Chapter 17
Tony was flying just over head of the apartment now, still looking for any signs of Kasey. "Status update: you two find anything?" He asked.
Peter shook his head as he leapt to another roof top and looked around before sighing. "Still nothing on my end, Mr. Stark. It is starting to feel like this Daredevil guy only shows up when you aren't looking for him..."
Aurora tapped into her headpiece, stopping on one roof for a breather. "No, I'm not getting anything on my-" She stopped short, watching something red pop up on the rooftop opposite of herself. "-end. I think I found the devil."
Matt stood on the ledge of the roof, tilting his head slightly. He was right earlier, with the three figures. He could hear the speaking in the earpiece, so he knew they were together. "What's your business here?"
"Webs, don't engage until one us gets over to you. Keep your distance." Tony instructed as he quickly adjusted his course towards her.
Peter was quickly moving towards her as well and landed on a roof to the side of Matt's. Close but safely distanced. He was a bit surprised to see him but spoke up nonetheless. "Um, hi- uh, Daredevil, right? Um-" Peter tried to think of how to explain the situation without revealing who Kasey was.
"We heard some, uh, rumors that a girl from our side of the city disappeared and was last seen around here," He tried to explain. He was clearly a bit nervous, carefully shifting his weight to be able to leap away or after if needed.
Matt turned his head halfway towards Peter. He was light on his feet, and spoke with uncertainty. Matt furrowed his brows, finding that Peter sounded like just a kid. In fact, both these guys did. "If a girl disappeared around here, I haven't seen her." Technically it wasn't a lie.
Aurora heard Tony's warning but she also heard what Daredevil had said. "That's bull. I saw you carrying that girl off." She didn't elaborate on that, but instead shot webbing at the devil's legs, pulling to cause him to fall.
Peter jumped back a bit at the movement, his lenses widening as he stared in shock. "No, wait-!" He tried to tell her to stop but it was too late as she pulled his feet out from underneath him before he had time to react.
"What are you doing?!" Peter snapped at Aurora.
"Damn it, Webs!" Tony spoke from above them, having arrived and hovered above the three of them. "I told you not to engage!"
"Are you kidding me?! He took off with her, and now he's blatantly lying about it. I think I would rather knock him down than have him come at me first!" Aurora argued, pissed off beyond all belief. If that devil had done anything with Kasey she didn't know what she'd do.
Matt fell flat on his back, having the wind knocked out of him, if only for a moment. He was quick to jump back up on his feet, taking in his surroundings and where each person was. "That's some neat trick."
Peter looked between Aurora, Tony, and Matt, unsure of what to do.
"Even so, we can still try to at least be civil," He replied as he hovered just a little lower towards them. "Look," He turned his attention to Matt. "Daredevil, is it? Webs here claims to have seen you run off with the missing girl. Now, you're saying you haven't seen her. As I'm sure you know, that's conflicting information."
"So, either you can tell us where she is, or we can roughhouse for a bit. Your choice. And don't think about lying. I'll be able to tell." Tony told him firmly.
Peter looked over at Matt, knowing this might get rough in a minute.
Matt pulled out his escrima sticks, gripping them firmly in his fists. He had no way to tell if these people were wanting to harm Kasey, but he had an idea. Those webs were like what he had found in the alley, so in his mind, this 'Webs' person was involved. He chose not to speak, instead swiftly tossing one of his sticks towards Peter's head, and the other at Aurora's.
Aurora's senses kicked in in just enough time to dodge, the escrima stick whizzing past her ear. Whoever this guy was, he had a strong arm and some great aim.
Peter on the other hand, also dodged it but snagged it out of the air. "I didn't even do anything!" He complained before kinda looking it over. "What even is this???"
Tony's repulsor hummed as he prepped it. "Try to do that again and I will shoot back." He warned him. "We just want to know where she is. We know she was injured as well."
Matt was more interested that both of the teens dodged his weapons, while one even caught one. "I won't be disclosing any information of the sort." Matt replied through gritted teeth. He really was outnumbered here. "What about you? Bringing two kids out to fight your battles?"
Aurora was a bit taken aback at the question. How'd he know that? She moved slowly, in a sort of circling path around Daredevil.
Tony chuckled a bit. "Both of them are fully capable of defending themselves. And it's their battle as much as mine." He answered.
"Now I really don't want to have to fight with you for information but seeing as you are our only lead and not cooperating," Tony fired a blast set to stun him. "Guess we have to."
Peter looked a bit nervous when he was called out and glanced up at Tony. If he wasn't willing to give any information then... what do they do-! Oh- fight. Right. Yes. Because he really wanted to get on the Devils bad side-
Matt's lips tugged at a smirk. He heard the blast fire, and felt the heat moving towards him. So the tin man was weaponized. Good to know. He jumped and flipped, landing a few feet away from where the blast was aimed.
Aurora waited for the Devil to move, before jumping in on the fight. She managed to get close, engaging in hand to hand combat. This wasn't her finest fighting style, as Kasey was more experienced in that area. She managed to land a couple hits, while taking a few herself, before jumping back a few feet and shooting some webbing over his eyes. Little did she know, that had basically no effect on Matt.
Tony was a bit surprised at the swift movement and aiming again and releasing another blast.
Peter just kinda... stood there. Watching. He watched Aurora web his face but tilted his head when that didn't really do anything.
Matt only had a few seconds to recover from the initial attack, so he tried to dodge again, the blast burning passed his shoulder. He hissed in pain, gripping a hand over his shoulder. With his free hand he reached up, pulling the webbing off and struggling to get it off his hand. Once he did, he zoned in on Peter, who seemed to be stunned or something. He bolted over to Peter, grabbing one arm and standing behind Peter, pinning it behind him.
Aurora tried to web him as he was running for Peter, but was barely dodged every time. She ran over, skidding to a stop a few feet from the two. "You might want to step away from him." She wouldn't tell him that Peter could probably whoop him.
Peter was startled when he was suddenly restrained and looked a bit offended. "Seriously??? I wasn't even fighting!" He fussed at him.
Tony rolled his eyes. "For crying out loud just pin him!"
Peter glanced at Tony before huffing and mumbling a quick, "I'm so sorry-" and before Matt even knew what happened, the wind was knocked out of him, hit the roof with his back and something pinned his hands, feet and chest to the roof.
Peter stepped back as Tony landed. "About time you helped out, kid."
Peter shrunk back a bit. "It didn't feel right..." He mumbled.
Tony looked down at Matt. "You gonna talk now?" He asked.
Aurora walked over, clapping Peter on the back. "Didn't feel right? Dude you left us up against the devil." She groaned lightly. "He packs a punch."
Matt furrowed his brows again, wondering who the heck these people were. They didn't seem interested in killing him, and he recognized their strategy as one for restraining. So far, they hadn't done much permanent damage either. "Why are you looking for her?"
Peter glanced at Aurora. "That's kinda the point-" He started before hearing his question and turning to him.
Tony crossed his arms. "Like we said, she went missing and we just want to find her and get her back home. Especially if she's injured like we think she is. Which if you had anything to do with, we'll be having a very different conversation." He threatened.
Peter looked a bit upset by the threat. Sure he had been nervous when he first saw him but... his senses weren't yelling danger at him either. They only warned him about the stick...
He hesitated. "...please sir, she's our friend and there are people here who want to hurt her..." He explained which got a glare from Tony but he focused on Matt and crouched down. "... I just want to know she's safe and alive..." His voice was soft. He was tired. It was what? 3 am? They'd been looking for hours and now they had a chance for answers but Tony and Aurora seemed to be out of patience.
Aurora almost knocked Peter over the head for giving away info like that. She didn't of course, but instead turned to Matt. "You really should consider being truthful with us. We want her safe."
Matt was silent for a while, listening for their heartbeats to make sure they were telling the truth. To his surprise, he found that the two teens' heartbeats were similar to Kasey's. Beating stronger and quicker than a normal person's. He seemed to have misjudged them. "Your friend is safe. She's sustained some injuries from her earlier fight, but I had nothing to do with them."
Tony hesitated. "Friday, can you confirm?"
"As far as I can detect, he is telling the truth." Friday responded.
That made Peter relax some more and sat on the roof. "Thank goodness... I thought we'd have to go break her out..." He rested his arms on his knees and laid his head against them. He was exhausted.
Tony noticed this and looked back at Daredevil. "So you know where she is?"
Aurora glanced at Peter, sitting down next to him. She felt a pang of guilt, having dragged them out there in the middle of the night because she couldn't track Kasey down herself. "Sorry for calling you out here, you seem zapped."
"Yes, I know where she is. She's with a trusted friend of mine, resting. She's had to have a good amount of stitches, so I don't think she should move until at least tomorrow afternoon." Matt explained.
Peter glanced at Aurora with a small shrug. "I'd do it again if I had to. You know that." He replied. He then glanced at Daredevil for a minute.
"...You won't attack us if I free you, right?"
Tony looked at Peter. "Kid-"
"He's helping! He had every reason to be distrustful of us as we did him!" He argued. "He knows where she is, took her somewhere safe and made sure she was tended to!"
Tony sighed a bit. "Only if he agrees not to start the fight back up," he looked at Daredevil expectantly.
Aurora let out a sigh, resting her head on her hand. "Yeah, I know you would." She knew Peter would do it a thousand times over.
Matt shifted his hands, finding that he probably wouldn't be able to get out of the webbing on his own anyway. "Now that I know you guys aren't here maliciously, I have no reason to fight you." He stated simply, waiting to be released. He had to admit, these three put up quite the fight.
Peter immediately moved over and undid the webbing around his hands and chest for him so he could at least sit up while he worked on his feet.
Tony watched Peter work for a moment before looking at Matt. "You said she was hurt badly enough for stitches?" He asked. His heart ached at the thought, knowing Kasey was touchy with the thought of any type of surgery or most medical treatments.
Matt sat up , wringing his wrists light as Peter worked on the rest of the webbing. "Those guys in the alley had some knives, and one had a gun. Luckily she passed out when she was stitched up, so she's mostly been resting."
Tony swore slightly under his breath. "Those guys have been dealt with though?" He asked.
Peter finished cleaning up the webbing and mumbled another apology and stepped back to watch again.
"Yeah, she gave them a good beating by the time I got there, but I finished them up." Matt assured Tony, before standing up and stretching a bit.
Aurora watched the interaction, just glad that Kasey wasn't carried off by another villain.
Tony nodded at that. "Good." He huffed.
Peter however spoke up, looking up at Matt. "You said she shouldn't move until at least tomorrow? Does that mean we could see her tomorrow?"
Matt nodded in response to Peter. "She might reopen her stitches if she moves too early. I wouldn't risk it." He explained, gathering his escrima sticks and tucking them back where they belong. "But she should be healed up enough by tomorrow to move around some."
Tony hummed softly. "Do you have a way we can stay in contact aside from running into each other?" He asked.
Matt thought for a moment before pulling out his burner phone. "I've got a burner phone I can give you the number for. However, when you come into Hell's Kitchen, I can usually hear you. You could quite literally just give me a holler."
This guy must have some pretty good senses then. Probably how he dodged Tony's first blast. Aurora thought to herself, stifling a yawn. Now that her adrenaline had settled somewhat, her tiredness was kicking in.
Tony nodded at that, holding his hand out. "Might as well have both." He replied. "Friday, standby to jot down the number."
"I am ready to update your contacts." Friday confirmed.
Matt could hear the second voice coming from the suit. Matt read off the numbers for the burner phone, before closing it. "Who's Friday?" He asked.
Aurora leaned over to Peter, keeping her voice low. "I'm starting to think this guy lives under a rock. Hasn't mentioned anything about literal Iron Man being here."
Tony raised an eyebrow. "Oh, Friday is my AI assistant," He explained.
"Greetings!" Friday chirped.
Peter looked at Aurora and slightly nodded. "Yeah..." He quietly agreed.
"AI?" Matt repeated, thinking over the idea. That voice sounded familiar too, but he couldn't exactly put his thumb on it. "Who exactly are you guys anyway? I haven't heard of you in Hell's Kitchen before."
Aurora gave a small shrug. "Interweb, Spiderman." She motioned to herself and Peter respectfully, letting Tony introduce himself.
"Tony Stark." He let the helmet lift up to reveal his face. "I'm honestly a bit surprised you didn't recognize me at least." He chuckled. "But you're right, we don't come by here often."
Peter just gave a small wave.
Matt sat in disbelief for the moment, knowing he just went up against an Avenger and his two... what were they? Apprentices? "Well... it's dark." He tried to excuse him not noticing earlier.
Peter looked at Tony. "I mean, it is. Karen's running night vision for me-" He offered.
Tony chuckled. "Well it is, what? 3 in the morning? Hell's kitchen doesn't seem to have the best street lights."
Aurora tapped her lenses. "I've got them on the night vision setting right now too."
"Your AI's name is Karen?" Matt chuckled lightly. "Yeah, we don't have the best of a lot of things. But I think it's getting better. At least, I've been trying to make it better around here."
Peter nodded a bit. "Karen, wanna say hi?"
"Hello sir." Karen greeted from his suit.
Tony chuckled but nodded at his last comment. "I've only heard rumors for the most part but this seems like a lot for one person to handle alone."
"Hi..?" Matt wasn't exactly sure if he should've responded or not. He replied to Tony next. "Well I manage. I have a couple friends that help me from the sidelines, but it also helps that I don't fight.. enhanced people like you all do."
Tony nodded. "Yeah, I'd imagine that helps." He agreed. "Though I feel you deserve to know since it's in your backyard, there are people trying to make people enhanced here. We had some information brought to us about it." He didn't go into all the details, as there was still a lot in question but he figured he deserved a heads up.
Matt tilted his head slightly, that information being news to him. "I wasn't aware of that. I'll make sure to be looking into it. I can't have anything like that going on in my city."
Peter gave a small nod. "Just be careful, they are already on edge and they don't play around according to our source."
"But," Tony stepped in. "We will leave you to go patrol or whatever it was you were doing before we interrupted. We will reach out tomorrow and check in, if that's alright with you?"
"Absolutely. Know your friend is in good hands." Matt reassured them, heading over towards the edge of the building. "Give me a heads up next time you guys are in town. Maybe then we won't go at each other's throats in the middle of the night." With that said, he slipped off the roof, scaling down the side of the building, watching the burn in his shoulder.
Aurora ran her hands over a spot she could already tell would be bruising the next day. She knew she should probably have listened to Tony instead of acting out like that. "Sorry again, for dragging you two out here."
"I'm glad you did cause I'm pretty sure the two of you would have just beaten each other to death," Tony joked lightly.
Peter nodded. "Plus we got information and know she's safe."
"You're probably right." Aurora muttered after Tony's statement. For some reason, she had no idea why, but she had just been feeling trapped. By what, she couldn't say. "I'm probably gonna head off. You should too Peter, I know you have a test tomorrow."
Matt retrieved his normal clothes, and even made a stop by the corner store to pick up the items he had mentioned earlier. That way, he hoped Kasey would be none the wiser.
Peter nodded. "M will understand. My math teacher? Not so much." He didn't say May's name due to someone possibly hearing but waved farewell and swung off to head home.
Tony turned to Aurora, his arms crossed. "You heading home or are you staying to do what you and Kasey snuck off to do?"
Aurora paused, going over her possible answers. She copied his stance, her own arms crossed. "Would you believe me if I said I was going home?"
"Not with an answer like that I won't." Was his reply. "Listen Webs," He sighed. "We need more information before we go in swinging. Besides, we have an extra pair of hands keeping a watch out for them. Right now, we need to focus on Kasey. Alright? Cause I want to go after them as much as you do, if not more, but we have to be smart."
"I am trying to be smart about this! Which is why it's better to go after them sooner than later! Since we've escaped them, who knows if they're even still in that same building!" Aurora argued back.
"And that's the thing!" He snapped. "Why would they worry about being found?! You guys said it yourselves! You were two completely random kids that Kasey just happened to meet, both of you blind from the moment they snagged you, never saw a thing, no faces, no rooms, nothing."
He sighed. "As far as they are concerned, Kasey, who they already know is enhanced, broke you two out, and fled. I doubt they'd expect Kasey to come back at all, she's terrified of them and knows next to nothing about them already." He glanced away. "And I don't think they'd expect two Blinded kids to be able to find their way back due to the panic and heat of the moment."
"So why, why would they move? And even if they did, they'd probably trap the place for you, Kasey, whoever, to stumble onto."
God sometimes she hated it when he acted like a parent and was actually right. Aurora tossed her hands into the air, turning on her heel. "Whatever! Fine! I think I'd be able to handle myself, but I doubt you'd let me go anyway. But if they're gone the next time I come around.." She shook her head and stepped up onto the ledge of the building. "Just... whatever." Stepping off the ledge, she started swinging back home.
Tony sighed as he watched her go before taking off himself.
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