28 Moving Forward Part 5
-Hells Kitchen-
Peter was toying with Daredevil and they both knew it. They've been at it for almost twenty-four minutes - 24 minutes and 36.42 seconds his technopathy Persona noted- and all Peter had to show for it was his ruffled-up clothes. Daredevil however was riddled with bruises and bleeding from a busted lip, the man took bated breaths to steady himself.
If Peter chose to, he could end this right now but that was the last thing on his mind. He wanted this man to feel as he felt that night, helpless and humiliated. When the fight started he ordered Garfield to return to the hospital to keep watch his aunt as he wanted to do this himself.
Like he told the devil, this was personal.
Peter decided against using any of his other abilities, he wanted to take Daredevil on and beat him on an equal footing, he wanted to test his skills against Daredevil's to prove that he could take this person on using only his instincts and fighting prowess.
All that training and experience he gained from his bouts in those illegal fighting arenas were paying off. It was still an unfair match though as his base physical abilities outclassed that of a peak human athlete to the point where even someone like Daredevil had a bad time dealing with him and a one-on-one fight.
Their fight took them a few blocks away from their original position. They made their way across the roofs of Hell's kitchen in record time. A few minutes back Peter tossed the devil a great distance across the block but the agile devil had enough strength to stick his landing safely on the other side using his billy club that had a built-in grappling hook of all things.
One of the many useful functions of the tool as Peter would soon discover.
....
That was what led to their current predicament.
Peter stood on the edge of a building while Daredevil stood on an unfinished floor of an ongoing construction site of a new building on the other side, the incomplete tower providing a looming shadow over Peter under the moonlight.
Oddly enough it highlighted the different paths of the two fighters. As it light up Daredevil's silhouette from behind while the shadows of the incomplete building structure shaded Peter's form from its light.
They were separated by an ally between them, lit by the neon glow of streetlights. They watched each other in muted silence as Peter waited for the red devil to regain his barring.
'It's pretty impressive he managed to stick the landing, I threw him pretty far' Peter was so impressed that he gave the devil of Hell's kitchen some breathing room. He wasn't in any rush to finish this fight, he simply wanted to beat the shit out of this person.
It'd be no fun to fight him while he was down too.
"Come on, Don't tell me that's the best you got." Peter taunted "If it is you might as well just roll over and die right now"
"Not even close, Just getting warmed up kid." Daredevil wheezed in reply, taking his defensive stance with his signature billy club in hand. " "
"Good, it's no fun if you don't at least put up a fight. Word of warning though, I'm taking this fight up a notch, do keep up" Peter felt his lips curl up again, he got low while he opened his palm and relaxed his hand, he swiftly brought them to the front of his body in one fluid motion adapting a stance guided by instincts and self-practice.
He was having fun, fighting a superhero was way different than fighting common thugs.
'I think I'm starting to enjoy this a bit too much' Peter thought.
He tensed his muscles, both feet planted firmly into the hard cement surface, and took a deep breath.
Daredevil readied himself for a confrontation in response, his unique form of echo-location could track Peter's hand displacing the flow of air like water flowing through a stream.
Then Peter moved, the cement under his feet cracked as he blitzed towards his target.
Daredevil felt the air shift before suddenly losing track of Peter even with the use of his heightened senses.
In the blink of on an eye, he covered the distance between them with speed that was to fast for the naked eye to follow. Luckily enough, his opponent had little need for eyes.
The instant Daredevil heard a crack in the cement he instinctively dodged out of the way.
Experience alone saved Daredevil from having his head caved in as Peter's open palm left a sizable dent in the metal pole. Before Daredevil could make any other moves, his senses forced him to react again as another open palm shot toward his midsection.
He blocked the attack with his billy club but the force of impact alone sent him crashing through an unfinished brick wall sending pieces of it flying everywhere.
" Come OOOooon! Hero" Peter let out an exasperated sigh. The teen flexed his hand, taking slow strides as he walked towards Daredevil who was already on his feet and at the ready.
"I told you I'd kick it up a notch. Try to keep up, at this rate this might end up being a one-sided slaughter, but meh, whatever, if you lose you lose."
Peter blitzed forward again, he was forced to dodge a billy club heading right for his face causing him to stumble slightly.
Daredevil took advantage of the opening, pulling on his other billy club causing the other to return - a silver tint was the only indication that the two clubs were connected via special wire as it flew back at an angle towards the back of Peter's head.
Peter easily caught it but Daredevil was already on the move.
He tugged harder on the club to throw Peter off balance and went on the attack with a few strikes.
The tug however served in Peter's favor, like water he let his body flow toward Daredevil without resistance and weaved his way through Daredevil's strikes. The palms of his hands divert the flow of force and weight behind Daredevil's strikes.
The billy club in his fist met the club in Daredevil's own with a clang as both fighters flowed into a tempo known only to those few martial artists. Neither one scored any good hits as they danced around each other tied by the wire that connected both clubs.
Peter picked up the tempo with his greater speed, hitting Daredevil's club out of the way, the force of the attack almost threw Daredevil back.
Peter felt what could only be described as a mental ping, a request to be used from what he could understand. His technopathy was attempting to reactivate itself but Peter ignored it.
Forceful turning the ability off as he willed the effects of the mask of the fool to take effect. All this took place in an instant, less than the time it took one to blink.
He wanted a real fight, his other abilities were a cheat in that regard.
The teen then closed the distance instantly grabbing onto Daredevil's wrist while the red devil was a few inches off the ground, he pulled the devil close attempting to strike him using his temple but his efforts were swiftly met with Daredevil's knee to his chin.
" Grk" Peter grunted in pain but before he could retaliate he felt a thin pressure on his throat.
"Shirgrk" Peter choked in surprise.
'Damn,' his thoughts echoed as he finally realized his mistake.
In that one instant, Daredevil not only scored a hit but simultaneously used his speed against him mid-motion by wrapping the wire around his unguarded neck while Peter grabbed his wrist.
This man used Peter's attack against him, he used the momentum of Peter's strike to pull on the wire in a single exchange turning the tide of the fight in his favor.
Daredevil was already in motion the moment his toes hit the floor. He pivoted on it smoothing pulling harshly on the wire while lining Peter's face up to meet his fist.
Thrown of balance as he was there was little Peter could do to defend himself from the force of impact. Even as he swiftly brought his arms up in a vain attempt to guard his face, his weight was already leaning into the strike and Daredevil's movements ensured all his weight was always behind each of his strikes.
There was a fine line between natural skill and experience. Peter was going to have to learn that the hard way - choking on his spit while catching a to ankle to his cheek.
However Peter was far from helpless, natural talent was still talent, and experience only sharpened. He used the strike to line up his own, he let go of the club in his hand opting to pull on the wire on his throat with that hand as he spun in place.
He used the momentum to kick the devil before he could recover his strike. It was a feeble attempt at relation with none of his strength behind it, only serving to drive the Devil back a few steps.
A grunt from the devil was all he got. Yet it served its purpose, Peter had enough time to pull on the wire and hug his though allowing him to breathe again, but that damn thing was so strung he had difficulty trying to rip it apart.
A breath was all he got before Daredevil resumed his attack. Daredevil proved his actions were no fluke further by pulling on the wire harder trapping fingers within in and increasing the pressure on Peter's throat while simultaneously pulling the other billy club into his other free hand.
Daredevil then began his onslaught. Utilizing Peter's disposition beat him down. Peter tried to defend with his free hand but the devil of hell's kitchen used the wires to tie his hand down then relentlessly struck Peter in swift and precise attacks with both billy clubs in hand.
Elbow.
Left Knees.
Left Ear.
Throat.
Mid Section- Bellow the Rib- Liver.
Throat.
Dodge-twist arm.
Behind the knee- Pull on the arm.
Left Side of the face.
Daredevil was relentless, each strike carried out with ruthless control. No actions waisted, Every action created on opening for the next one, all of bleeding into one brutal combo.
Peter did his best but each time he defended on strike, the devil used it as an opening to carry out two more.
' Dammit, shit, fudge, ' The teen felt his anger rising, at this rate he would have his ass handed to him.
"AaRRRG" Peter let out a wild growl before stomping on the floor with all his strength.
His actions this time weren't in vain, the floor shattered with a loud crack as they both fell to the floor below, the action catching Daredevil off guard but providing a window of opportunity for Peter.
He spun himself, straining his neck to force Daredevil close then with a heave of his free hand he backhanded the devil with all his might.
The devil had enough sense left to attempt to defend himself but his defense mattered little to Peter's strength.
With a crack, something snapped and the red devil was blown across the room his Billy Club lost.
Peter crashed into the floor below, with little to no fall damage aside from the beating he just got from Daredevil.
"Gah!" Peter took gasping breaths, filling his lungs with some refreshing air before choking violently again in a coughing fit.
In his haste, he forgot to take into account all the dust and debris in the air after busting his way through a construction floor riddled with cement bags and dust.
" Cough, cough, cough, oh that was stupid." The teen picked himself up, the billy clubs clattering next to his feet, coughing all the while. "Cough! That was something alright" he let out a long breath.
The teen felt pain all over, his joints and muscles ached, and his throat stung- it hurt to speak- not that it would stop him. He had had a sneaky suspicion that if he pulled his bandages off he'd be sporting a black, and bruised face right now.
" Hey you alive over there, I didn't kill you did I?" Peter cracked his neck and glanced over to check the devil of hell's Kitchen.
The devil said nothing, only picking himself up in stoic silence and falling back into his defensive stance, his actions implied a keen focus.
"Good," Peter said, his rage bleeding into him but his outward expression remained apathetic.
Then the air shifted and Peter vanished.
Before the Daredevil could even react he relieved an open palm to the chest as Peter all but flickered in front of him without a sound.
In fact, Peter all but vanished from Daredevil's senses at that moment
Daredevil was sent skidding across the floor crashing into a stack of construction cement bags.
"Very nice." Peter's voice carried across the floor.
"Cough! Aarrggk!" Daredevil coughed up blood on the floor as he picked himself up, no slower than he did before.
Peter had to hand it to the guy, his tenacity, pain tolerance, and willpower was off the charts.
All that with his skill was one hell of a deadly combo. All that and he refused to kill.
It didn't escape the teen's notice that all the blows the devil dealt to him were nonlethal.
They were incredibly effective ways to incapacitate someone without killing them.
' This Bitch…' And just like that, that predatory smile returned full force. Peter's respect for the devil was rising into straight-up admiration now. The teen was prudently reminded of why he chased after the dream of being a hero so badly.
This was it right here.
The picture of the one who deserved his respect as an individual. His mind was already made up, his path was already chosen and he would walk it his way. That didn't mean he would scorn others for doing the same.
He may be a killer now but dammit he was raised right. It also matched his newly forming mindset quite well. If someone deserves to die for their actions - kill them. If someone deserves respect for their actions - respect them.
The world was simply without all the black and white. That way his path fell into the grey area.
"Wha-what did yo-cough-you do?" The Devil of Hell's Kitchen asked the teen, wincing from the pain in his chest. Whatever Peter did forced the devil to take caution.
"Obviously, I learned the hard way" Peter replied getting into a stance that was nearly identical to Daredevil's own.
"That's not-"
"Possible?" Peter teased and finished the devil's line of thought in an amused tone. "Let's just say it is, I'm a pretty fast learner."
The devil's heightened senses could almost picture his own silhouette behind the teen.
Peter didn't just get beat up, his body adapted to physical stimulation at an insane rate. All those times he was fighting daredevil his mind and body were familiarizing themselves with the crimson-clad fighter, how he fought, the way he moved, everything was getting assimilated into Peter in real time.
All of it was happening without any effort on Peter's part. All he needed to do was experience it, how he got that experience didn't matter, as long as the physical stimulation as there.
That was the essence of natural talent.
It was an effortless achievement and those who had were viewed as monsters in human skin.
After that beating, after witnessing the true extent of his skill when he held nothing back, the assimilation was complete. With it, Peter figured out something very crucial about Daredevil, a way around his insane heightened senses. A way to render himself almost invisible to someone of that caliber.
"So ready to walk away yet?" Peter asked, his tone was low, lacking the bite and teasing they previously held.
"Not even close kid" Came the devil's reply.
" Hmm, thought so" the teen shot back before once again seemingly vanishing from sight.
Peter blitzed towards the Devil swiftly, his attack was all but assured before his instincts went haywire.
He quickly shifted his body to the side and brought both his hands up in a crossguard in front of his chest.
Just in time to feel something strike him with extreme force.
"What now?" he wondered aloud as he flipped back a few times to land on a few crates.
The voice that answered him stopped his heart cold.
"What do we have here, a devil and a sinner? did I miss the memo or something?" giggled a female voice in a taunting manner.
The th-wiping sound echoed through the floor as a figure swung down.
"Order up, One billy club-nun chuck for the devil in red", a voice quipped.
'No, that voice- pain like never before, bones breaking, hunger beyond words-', Flashes of images, thoughts, and emotions swarmed Peter's mind.
"You alright there teach, you look a little beat up, this guy is too much for you to handle, well fret not, I'll help you out just this once." The figure sand as she landed next to Daredevil before tossing him his billy club.
'You!- clawed reptilian hands damped in blood wrapped around a beating heart, it tasted so sweet-' The thought ripped itself out of Peter's memories.
Daredevil let out an exasperated sigh, his head shifting slightly as if to manage a headache. He fiddles with his billy club lightly to disable the wire before joining both hands to form a short staff.
"Nice to see you too kid, isn't this a school night," Daredevil replied.
Finally, the figure came into view posing in her signature crouch next to Daredevil. She was clear to see, bathed in the light of the moon that complemented her suit's color scheme.
White hooded skin-tight suit with blush black web-themed outlines. Stylized footwear to resemble a ballerina slipper, complete with a spider insignia on her chest.
'Spider-Woman!!- white gloves punching through reptilian hide, his cries left unanswered, his plea for help ignored, she was going to kill him-' Peter felt his mind go numb, his thoughts fell into turmoil as spider and devil themed here fell into a routine back and forth banter.
'Why? Why? Why?? Why?? Why?? Why?? Why?? Why?? Why?? Why?? Why?? Why?? Why?? Why?? Why? WHY NOW!?"
Flashes of events he thought hid forgotten forced their way in, sounds he didn't want here filled his ears, words he never wanted to speak repeated themselves in his mind.
'Stop it.'
Bones breaking, flesh ripping, hunger growing.
'Hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, SOOOOO HUNGRY!!- pieces of human flesh dangling from reptilian maws, so sweet, pain, pain pain pain so much pain,- why WOUND YTOU EHEELPP MEEE!!! - SPIDER-WOOOOOMMAAAAN!!!'
'I don't wanna die- gloved hands beating into reptilian skin, bones breaking, flesh ripping, bones crackling into place, bones breaking, flesh ripping, bones crackling into place, bones breaking, flesh ripping, bones crackling into place, bones breaking, flesh ripping, bones crackling into place, bones breaking, flesh ripping, bones crackling into place, bones breaking, flesh ripping, bones crackling into place, bones breaking, flesh ripping, bones crackling into place- wWHYY WOONT YOu Stop!!? '
'It hurts, It hurts, It hurts, It hurts, It hurts, It hurts, IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS,-I'll KILLLL YOU!!- Stop it isn't me'
The moment the spider-themed hero arrived, Peter's actions were noticed by the two bantering vigilantes as they took a few seconds to catch up. Peter Parker was experiencing a mental breakdown brought on by post-traumatic stress disorder coming from the memories of his first and only true death.
The reason it went noticed was due to one simple fact- his own powers- a fool's bluff. All his reactions are internalized to portray a calm outward appearance and expression. It put it simply he was suffering in silence while outwardly portraying the presence of a calm slightly ruffled fighter.
Peter stood there for what would be an eternity as he experienced emotions he thought he left behind.
The most prominent among them was FEAR.
And just like that it stopped. Suddenly whatever he was feeling came to a halt, the fear, the rage, the hate, the hunger, the pain, all of it slowly dissipated.
{Incarnation of Garou: Active}
And his lips curved back up into their predatory smile.
Forty Seven seconds, that was how long Peter stood in silence watching the two heroes banter back and forth.
He didn't hear any of what they were saying although the memory of their conversations resided in his mind courtesy of Iboy.
"Hey teach, is it just me has that weirdo been starring at me funny the whole time," Spider-Woman asked her mentor? he head tilting slightly
" No, it's not just you, ready up kid, follow my lead, his dangerous" the devil replied. Already moving in front of the teen hero.
Peter chimed in before spider-women could speak.
" You shouldn't have come here Spider-woman" Peter spoke in a dull tone, though one could feel the intestacy of each word spoken.
" Awww Shucks teach, look he doing the villain monologue" spider-woman teased, "And why not? You own this place or something"
"It's simple, I'm scared, no, terrified of you," Peter replied.
Spider-woman's bug eye's lenses blinked in surprise, Daredevil to seemed to be caught off guard by Peter's sudden confession.
" OK…weirdo… that's new, I've heard admired, obsessed, annoyed, and some other weird one but this is a first, never had someone terrified of me before, how's that working out for you." Not one to miss a beat, the spider-themed hero replied with relative ease. The teasing tone is ever present.
"Well, you and your teacher? here are about to find out. I don't think you understand but you will" Peter replied before nodding at Daredevil. " And I am sorry about this Daredevil, I was gonna fight you fair and squire, but now"
Suddenly both daredevil and spider-woman sprung into action taking up defensive positions only to notice that their opponent had yet to make any move.
"Now I'm just gonna hurt you, the both of you, a lot" Peter willed the effects of fool's bluff to stop, feeling all his abilities activate again.
-Chapter End-
So for those wandering how his still suffering from trauma and all that, remember that was his first death before everything started and because of that his experience then is for more potent than everything after.
He had nothing to stop, influence, or lessen the pure horror of what he was experiencing at that time so as he is now it's magnified by a hundredfold. In a way all is problems started that night when he shot himself with the lizard serum and Spider-woman actions are the catalyst that led to his current situation since she was the one who inspired his actions in the first place you could say she is the root of all of peters current problems.
So in beating her, in a symbolic sense, his getting his life back.
He could be projecting a lot of shit or shifting the blame and whatnot but at the moment his still a teen, most of the abilities influencing his actions only magnified some of his true feelings as he still has what's left of his humanity and all.
P'S: I know I keep putting the awaiting evolution whenever an ability is unlocked but there is a reason. If you've noticed so far all of them are complete or the evolution is complete after Peter dies and comes back.
Before death, any ability that's unsealed has the - Awaiting Evolution condition before it can be used to its fullest or is completely unlocked.
Do with that knowledge what you will.
