Sokovia and Spiders

Part 6

Blood pools on his tongue, flowing from a cut in his mouth. Peter thinks his teeth had impaled the inside skin of his cheek when his skull was bounced off the chimney by Deadpool. Peter can only struggle as he's manipulated by the mercenary, held aloft only by the harsh grip on his head. His struggle intensifies as his mask is grappled with. But he's quickly subdued, his hand pinned painfully to the ground by a heavy boot, rendering him completely immobile.

As his mask is dragged up inch by inch, he hears a resounding clang in the background. Deadpool doesn't react, probably just a stray cat. It's hard to confirm the source of any noises with one ear clogged with blood. Speaking of blood there's some dribbling down his chin, escaping now the mask is over his chin. Peter thinks he can hear it splash against the gravel, but his senses are haywire. Bouts of loud sound assault him before disappearing. Then noises are faded like he's being held underwater, it's hard to tell which direction they're coming from.

From his left another clang rings out, this time loud enough that Deadpool must have heard it. It's probably a partner in crime of his. Someone else privy to Peter's untimely exposure. With another tug his face is half revealed, the mercenary leans toward Peter's ear, ''Finally, the world gets to meet Spiderman.''

Peter re-evaluates his idea Deadpool might have a partner when the mercenary is ripped away from him by a figure in red. As both figures tumble away in a blur of crimson, Peter crumbles to the ground the force keeping him up gone.

Wrenching his eyes open he watches them move across the ground, the edges of their red suits melting into the dark sky. After grappling and tumbling for a few too many moments Spiderman's apparent saviour gains the upper hand. No, not a saviour. Just someone who happens to hate Deadpool even more than Peter did. The enemy of my enemy is my friend might sound good in movies but that doesn't make it true.

As a leg pins Deadpool to the ground, the newcomer's arms take turns thundering down on his mask. Anyone one of those hits enough to have Peter unconscious. Even as punches rain down Deadpool keeps talking, garbling nonsense coming as naturally to him as breathing comes to the rest of society, ''Look, clearly this new friendship of ours isn't off to a great start.'' The next words are cut off by a particularly nasty right hook across his jaw. The movement is punctuated by sound, a mix between an egg cracking and a vase shattering. When Deadpool comes back into Peter's eyeline his jaw hangs down in an unnatural angle.

The favour is returned when his arm pulls back brushing across the ground, Peter doesn't have the chance to shout out a warning, before it's back, a jagged piece of brick in hand. It's cracked off the assailant's face, sending him sprawling back into the glow of a nearby street light, a pair of horns becoming visible. Daredevil.

He was a hero that Peter had heard about, known for leaving gun runners and gangs beaten within an inch of their lives. He'd been invited to join the Avengers a few times but he was even more of a loner than Spiderman was. Or at least that's what the Human Torch had told Peter on one of their occasional team-ups. Like many heroes he also had a rigid anti-murder agenda. So Peter would have at least survived the night had Daredevil been the one taking him to S.H.I.E.L.D., even if he ended up a little maimed.

Not that it mattered now with Daredevil sprawled out and Deadpool rising to his feet, his jaw having been cracked back into place. ''I really didn't have time for this you know. Straight after this I'm meant to be apprehending Squirrel Girl.'' He advances slowly, assured the threat has been subdued. He stretches as he walks, like someone who's awoken from a mid-day nap, rolling his shoulder back and twisting his arms, Peter can hear muscles stitching themselves back together and bones clicking into place. ''We could have all worked together you know. We could have been Team Red.''