Forgive me father

After his unusual proposition, the cab drive was long and quiet. Nika mulled over the idea of staying with him, the pros and cons, remembering the first, inadvertently shared night there that caused her slight discomfort. They were strangers and had fought on the two different sides of the law, jumbled together by fate and ridiculous circumstances. She´d helped him and in return, he´d helped her but did that justify moving in there? Nika´s thoughts turned in her head. It wasn´t right, still, where else could she go, stripped of any money or opportunity to fall back on? For now, she´d just follow him back to his place and consider further. She´d check out the place once more, maybe talk with Matt some more and then, decide. 

Inside his apartment, Nika moved tentatively. Now in broad daylight she took everything in, the minimalistic interior, the brash neon sign by the window, the generous grey on his walls. While he washed the blood off his hands she walked in deeper, now noticing the crumpled blanket on the couch he´d used the night before, a faint smile appearing on her features. “No, they probably won´t,” she agreed, turning to him and wondering if he needed some patching up with those battered hands. “And I will be honest, I got no place to stay unless I can scrape up some cash, somehow… which I wouldn’t know how, since everyone I know either lives by that apartment of mine or on another continent.” She´d burnt all bridges to her former work colleagues as well so in fact, landlady and a few neighbours aside, Nika was alone. “The thing is, we don´t know how long´s that gonna take. Could be days, could be months. You really want me to stay that long? They are a well organised team with spies all across the city. What if, God forbid, they sniffed me out here? Am I supposed to stay inside, all da long?” Nika sighed as her shoulders slouched, then she slowly set into motion to walk over to him, carefully taking one of his hands into hers. “You need any help with that?” It might have been wrong to touch someone without their explicit permission but somehow, what she´d done for him had formed a bond between them. At least that was how Nika felt about it.

Matt looked up and in her general direction, the look on his face dark and unreadable. “Not like you have any other choice,” he pointed out. The longer it would take him to get these guys off the streets of New York, the more dangerous would her life become anywhere. If they came to his place, however, he’d at least save some time looking for them - not that he actually wanted them to know where he lived. “If they have their people all across the city, it shouldn’t matter where you stay. You’re a fair game now.” He shrugged. When he thought he’d rinsed all blood from his hands, he turned the tap off and dried his hands on a dish towel.

He blinked as he felt her approach and cocked his head ever so slightly, curiously waiting for what she was about to do. Nika reached for his hand and took it in hers gently. “Yeah,” he mouth quietly to her question, lowering his empty eyes down on their hands. It wasn’t like he needed her help, but he welcomed it.

“No…”  It couldn’t be true.  But it was getting even harder to grasp the situation.  Daredevil insists he was safe.  They had to leave.  There were no monsters.  It all comes too fast for Peter to keep up, regardless of how fast or slow it was occurring in reality.  He was lost.

In the fear, the adrenaline and the confusion, when the masked man lets go of Peter’s arm, all the boy does is sit where he was left.  Wavering and shaking, but making no move to attack or run.

Lost.

He swallows, looking to the stranger’s vaguely morphing face when he approaches again.  Peter’s eyes squeeze shut.  He only tries to keep up now.  Everything in his senses still registered as danger.  Monsters, lies, everywhere.  The line between reality and fantasy was nearly non-existent.  Between truth and lies only felt blurry.  After all, he was already at the man’s mercy right where he was.  It takes him far longer than it should to come to the realization, but in the end there was no point in all the shouting and running if Daredevil wanted to do him harm.  Right here was as good as anywhere.  So what reason would he have to lie?

With a deep breath, Peter nods, and hesitantly reaches out.  They had to leave before the police showed up.  Police meant questions at best.  Assumptions.  Confusion.  People pulling at his mask.  The others - should they truly be people at all - wouldn’t know either.  They’d only remember Spider-Man fighting them.

The weight of it all presses down on his back, making already shaky legs wobble as he rises with boney fingers gripping Daredevil’s suit for help.

Matt rolled his eyes under his mask, slightly annoyed by Spider-Mans short answer, and pulled an arm around his shoulders and under his arm to carry his weight. The boy grabbed his suit, not seeming able to walk all the way up that building. “At least try to make yourself useful,” Matt muttered in a low voice as he supported Spider-Man out of that bad smelling room.With the boys weight pressing on his shoulders, he found himself panting half the way up the staircase but reached the top of the building before the police arrived at the scene.

The door to the roof top fell shut and finally they were able to have somewhat of a short break to recover from the effort to climb the stairs in their current condition.