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"I appreciate it, so much - seriously - ""Colleen, stop. Misty, make her stop." Matt didn't mind helping them out, they were doing good work in Harlem and had soft-balled him enough cases to earn all the favors.Misty patted him on the back but didn't help. "Like I can control her stanning, you should talk to Danny - he's the one that's got her on that jam. But we do appreciate the backup.""Just don't spread it around, I don't want people to think I'm friendly or something," Matt sniffed, making himself look tough and important."Promise," Colleen said, kissing his cheek and ruining his moment. "Now go play bloodhound and see what those weird guys are hiding in the warehouse.""Woof," he sighed, leaping off the roof. He woke up and felt his arms wrapped and trapped in the familiar itchy restraints of his nightmares. Oh hell no.He vaguely processed he was in a cage - a cell with actual bars. And he was tied up in the worst way."Put me in a straitjacket, fuck you," Matt snapped, kicking his feet out so he's sprawled on the concrete. "God, it's like being a teenager again.""You must have all the stories," a girl said. He wasn't alone - three heartbeats - two feminine going by shampoo. "What are you doing?"He braced his feet through the bars as he twisted. "What does it look like?""They used straitjackets in Juvie?" a different girl - no - woman - asked. The other captive was older, with professionally dyed hair."I'm a contributing member of society, thank you," he said, taking a breath and forcing his shoulder - right - left - out of the socket - don't scream you fucking punk - get up - shut up - get up -"Holy shit - you're - ""I wonder if I can get a discount from my physical therapist," he panted when he could focus enough to slip out of the restraints with his fucked up arms. "Someone was talking?""Matt Murdock, I'm Trish Walker - I used to be Jessica's friend?""Used to be?" Matt asked, sinking into the pain before he resets his joints. "Hellcat wasn't on the agenda. What are you into?""You're blind," the girl said.Trish hushed her. "Not my job, I saw these assholes snatch Spider-Man and his date - ""I'm not his - ""That's the other heartbeat, is he drugged?" Matt cut them off."Yes," the girl said, panic escaping in her voice. "How do you know?""Got great hearing. His heartbeat's steady, he sounds healthy enough. Excuse me a moment," he said, notching the straps of his bondage between his teeth as he slammed his body into the floor to slot his shoulders back into the socket."Please be finished now," Trish whispered."All done," he said. "Come to the bars, I'll untie you and we can start getting out of here - I need wires, something thin for the lock. Where is here?" Matt asked, pushing himself to his knees. He'd see stars from the pain if he could see."We were in a van for a while, our phones are fried. What were you doing there?" Trish demanded. "Is anyone - ""I was checking the warehouse, I didn't expect people to be inside."The girl shifted nervously as she pushed the knots into his fingers. "You beat up a bunch of guys, we could have gotten away if they hadn't zapped you. You did a lot better than the blonde."Trish sighed heavily."It's going to take all four of us to get out of here. I hear six heartbeats upstairs, do we have a head count of bad guys?""Who are you?" the girl asked.Trish answered quickly, "He's Daredevil, and no he didn't choose the name."The girl's heart skipped but settled in a snap. "Okay. Sorry for being suspicious, Ms. Walker, I didn't know if you were on our side or not. I'll take the Devil's word you're not a bad guy. I heard them talking - there were seventeen in the warehouse, I was clocking their faces. You guys took down ten, I think the driver of the van is the one missing from here."They were lucky to have the eyes on this one. "They want the Spider?""Oh yeah, the only reason they kept us alive is because they recognized Ms. Walker," the girl said. "I'm MJ.""Nice to meet you, we'll discuss the hazards of stereotyping masked vigilantes at a later date - how are we coming on a lockpick?" "Smells like - New Jersey. I've never been to Jersey," Matt said blankly when they were far enough from the cages and unconscious thugs for him to drop Peter from his fireman's carry to rest on a snitched hoodie."Then how do you know what it smells like?" Trish whispered."Used to date a guy from here, never washed his hair. Didn't last long," he replied before he remembered he was with a group of strangers."With your nose, guess not," MJ hummed thoughtfully. "What now?""Phone would be nice. This wasn't my gig, I was helping out some friends that were on the case but I'm pretty sure they didn't know Spider-Man or Hellcat were involved," Matt said, sinking down to sit on the sidewalk. "My credit card might get declined paying for a ride home from here.""You're not taking a taxi in that outfit, even without the horns, you're a bloody mess." MJ hesitated.Trish stood up and pushed her hands through her hair. "Stay with your friend and the Devil, I'll be back in five. Who am I calling?""Colleen or Misty, I have a card. They were at the docks when I got zapped," Matt said, fumbling for his wallet and finally letting her take the whole thing.MJ settled on the pavement with him, checking Peter's chest and throat like she knew what she was doing. "What were they looking for, your friends?""They weren't sure, but the vans had some kind of tech that Misty wanted to check out. I was there to listen and distract while they snooped around," Matt admitted. "I'm good for more than just fighting, sometimes.""I'm glad you're good at fighting, but I'll never admit it on record," she replied. "How - ""He's still steady," Matt said. "Whatever they stuck him with must have been heavy duty, but I think he's sweating it out. He needs to wake up, drink a ton of juice and flush his system.""And you?""I need an ice bath and bottle of scotch. I shouldn't have done the shoulder thing," he said. "I panicked.""Yeah, you really don't like being restrained," MJ said. "I respect that. But I don't think magicians get out of straitjackets that way, so maybe you should practice more.""Noted. I usually just try to avoid straitjackets, but your plan has some merit," he sighed. "You got parents looking for you?""Nah, I'm not expected back 'til Monday after school. Weekend pass ruined," she said quietly. "Don't mention that to him, though - he'll never tag me for sidekick duty again.""Why not?" Matt hummed. "You got him out of an evil science lab while he took a nap. Besides, I doubt you're sidekick material, you'd never follow orders."
"We're going to put a chip in you, Jesus - are you all right?"
Matt accepted Misty's arm and hoped he looked better than he felt after the bumpy ride from New Jersey. "45%.""Asshole, what is this?" Colleen asked as she joined them, taking his free arm. "What did you do to yourself?""Tried to be a contortionist to break out of a straitjacket," MJ answered. He liked her, he hoped Spider-Man appreciated her."Seems like we fell in a trap for a Spider. Hey," Trish greeted them with a small wave."Hellcat. She saw the guys grab Spidey and his friend and tried to help," Matt introduced."And we're all on the same - what happens in Jersey stays in Jersey - page where we totally don't know each other in public," Trish said quickly."Got it," Misty nodded firmly."Let's go inside, my neighbor just woke up. My reputation can't handle another walk of shame," Matt said. "Can one of you get the kid?""Already on it, start walking. Tell us what happened inside that building," Colleen said.He hesitated at the stairs. "Who's in my apartment?""We, maybe panicked, and called Jessica when you got snatched."He relaxed. "As long as you didn't call Foggy, that's fine.""Should I go?" Trish asked quietly.Misty trotted ahead several steps to get to the door. "Nope, she got a ping when your phone deactivated and got the same one when the Devil's went out - she'll want to see you.""Why is she tracking my phone?" Matt complained as MJ latched on as his guide into the apartment."Because you won't let us put a chip in you - oh shit. Trish?"MJ whispered. "This is awkward. Where's your bathroom and that fancy first aid kit?""Come on, I'll show you his 'walk of shame' box so you can change," Colleen offered. "You too, Trish.""Christ," he hissed as a spasm shuddered through his abused muscles. "Walk it off," he muttered to himself.Jessica manhandled him to the couch and extended his arms one at a time to rotate them with muttered curses. "Seriously? A straitjacket?""I hate being tied up," he gritted out as something shifted into place. "Better - damn - "Trish's voice drifted from the back. "We thought he was trying to pull some Alpha male bullshit at first, turned out he was freaking out about the restraints."Misty cupped his face suddenly, metal hand and flesh gentle against his skin. "Steady?""Yeah, no straps, all good," he answered honestly, working his joints when Jessica finished her twisting. "I have regrets but you guys have a case to deal with. Somebody's gotta handle that Avenger in my bedroom." He was relieved that the incidental kidnapping brought Jessica and Trish to a truce. Their bickering was soothing in the background and distracted him from Misty's clinical interrogation of MJ and Peter - who at least sounded his age even if he didn't 'weigh' his age."Here, Jess put some Irish in your coffee," Colleen said, wrapping his hand around one of his mugs. "It's probably too loud for you to meditate, huh?""Yeah, and I don't have the same kind of mojo as you and Danny," he admitted. "Just waiting my turn for questioning so I can triage." He took a long swallow of the coffee and tried to regroup."That's why I'm tagged in. What happened when you got inside, how did you get taken?" Colleen asked."I heard someone crying," Matt said.Jessica snickered and Trish let out an offended sound."It was someone Trish had kicked in the balls," Matt smiled. "He was a whiner but I'm pretty sure he deserved it from what I heard him telling the others. There's a reason I wear a cup when I fight crime.""It's like the third most important rule of fighting crime!" Parker called from the back. Matt gave a thumb's up."Somebody nailed me with a taser after I took out a few of the guys and I blacked out. Right in the neck," he said, raising his hand to the burn mark he'd forgotten about with the pain in his shoulders.Trish picked up for him. "They got me the same way with the taser. Put us in the straitjacket before they took off our masks.""I don't react well if I wake up...restrained. I lost my cool in there and put everyone in danger. My bad. But once I got free, the ladies got us out."Trish choked on her coffee and MJ moved into the doorway. "That's not what happened.""Close enough. Locks were picked, bad guys were punched and exits were made. Is that it? Can we order food?" He leaned back. "Spider-kid, you got money to pitch in for food?""I got twenty on it," Jessica offered. "Don't harass children for money.""It's oddly reassuring to see the grown-up vigilantes struggling with bills," MJ called."None of our clients' checks cleared this week," Matt muttered. "I can't ask for another loan from Fog.""We'll work out food, let's get you into that ice-bath." Colleen said, snagging his wrist and helping him to his feet. "Ten minutes.""Fifteen. I can handle fifteen. Unless my lips go blue, then you can pull me out," Matt replied, making his way slowly into his room and to the bathroom. Matt felt better now that his muscles were chilled into submission and he's bundled on his couch with his favorite soup from the Chinese place two blocks away. He didn't have seating for this many people but everyone seemed too relieved to be not-kidnapped or looking for missing friends to care about sitting on blankets spread on the floor.He heard a car pull up and knew it was too expensive for this part of town before he recognized Stark's buzzing tech. "Rich guy incoming.""I didn't think he'd come himself, sorry," Peter said, scrambling out of his nest of empty noodle cartons to get the door."Keep your head down, we're excluding you from the narrative," Jessica said, tucking his fleece blanket over the taser mark."Awesome," Matt said, holding out his hand for a fist bump. MJ moved to sit beside him while he was listening to Tony Stark talk to Peter."Is Mr. Stark mad at him?" she asked under her breath."Worried. Nobody knew he was missing and he just came from the site. Saw some video that he didn't like. Spidey must not have gone down easy," Matt hummed."Tasers are awful, I'm totally getting one," MJ said. He held out his fist for a bump.Peter brought over Tony for introductions and he gave a small wave when he skimmed over 'the lawyer' without dropping his name. He loved his friends."Thanks for looking out for the kid," Stark said with his arm draped around Peter. "I'd like to talk through what you found so we can make sure we've neutralized the threat - we're pretty sure it's a singular group.""Then you want Misty and Colleen, and Trish for verification," Jessica said, apparently under Tony's gaze too long. "Nothing to see here."Matt leaned over at the muted skip of MJ's pulse. "Stick around if you want, Jess and I are halfway through a dramatic reading of 'Werewolf Lake: The Puddles of Love'."Colleen gasped. "Now I want to stay, you were still on 'The Pond of Lust' last time.""That ending sucked, Team Corgi all the way," Jessica grumbled."Thanks," MJ said. "Peter, you're my alibi so don't ditch me before dawn, all right?"Peter fumbled. "I would never, I'll be right back, right, Mr. Stark?""Couple of hours, tops. You sure you're okay here, Pete's anonymous friend?" Tony asked."Since he slept through the hard part, seem fair he has to deal with this," MJ replied, shrugging.Stark snorted. "We wiped the video, for any curious devils or kittens in the room. You don't have to take Hell's Kitchen so literally, you know""Come on, Mr. Stark, before you insult anyone. You're so bad at making friends, I'm disappointed in you."