The Crimson Spider

1

Patrolling the streets of New York, you usually find trouble. But, sometimes, it finds you. Especially when you have 'Spidey-Sense'. This particular night, a familiar tingle-y feeling washed over me, pulling me towards some unknown place. Jumping from roof to roof, I found the source of my tingle; Matt tied to a chimney on some roof. I got as close as I could without being seen to get a better understand to what was going on.

Matt yelled in frustration as he failed to break out of the chains.

The man that was holding him hostage spoke; "You can bash against your chains all night. Only way you get out of here, only way you walk free, is if I want you to. Know that."

I jumped onto the roof, "And if I want him to?"

He jumped up, but before he could say anything, I shot out a web, tying his hands together. 

"You good, Daredevil?"

M: "Yeah." 

I turned my attention to the very large, very shocked, man in front of me, "Care to explain why my friend here is tied to a chimney?"

He said nothing as he looked me up and down in confusion.

M: "We were just having a nice little conversation, weren't we, Punisher?"

"Oh, shit, you're the Punisher? I wish I could say I was expecting something different." now I looked him up and down.

M: "Don't you think the meet-and-greet could wait until I'm not chained to a roof!?"

"Yeah, yeah, my bad." I turned to break the chains when the man finally spoke;

"Don't."

I crossed my arms, "Why not?"

"Just..." he groaned and tried to free his hands, "I'm doin' this for a reason."

I scoffed, "I'm sure you are."

M: "No, you should really hear him out. His reasoning for killing people is really just a tearjerker."

He looked past me to yell at Matt, "Well at least I ain't a half-measure! At least I can finish a job, you damn coward!"

M: "No, you're not a coward, you're a murderer!"

I rolled my eyes, "Boys-"

P: "I'm not a bad guy, Red."

M: "You wanna explain that to the orphans and widows of the men you killed?"

P: "Oh, Christ, is that what you think? That I'm just some crazy asshole going around unloading on whoever I want to?"

Matt laughed, "Yeah, that's exactly what I think. You think you're anything else?"

I sighed, deciding to sit down because this wasn't going to end anytime soon.

P: "I think that the people I kill need killing, that's what I think."

M: "You left men hanging from meat hooks!"

P: "They got off easy, in my opinion."

M: "You shot up a hospital!"

P: "Yeah, and nobody got hurt who didn't deserve it."

M: "Oh, yeah? What about you? What happens the day someone decides you deserve it?"

P: "I'll tell you what, they better not miss."

M: "Come on, you run around this city like it's your damn shooting gallery."

P: "Yeah, what do you do!? What do you do? You act like it's a playground. You beat up the bullies with your fists. You throw 'em in jail, everybody calls you a hero, right? And then a month, a week, a day later, they're back on the streets doing the goddamn thing!"

M: "Yeah, so your just-" a web from my wrist covered his mouth and then the Punisher's.

"Listen, as  riveting as this argument is, I have a life to get back to. If we all agree to shut the fuck up, I'll remove all webs and chains, yeah?"

They both nodded and I kept my word. I didn't take my eyes from the Punisher, "Well, this doesn't seem like anything you can't handle, Devil. Hopefully we never see each other again, tata." I leapt from the roof and returned home for the night.

Alex, the Night-Spider, was lying on the couch when I walked in,

"Hey."

"Hey, how was patrol?"

"Interesting. Met up with our old friend and the Punisher."

She shot up, "What?"

"Yeah, pretty annoying guy, turns out. I left Matty to handle it." I plopped down beside her, "Anything interesting happen here?"

She just shook her head.

---

I woke slightly at the quiet sound of a lock latching. I jumped from the couch, sending a web in the direction of the noise; 

"What the hell!?"

"Matt?" I flipped on a light to see the one and only Daredevil in my living room. "The fuck are you doing in my house?"

"Well, I came to talk to you- can you just get this stuff off of me?"

I rolled my eyes and removed the webs that had bound his hands together. "Talk," 

"I need your help."

"No." I turned back for the couch and sat down.

He put his hand on his hip, "Really?"

"Oh, my god, I have finals coming up. You went to college, you remember how awful they were."

"If you don't help me, a lot more people are going to die."

"Why do I have a feeling this has to do with our friend from the roof."

He didn't have to nod, I already knew. 

Sighing, I stood. "I'll find him, then he's all yours."

"Thank you."

I laughed, "I bet that was hard to say. Keep your phone on you, I'll do the same."

With a nod, he went back out the window he'd come in from.

---

It was morning before I found our friend; he was laying low in a shitty little RV on 48th and 10. 

I watched from the roofless-rafters, waiting. Finally, he appeared from the back and started walking, quickly freezing in his tracks. 

"Not many can sense when I'm around." I say, causing him to jump and turn around to where I dropped down to the concrete parking lot. 

He didn't say anything as he sized me up in his mind, he didn't want to hurt me but he wasn't sure if I would hurt him, either. That unnerved him. I smirked.

"What are you?"

"I prefer the term 'enhanced individual', but my friends like to call me a super-hero. Your pick." 

He scoffed, "So, you're one of those freaks that run around in costumes putting away bad guys."

I shrugged, "That's one way to put it." I allowed a pause to settle over us. "I agree with you, for what it's worth."

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion but he allowed me to continue.

"Daredevil, the others, they believe that these guys can change. I... I'm not sure what I believe, but I don't think it's that."

He nodded, still silent.

"Daredevil wants me to turn you into him... I'm not going to."

Again, his face twisted into confusion. "Why?"

"I was hoping you would help me figure that out."

"How?"

"Let me shadow you. Just for a day."

He shifted his weight, not wanting to say yes but not quite being able to say no. "You'll need to lose the costume."

I hardly contained the smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.