Chapter Text
Hell breaks loose in New York, but at this point that’s not really news.
“Alright, FRIDAY’s going to be keeping tally of kills, half-points you knock one down to the point where it can’t get back up and keep fighting.” Tony said as he walked out onto the roof of one of the lower buildings. Not the top of Avengers Tower, that was far too high to be of use to people who died when falling from great distances. Like Hawkeye and Natasha. Amazing? Yes they were. Super human? No.
‘Walked’ probably wasn’t the exact right choice of words. In the Ironman suit, Tony really had no choice but to stomp around. It wasn’t made for stealth, and honestly Tony didn’t mind that. He’d leave the stealth to the professionals.
The current ‘hell’ that had taken over New York was, crazily enough, dinosaurs. Real life dinosaurs on a rampage through New York. Raptor-looking things that if Tony tried to give an actual name to he’s sure somebody would tell him he was very very wrong and point out all the details that proved what kind of dinosaur it actually was. Tony knew a lot about electronics and different makes and models of cars and a whole lot more about architecture that he even thought he’d need to know, but oddly enough his Tony had never found a reason to do deep dives on the internet about dinosaurs in his line of work.
“Is there some kind of prize for the winner?”
Tony did his best not to let his displeasure show on his face. Standing on the roof of the building was most of the Avengers: Wanda, Clint, Natasha, Steve, Rhodey, and Sam. But since it was a disaster in all of New York, it also meant that the vigilantes had crawled out from the woodwork to join them on this roof and save their city.
Peter was standing at head of the group of vigilantes, having helped orchestrate the turnout himself with his own connection. Tony had done his research, and could recognize most of the people present. Danny Rand was there, accompanied by some Asian lady with a sword. The person who had spoke was Jessica Jones, who was still in civilian clothes and standing next Luke Cage, a big mountain of a man with his arms folded and giving Tony a Look. A lady with the same kind of Look and a robotic arm was next to him, mouth moving but whatever words she was saying far too quiet for Tony to hear. Luke Cage’s shoulder’s quivered as he laughed at whatever it had been. There was another man near the back of the group in a big coat and hat had obscured most of his face and was holding one hell of a gun.
And then, of course he’d be at the front of the group, right next to Peter, was Daredevil himself.
Tony had never run into Daredevil in person, but he was very familiar with the man’s work - especially after all the research he’d done since finding out that Daredevil had been tutoring Peter.
Almost all accounts of Daredevil say he always looks angry, like there’s a fury inside of him that never dies, hellfire that burns eternal. A bit poetic for Tony’s tastes, but even just look at the man’s face (or lower part of his face that wasn’t hidden in a mask) he could already see what they were talking about. His lips continually twitched, like he was only just stopping himself from snarling, and his fists had a slight shake to them like he was just dying to start punching the shit out of some dinosaurs.
(Which was a crazy sentence, but apparently that was Tony’s life now.)
“Yes, winner gets to pick the movie for movie night.” Tony said. Jessica Jones rolled her eyes.
“Can we just get on with this?” Luke Cage asked, shifting on his feet and letting his hands fall to his sides.
“Grab your communicators first.” Natasha instructed as she and Clint handed out small earpieces to the vigilantes. “This way we can keep in contact with each other and more efficiently cover ground.”
Tony went through the list of who he thought would be best fit where and how many should be grouped together. Last to be sent off was, of course, himself and Daredevil.
“There’s people in danger.” Daredevil said, arms folded.
“When this is over, we’re talking.” Tony said, leaving no room in his voice for argument, or at least, he thought he had.
“There’s things that Peter can learn from me he can’t from you. Accept that, move on, and stop hanging around Hell’s Kitchen trying to ‘surprise’ me.” Daredevil growled, and Tony had a feeling that that was the only way Daredevil’s voice could ever be described - a growl. Tony wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out Daredevil had some kind of wolf dna spliced into him or something. Weirder things could happen. Weirder things had happened.
And, having gotten the final word in, Daredevil jumped off the roof.
oOo
Things went smoothly for almost the entire fight, which meant that something had to go sour.
Tony and Steve had been making great progress finding the source of the dinosaurs, as well as who was, well, controlling them wasn’t the right word… directing the dinosaurs in what to do and who to attack. The entire reason behind sending dinosaurs to attack New York was still lost on Tony, especially when one considered just how many heroes lived right here. An he had to admit that all parts of the fighting force were holding their own. The vigilantes were good at their job, efficient and almost brutal, though whether those were their usual methods or because they were fighting dinosaurs instead of humans, Tony wasn’t sure.
“T-tony,” Peter said over the comms. They’d been working like a charm, but now they almost worked too well because Tony could hear how Peter’s voice had lost it’s upbeatness, a tremble in it that sent him on edge, “I think I’m going to h… have to take a break.”
“Peter, speak, to me! What happened? Are you hurt?” Tony desperately said into his comms. FRIDAY didn’t even need to be told, automatically bringing up a map of where Tony currently was and where Peter was and how long it’d take Tony to get there.
“Tony, the portal.” Steve said, pointing to said portal where dinosaurs were coming from.
“I’m f-fine. I just need to, uh, t-take a break. ” Peter stuttered.
“Steve, can you-” Tony started, but Daredevil cut him off.
“As long as there’s so many dinosaurs, Peter’s going to be in pain. I’ll look after him, you put a stop to this.” Daredevil said, and FRIDAY brought him up on the map, making a B-line for Tony’s kid.
There’s a lot of things that go through Tony’s head in that moment.
- Closing the portal is probably going to take something stronger than a good punch like Steve - or most of the people here - can offer
- Tony doesn’t trust Daredevil
- Peter is Tony’s kid and his responsibility. He brought him into this, it’s his job to make sure he makes it out in one piece
- Tony trusts Peter. More than he should trust a kid, a kid he hasn’t known all that long, a kid that isn’t related to him
- Peter trusts Daredevil
“Hang in there Peter, Daredevil’s on his way.” Tony said into the comm. He pretends not to notice the look Steve gives him. He doesn’t know what the look means. Or maybe he does, but it’s a kind emotion than he usually gets from the man and he doesn’t want to get his hopes about anything.
“Overload?” Daredevil said, and his voice is actually more grumble than growl. It’s only over the comms because they don’t really turn off, just go on to standby when others aren’t talking. There’s no audible response from Peter, but Daredevil gave a sigh. “You stayed up last night, didn’t you?” Again, no audible response. “Homework, Ned, or Tony?”
“... Ned.” Peter finally said in that strained voice, so quiet it was almost a whisper. “W-we were bingeing L-lord of the R-r-r-ings.”
“Peter.” Daredevil said in disappointment. “Just focus on me, Peter. I’m right here, just focus on me. Does the light hurt?”
It clicks then, what has happened to Peter. Tony had done a lot of research into sensory overload. Peter’s new suit was going to be able to help a lot with that, Tony was going to make sure of it. But it wasn’t finished yet, and he was too late to help Peter this time. But Daredevil was there, and knew what to do, and Tony couldn’t deny a part of him was envious of that.
It was also about right then that, even though Tony was busy fighting off a Spinosaurus with Captain America, he started to put the pieces together.
“Here, Peter.” Daredevil said.
“B-but-” Peter stuttered, though about exactly what was uncertain.
“You trust him.” Daredevil said, and by now almost all of the roughness had disappeared from his voice. “So I will too. For you. Now just focus on me.”
In other news, Spinosauruses aren’t all that hard to fight, it turns out.
Steve offered to keep an eye on their dinosaur fanatic as he spouted some kind of rhetoric about bringing the Earth back to its roots. He nodded to Tony to get back to Peter, and Tony didn’t need to be told twice.
Peter and Daredevil and on the roof of a building, leaning up against the roof entrance. Peter had taken off the mask of his suit and it sat next to him, and instead on his head was Daredevil’s mask. One hand is wrapped around Daredevil’s wrist. Peter had explained it to him after that last time. He was focusing on the pulse, on the heartbeat, something slow and constant.
And Matt Murdock looked in Tony’s direction with a hundred-yard stare.
It looks weird, Matt Murdock in the Daredevil gear. It’s like somebody had chopped off Murdock’s head and glued it to Daredevil’s body.
“Hey Tony.” Murdock said. Just barely loud enough to be heard. “Nice job back there.”
“You’re blind.” Tony said bluntly, though mindful of his volume.
“I’ve noticed.” Murdock agreed.
“You’re Daredevil.” Tony continued, because he had to make sure the facts were facts and also because the facts seemed a bit crazy (which went back to the subject of his life being crazy).
“Yeah.” Murdock nodded. “And I’m a lawyer.”
“And the last member of the Chaste.” Tony added. Murdock sighed.
“Danny told me you’d found out about that.” Murdock said.
It’s weird, to go from knowing almost nothing about Daredevil as a person to suddenly have to merge the violent vigilante with all the research Tony had done about Matthew Murdock. At least now he knew how the lawyer had probably managed to get out of a prison during a riot.
“So… my Spanish lessons…” Peter finally spoke up, mask still on his head, and Murdock actually laughed.
“Let the record show we do practice Spanish while I’m training him.”
oOo
“Jessica and Luke’ll come over later, but we always start with just Matt and I.” Peter explained as he led the way to Murdock, Nelson, and Paige . Their office closed around 4:30 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays so that Peter could slip in for his ‘Spanish lessons’, which Peter still kept accidentally calling them. “And sometimes Frank drops by too, when he’s in the mood.”
The last client of the day was leaving as Tony and Peter entered the old boxing gym. Matt was already sitting in the middle of the ring wearing sweats and a black shirt. His two partners, Nelson and Paige, were sitting at the table that held the assorted foods they’d been given, eating and talking about different papers that were spread out before them.
“I thought you said it was just Murdock and you.” Tony pointed out.
“Foggy and Karen work here, they’re allowed to hang around.” Murdock assured Tony. Tony and Peter climbed up into the ring and, when Peter sat down, Tony did as well. He wasn’t able to cross his legs like the other two, so he just had them out straight and leaning back on his hands. “Alright Peter, let’s go get a good look at New York city today.”
The two of them closed their eyes, completely unnecessarily in Murdock’s case, and Tony listened as Murdock guided Peter through sensing the room, feeling the air currents, distinguishing the smells from each other, hearing what was there and focusing on the bounce of the sound waves as they hit objects.
It was nothing less than amazing.
Perhaps, Tony mused, vigilantes and Heroes mixing was for the best.
“Wait, as in Frank Castle?!”