though he was down here in the nitty gritty while the Avengers were up above, battling against innumerable enemies and odds that only they were capable of facing.
But now? Now these great beings had come down to him and offered him a spot among their ranks. That was not an easy thing to decide on and he did indeed feel a bit too hasty in how quickly he shot down the initial invite.
Going back to Foggy's unanswered question, Matt looked to his friend before turning to Karen and let out a disgruntled sigh.
"This changes a lot of things, Foggy." Matt said sardonically. "If I'm really gonna be a part of this… then that means it has to be all in."
Foggy quirked a brow, looking to who Matt was staring at before realizing the implication and turning back to his friend with his jaw dropping a bit.
"Are you sure about this, Matty?"
"No." Matt admitted. "But to take into consideration the prospect of being an Avenger? I… I'll have to change a few things for myself and for all of us. Karen deserves to know if she's staying with us for the long haul."
Foggy let out a sigh. "If you say so."
Sensing his best friends uncertainty, Matt grinned slightly and patted his friend on the back comfortingly. "Hey, things are gonna be alright. Who knows, when we meet Captain America you could get an autograph from him."
Foggy chortled when he took a moment to ponder over Matt's words. "Do you think he would?"
Now Matt laughed aloud at Foggy's comment, gaining Karen's attention.
"You guys are in high spirits." Karen stated, making Matt tilt his head slightly.
"We've recently been offered something that would be extremely beneficial to our firm. Though… there are many cons as well." Matt said. "In more way than what'd you would expect."
"Like what? Being his attorneys?" Karen said jokingly getting a small chuckle out of her two employers/friends.
"No…" Matt scratched the side of his head. "Not exactly."
Karen tilted her head.
"So what's the offer?" She inquired.
Matt and Foggy both exchanged glances even with the formers blindness, with the two entering a silent debate as to who should speak first.
"It's your show first, Matty." Foggy encouraged, making the blind lawyer sigh in slight defeat.
"Karen." Matt spoke slowly. "There is something you must know. Something I had hoped to keep a secret until Tony Stark dropped his offer on our front doorstep."
Tony Stark had stepped out of the building, momentarily looking back before checking his watch.
"Huh~ got time to kill." Tony murmured. "Might as well get some pizza."
Just as Tony was about to leave, he halted in his tracks upon hearing a sharp shriek of one word.
"WHAT?!"
Turning to the building of Nelson and Murdock's Law Firm, Tony blinked before reaching the obvious conclusion.
"Looks like she didn't know about Matt." Tony remarked. "Oh boy, this is gonna be a long one for the two."
-Scene Cut-
Clint Barton let out a tired sigh, leaning back in the chair he was currently resting on while looking over several files he had been reading for the past few minutes.
Off to the side, Tony sat with Shawarma in hand and a datapad in the other munching on his lunch.
Both men were relatively silent, going about their own business which was cut off upon the arrival of one annoyed Hank Pym.
"Mind telling me what the both of you are doing?" Hank asked in a deadpan at their rather lax mood.
"Looking over some important shit." Tony idly responded. "Finding Avengers and all, both here and there."
"And that means?"
"We're looking for our friends and new recruits." Clint answered before Tony could make another retort.
"New recruits?" Hank repeated in bewilderment. "Why in God's name would you be doing that over looking for the others."
"He just said we're doing both." Tony pointed out. "Besides, this was something I've been wanting to do for a while anyway. It's just that… well unfortunate circumstances forced me to do it sooner than later."
"Listen, Hank, we have a duty not just in finding the rest of the Avengers but also being the Avengers as well." Clint stated firmly. "The Earth is now undermanned and we gotta pick up the slack and help get a new team together for the safety of this planet."
Hank wanted to counter that statement but knew better this time around. As loath as he was to admit it out loud, Pym understood their reasoning and it wasn't exactly his place to speak out against such a thing. After all, at one point in his life he conducted missions on behalf of the world for its safety. Granted it was always done in secret… and the fact that SHIELD was actually HYDRA but he still believed and knew he had helped safeguard the world a number of times.
So, he kinda regretted in asking this.
"Who do you have?"
Clint and Tony paused in their work, looking up at the old inventor/hero before looking at one another.
"What?" Was Tony's response.
Hank grumbled. "Who do you have? Which people did you recruit?"
Wordlessly Tony held out his datapad for Hank.
Pym took the pad out of Starks hand and looked over what he had so far.
"Spider-man?" Hank murmured. "Is this a play on me being an Ant?"
Tony guffawed with Clint cracking an amused grin.
"Not at all but thank you for that." Tony remarked. "No, this is someone I've had my eye on since I first caught wind of him a few months ago. Hasn't been active long but kids got skills and potential."
"Kid?" Hank said. "What are we talking about here, 20? 19?"
"Try 15."
"Fifteen?!" Hank exclaimed. "What the hell is the matter with you, Stark?! Why in god's name would you choose a high schooler?!"
"Just look at what he could do." Tony said confidently.
Glowering at the billionaire for a brief moment, Hank glanced down to the collection of short clips Tony had put together and what he saw wasn't disappointing to say the least.
"The webbing…" Hank spoke up, bringing up the file that Tony had separate to it. "The tensile strength is extraordinary. Did you give him that?"
"He made it." Tony said smugly. "Kids a natural little genius. Made his own web shooters to swing around."
Hank couldn't deny that he wasn't impressed. A fifteen year old kid made this?
"He's still a kid though."
"Yeah, a kid that could stop a bus with his bare hands." Tony pointed out. "A kid that chose to do this without anyone egging him on to do so. Think about what we can do if we teach him how to avoid our mistakes."
Hank gave the Iron superhero a hard stare, seeing a weight and tiredness in the man's eyes. A tiredness he himself could relate to.
Sighing, Hank decided to drop this matter and move on to the next individual. The first word he spotted was the man's occupation.
"Lawyer?" Hank snorted aloud. "There some kind of ulterior motive behind this one, Stark?"
"Him being a lawyer is just an added bonus is all." Tony said airily though the humorous tone was obvious to hear. "Makes him much more legitimate if you want to call it that."
Shaking his head in amusement, Hank read over the file with his face growing much more serious.
'He's blind? How does he even fight?' Hank internally questioned.
Hank kept scrolling down and found that Tony had a few notes, this lawyer apparently telling him of his hyper advanced senses. Hyper-hearing, smell, touch and taste.
Fascinating set of abilities.
"The Devil of Hell's Kitchen?" Hank mused. "That's one heck of a nickname."
"Sure earned it though." Clint said with praise. "Guy took on several mobs and that Kingpin fella on his own. Not bad."
"So that's it so far?" Hank inquired. "Just these two?"
"Well, the only two I approached." Tony admitted. "Got a few others in Manhattan that I've been meaning to meet with as well."
"Plus a few scattered around the world." Clint added, bringing up more files from his own nearby datapad before sending it to the one Hank held.
Hank looked over several files, taking a few seconds to skim over each one he went through.
"Ethereal Flames? What kind of description is that supposed to be?"
"Don't know, that's all we got on this wayward traveler."
"Boss."
The three men glanced up at the sound of Friday's voice.
"I've just received a message from Colonel Fury."
"What'd he say?"
"Let me in Stark, I need to talk with you."
Everyone present paused as they all took a moment to process the voice of one Nick Fury that was heard over the bases intercom. More specifically, the intercom in the room they resided in at the moment.
No sooner did Tony allow entry for the former director of SHIELD that the man came in, trench-coat, eyepatch and all.
"Ahoy, Patchy." Tony greeted lazily. "Nice of you to finally visit after-"
"The Avengers went missing?" Fury finished for Stark in dry tone. "I'm well aware Stark. What do you think I've been doing?"
"I dunno." Tony said with a shrug. "You're a spy with his spy organization defunct thanks to Cap and you've basically gone AWOL since Ultron. You tell me."
Fury rolled his singular eye at Starks typical banter, looking over to Clint and giving him a nod in greeting which the archer returned.
He then turned to Hank with the two entering into a bit of a stare down.
"Doctor Pym." Fury said cordially.
"Fury." Pym said in turn.
Tony of course, couldn't help himself. "So, not for nothing. Not that surprised that you do know Pym here, but the question is when and how? SHIELD days?"
"Something like that." Fury answered cryptically.
"Well that explains just about everything." Tony said with an expectant look to add to his sarcasm. "So, what's the word on your end Fury? Any luck in finding a way to locate our wayward teammates?"
Fury only shook his head, mentally berating himself at his failure at locating the lost heroes. So much for being the spy who knows everything.
Tony slumped a bit in disappointment, feeling a bit of his hopes being dashed.
"So then why are you here exactly?" Clint asked for the group overall.
"Found something that you guys might find surprising." Fury announced. "She's been a bit under the radar to say the least, but Bruce made me promise to keep it that way like I did with him before New York."
The others stared in confusion at the former Director.
"I'm sorry, what now?" Tony spoke up. "Bruce? She? What's going on here, Nick?"
"Fury." The bald spy corrected pointedly. "And what's going on is I have another possible recruit who wants to present her case personally."
"Oh, Show and tell then?" Clint stated.
"Something like that."
"You said that Bruce asked you to keep her under the radar." Tony brought up, thinking back to his close friend that had gone missing earlier this year. "Who exactly is she?"
Fury eyed Tony, looking between him, Clint and Hank.
"Someone important. Family."
-Scene Cut-
Peter stared in complete awe, stammering profusely into his phone as he vlogged about his newest suit that was a major upgrade from his old onesie.
It was completely sleek and form fitting with multiple new tech upgrades that Peter had only scratched the surface of.
Literally. He literally didn't know what most of these new functions were capable of.
In all honesty, it was completely overwhelming.
But awesome all the same.
Did this mean he was part of the Avengers?
Right now, Peter really didn't care all that much as he read over a few of the instructions that came in the case of his new suit and quickly slipped it on a few moments later before jumping out from his window and scaled up the side of his building.
Good thing Aunt May was out working today.
Peter eventually got to the rooftop and stood atop the edge, inhaling deeply while stretching himself out to get a feel of the new suit.
It was tight and form fitting but really snug at the same time.
Looking down to the street below before back at the city scape before him, Peter was jittery and excited to a high degree that he couldn't even describe it properly.
He readied himself to jump out into the streets below when a stray thought occurred in his mind making him pause in his movements.
This brand new suit was really awesome and he couldn't wait to try it out. But doing from the roof of his apartment building felt kinda lackluster.
Taking a moment to gaze out at his home borough, Peter's eyes landed on the Manhattan skyline off in the distance.
-Scene Cut-
Standing atop the Chrysler Building, Peter peaked out over the edge of the skyscraper with his enhanced eyes picking up the many cars and people moving about down below.
Mask in hand, the young hero let out a series of calming and readying breaths as he internally hyped himself up.
This wasn't the first time he would web-swing of course, however he got a brand new spanking, sleek and spiffy suit made by Tony Stark himself.
Placing his mask on, his lenses widened and narrowed several times to get adjusted to his own eyes while the many functions of the suit appeared before him.
Rolling his shoulders and jumping a bit on the spot, Spider-man crouched down low to the ground and jumped high into the air into a forward backflip.
Free-falling to the ground below, Spider-man let out a whoop of glee as he accelerated downward until his was at the tenth floor level of the building he jumped from.
Shooting out a web line, the momentum coupled with the velocity on top of his strength with his pull sent the web-head rocketing forward at full speed.
"This is awesome." Peter exclaimed with jubilation, swinging through the buildings of Manhattan with glee.
Down below, and all around from the windows, citizens caught sight of a red and blue blur swing above them or at their story high building with many trying to get a glimpse as to what that was.
Spider-Man sailed through the air, from web line to web line when the sound of trouble caught his attention.
Not far below, he heard a scream of a woman and managed to look down in time to see a man wrench a ladies purse from her hands and made a break for it.
Letting go of the line he was currently swinging on, Peter dive-bombed to the ground and with expert timing landed right in front of the mugger who stumbled back in shock at such a brightly colored individual appearing in front of him.
"I'll take that." Peter declared, firing a web at the bag and easily snatching it out of the man's hands. "And you could hang out here a minute."
Using a trick he had been working on prior to meeting Tony Stark, Spidey shot a web at the petty thief that snagged him up and whipped the line to a nearby street lamp with the man now hanging there pitifully.
"Hey, uh, Whose is this?" Peter called aloud to the assembled crowd, holding up the bag. "I got it back."
Nobody responded, instead hearing multiple murmurs and whispers as to just who this guy was supposed to be.
"Uh… Ok." Spider-man shrugged. "Is there an officer nearby? There's gotta be, it's Manhattan."
Thankfully, the woman who had been mugged stepped forward though she did so hesitantly. He offered it right to her with a smile beneath his mask before jumping away to swing through the city once more.
"Alright, good start." Peter murmured to himself, swinging around the corner of a street when his Heads up display from his mask notified him of a text message he had received from Aunt May.
"Whoa, cool." Spider-Man remarked, landing on a wall with his stick 'em powers allowing him to casually sit against the bricks.
Pulling up the message, May's text informed him of her having to pull a longer shift then expected for today and that he shouldn't wait up for the night.
While slightly upset that he wouldn't see his Aunt waiting for him at home, Peter could hardly deny the growing excitement of spending the whole day learning the higher functions of his newest suit.
And so for the next few hours, Peter found himself swinging throughout the city of Manhattan, going back to Queens even stopping by Brooklyn to test out how well his suit functioned under prolonged usage.
Needless to say, he wasn't disappointed.
To be frank with himself, he was still coming to grips with what he had gotten. It was just to surreal for him.
Knowing he needed a momentary breather to think, Spider-man quickly zipped by a hot dog stand and snagged several readymade dirty water dogs while dropping a twenty for the vendor.
Swinging upward, he casually landed in a seated position on the edge of a nearby rooftop and pulled his mask up to his nose to eat.
Nothing like a New York Hot dog to round out the day.
Taking a large bite out of his first hot dog, Spidey hummed to himself while pulling out his phone and began sifting through any messages or updates he had gotten over the past few hours.
Aside from a recent text from his Aunt asking him if he was home yet, there wasn't much that he had gotten that was important. Just the usual texts and emails he got from his few friends, school and so on.
There was one piece of information however that immediately caught his attention. And that were the multiple news articles and videos that had sprung up about a certain wall crawler that has been sited all throughout New York helping the citizens of the boroughs in any and every way he can.
Scrolling down a bit more, he saw a few news outlets from Queens bring up other videos and images of him at the start of his superhero career and comparing the movements and action concluding that this must be the same vigilante.
Peter was surprised and not surprised at the same time. He was surprised at how quickly they deduced that it was just him with a new updated look but at the same time with social media and all, he rationalized it wouldn't be too much of a stretch that they figured out it was just him.
Shrugging to himself, Peter reached for more hot dogs when he realized he was all out.
"Ah dang it." Peter muttered to himself. "All out."
Glancing around back to the hot dog stand down below, he saw the man was packing up and heading home.
"Well he's out of the question."
Looking around, Peter hoped to find any food places open that were close by when his eyes landed on several shady individuals all "discretely" entering in an alleyway a few blocks down.
Narrowing his eyes, Spider-man had a strange gut feeling about these goons and slid his mask back on.
Making sure to swing high in the air and sticking to shadowy areas, Spider-man soon found himself attached to a wall in between the alley that these shifty men had entered.
Down below, he counted about a dozen or so men all present with three on one end with the others standing before them.
"Alright then." The central figure of the trio on the left spoke in a European accent Spidey couldn't quite identify. "Which one of you fine gentlemen is Barret?"
"That'd be me." A Black America with a beret stepped forward with a bit of a swagger to his step. "I take it your this clue guy?"
"Ulysses Klaue." The European identified himself with an eccentric grin. "At your service."
"Klaue?" One of Barret's boys spoke up. "Ulysses Klaue of Ahab? Aren't you on Sound Cloud?"
Klaue's eyes lit up with glee. "Are you a fan? We've got a new album coming out soon."
"Murphy, seriously?" Barret gave his cohort a dry look who in turn shrugged sheepishly.
"I'll be sure to give a signed physical copy." Klaue said with a grin. "Now, onto business. Mr. Turk Barret, can I interest you in my wears?"
"Alright, none of that RPG mumbo jumbo." Turk waved off. "Show us what you've got."
"Gladly." Klaue's crazed grin remained in place, giving one of his men a nod.
The man to Klaues' left held up a briefcase he was carrying and opened to reveal a gun shaped device of some kind that none of the New York natives could identify.
"And what the fuck is this supposed to be?" Turk said in bewilderment.
"This my good friend is the future." Klaue spoke like a car salesmen, voice giddy with what he was presenting. "The tipping point you'll need to not only stave off the worst of your enemies but put you on the top and keep you there."
"What can it do?" one of Turks men asked.
"Well, I'm glad you asked young man." Klaue said in a manner similar to a salesmen…. Which he technically was.
Grabbing the weapon, Klaue held it up in the direction of some nearby trash cans and garbage bags. Pulling on the trigger, the weapon made some humming sounds that it was powering up with several lights appearing around its form.
A moment later, a ball of purplish-blue energy shot out from the barrel of the now clearly defined super gun and completely obliterated the pile of trash and metal.
Turk and his men jumped back in shock and awe while Peter, who had been watching the whole thing, widened his eyes in utter disbelief.
'What the hell is that supposed to be?!' Peter internally asked in a bit of a mental scream.
"I can't let these guys get this thing out on the streets." Peter said, starting to edge his way down.
"With this beauty." Klaue confidently patted the gun. "No one would be able to challenge you."
"You sure about that?" Spider-man announced from above, making himself known to the criminals as he fired a web line and snatched the weapon out from Ulysses' hands.
Instead of being angered or irate at losing his merchandise, Klaue instead looked at Spider-man who stood on the wall with childlike wonder.
"Bless my beard, and who are you supposed to be?" Klaue inquired with clear intrigue.
"Hey." Another of Turk's men spoke up. "I've been seeing this guy all over New York today. It's that spider guy from Queens."
"You're a long way from home, aren't you?" Barret said, managing to hide his slightly nervous tone.
"Right, the E-express line is such a long way from home." Spider-man said dryly. "Now, how about you come quietly and we could all put this behind us while you're behind bars for the illegal trade of weapons of mass destruction."
"How old are you?" Turk couldn't help but ask, taking note of Peter's voice. "You sound like a kid."
"A kid who has your little toy." Peter shot back.
"Right, right."
Wordlessly, Turk and the rest of his men pulled out pistols all pointed at Spider-man who tensed up but remained where he stood.
"How about you step down and hand that back over to us and we'll-"
"GAH!"
From behind, one of Turks men dropped suddenly to the ground. A second later, a strange whirring sound was heard by Peter and his enhanced eyes picked up on a staff of some kind being thrown from above and hitting another of Turks men right in the neck, knocking him out.
"Shit." Turk cried aloud. "It's him!"
"Him?" Peter asked aloud.
No sooner had he said that, someone else dropped down from a nearby fire escape and performed a split kick to a pair of thugs.
"The devil!" Another man shouted, raising his gun to fire.
Seizing up, Peter reacted in the blink of an eye, quickly firing a line and snagged the gun out of the man's hand.
A moment later, the "Devil" performed a cartwheel kick to the unarmed thug and knocked him down.
"Whoa-WHOA"
Peter didn't have time to admire what the man just did as he had narrowly dodged an energy blast of some kind that came from Klaues group. He had inadvertently dropped the advanced gun while landing on the ground and turned to face Klaue.
What he saw made his eyes nearly bulge out as his jaw dropped.
Klaue's left arm split apart to reveal a cannon pointed upwards with its barrel smoking and its owner grinning maniacally.
Peter couldn't help but say. "You have a cannon for an arm?! That would be so awesome if you didn't just shoot it at me."
"It is awesome, isn't it?" Klaue retorted gleefully. "Now then."
Klaue whipped out his arm to fire again, making Peter jump out of the way.
Landing on the ground, Spidey accidentally stood in front of a criminal that was attempting to run away.
Spooked by Spider-man appearing in front of him, the thug attempted to knock Spider-man out with a pistol whip.
Peter easily caught the criminals arm and with his strength made the man knock himself out.
Looking back up, Spider-man was surprised to find all the criminals had already been dealt with. Only Turk remained conscious on his knees, bemoaning his situation.
"Come on man, I wasn't even doing anything this time."
"Really?" The Devil spoke in conversational and expectant tone. "Cause from the looks of it, you're back in exactly the same scenario I last saw you in, Turk. Did you really want another concussion to go with your week like last time?"
"Look, Dee, it was just an examination." Turk said more annoyed then desperate. From the way these two were speaking with one another, this clearly was not the first time this had happened. "Just scouting out, I wasn't even gonna buy from this kook. I just wanted to see what the hubbub was about."
"And since there is honor among thieves, as the saying goes, that meant that even if you didn't take the deal there would be someone else that would. And because you didn't do the proper upstanding thing a citizen should do, you'd be guilty by association with your silence." The man said in a near rehearsed manner.
Seriously, how often did these guys run into each other?
"Listen, we just heard about this guy in town." Turk rattled off. "Just some new blood trying to make a name for themselves here in this city, that's all."
"New blood?" The man in red and black scoffed. "That man was more experienced than anyone of you guys combined with all your lifetimes. He wasn't new blood, he's just looking for new blood and crops. You don't know what you're getting yourself into, Turk."
"And you do?" Turk shot back dryly.
"More than you." The "devil" said with finality, raising his fist making Turk recoil.
"Ah come on, is that really necessary?" Turk whined.
The man standing over Barret paused for a moment with his head titled to the side in consideration.
"Yes."
With a quick strike to the face, Turk was knocked out.
Spider-man simply stared all the while, mouth agape and in complete awe of who was standing in front of him.
It took him a bit but after looking over the suit, the horns and the demeanor this guy gave off, it was clear as day for Peter that this was none other than…
"You're the Devil of Hell's Kitchen, aren't you?" Peter asked excitedly.
Daredevil finally turned to acknowledge the other vigilante in the alleyway, his lenses focusing on the web-head.
"And you sound like a kid." Daredevil remarked stoically. "Who are you?"
"Oh, um-uh, I'm Spider-man." Peter said with a slight stutter.
"Spider-man?" Daredevil repeated. "So you're that Spider guy that's been on the news all day?"
"You've heard of me?" Peter asked.
"Kinda hard not to." Daredevil responded unamused. "When hearing all the chatter and… there were these sounds that have been echoing across the city all day. Like… Thwips of some kind if that's how I could describe it."
"Yeah, that was me." Spider-man admitted. "I've been web swinging around the whole day from here to Queens, Brooklyn and back."
"That was you?" Daredevil stepped closer to the young hero.
"Yup." Peter said proudly, when he realized something. "Wait, where's that Klaue guy? Oh man, he got away didn't he?"
"And he took that hand cannon with him."
"Dang it. Man, so much for this new suit. Mr. Stark would have done way better."
Daredevil's head sharply snapped in Peter's direction. "What did you just say? Mr. Stark? You know Tony Stark?"
Slightly put off by Daredevils reaction, Peter stammered a bit in response. "Y-yeah, I met him recently and he gave me my new suit. Really cool about it, you know."
Daredevil stood over Spider-man with an intimidating aura making Peter squirm a bit from the fellow vigilantes intense gaze.
"Who are you exactly?" Daredevil asked. "And how old are you really?"
Peter remained silent for a moment. "Uh… 25?"
The deadpan look Daredevil gave him was enough to make the overbearing air diminish.
"Alright, try again this time without lying." Daredevil stated.
"What? How do you know I'm lying? It's the truth." Spider-man rapidly shot back defensively.
"You're definitely a kid, that's for sure." Daredevil said with assured confidence, making Peter jolt in the man's observation. "Though how old remains the question."
"Ugh, listen man, can I just go home?" Spider-man asked. "I gotta do some ho- errands before tomorrow."
"Homework?" Daredevil guessed correctly, his hyper-sensitive ears picking up on the spike of Spider-man's heartbeat. "You were gonna say homework weren't you?"
Spider-man gulped a bit at Daredevils stunning analytical skills. "N-noooo, ok, yes, Homework. I've got homework I gotta do."
"Who are you then? And answer honestly cause I know Tony Stark as well."
"You do?!" Spider-man's nervousness was traded in for excitement.
"Yes." Daredevil nodded. "And since we have a mutual person that we both know…"
"Well~" Peter rubbed the back of his head. "Would you believe me if I told you I was fifteen?"
-Scene Cut-
It was a bright and early day in LaGuardia airport, planes coming in and out of the airport with many people going about their business in terms of making, scheduling and getting on flights.
"So… this is America?" A young, teenage African girl said excitedly. "I cannot wait to see the sights here!"
"Don't wander off Shuri, stay with the Okoye and wait for father." A man a few years older than her said with slight exasperation.
"Oh, don't worry brother." Shuri waved off. "I know what I'm going to do."
"Go off in a random direction and have your brother and I try finding you like last time?" An elderly voice asked with amusement laced in his tone.
"It wasn't that bad, baba." Shuri whined. "You and T'challa just love to gloat about it."
"Considering how often you gloat about our misfortunes, we shall take what we can get."
Shuri only huffed, turning away with her arms crossed while both her father and her brother laughed at her reaction. Though it didn't take long for her to crack a small smile of her own, nudging her father who in turn wrapped his arm around her shoulder into a loving hug.
T'challa looked at his father and sister with a loving smile before looking out into a nearby window.
There in the distance was the city so nice, they named it twice.
Such an unusual boast though it reflected the cities pride in itself.
Now one would think that T'challa would reprimand and discard such boasting of a city. Then again, he couldn't deny the pride he had in his own home country so who was he to judge.
After all, he had come to this city because his countries security demanded that of him.
And he would deliver on what had been asked of him.
This, the prince of Wakanda promised.
Alright, quick few things out of the way.
This was supposed to come out WAY sooner but life got in the way.
I wanted to do a Christmas and holiday themed Omake but I'll save it for next time.
Rise of Skywalker will be addressed next chapter as well.
Have a happy holidays my comrades.
Thanks Jebest as usual.
Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.