Web swinging (and yes, I knew I was using living bandages but this was a Marvel universe, so web-swinging is the word I'll use) had to be one of the most fun ways I'd ever used to travel in New York. Flying was fun, sure, but something about feeling gravity and momentum working together to send me past the buildings made me want to yell out for joy. I got the hang of it very quickly, going off my time playing Spider-Man and Batman video games to help.
Of course, the fact I was Snare-Oh helped me even further. At any moment, I could simply turn into scraps of bandages and shoot forward before changing back into my humanoid form, giving me even more mobility through the city. At one point, when faced with a massive building ahead of me, I simply rolled onto the ground, turned into long lines of paper, and shot upwards. Once at the roof, I turned back to my humanoid form, launched two bandages that attached to a pipe on the roof, pulled myself forward, and shot back into the sky, the material of my body giving me a bit of drag as I fell through the sky towards the lights of the city. It was exhilarating, even more than flying. I mean, it was awesome to fly, but when I was doing it to get from point A to point B, it was more boring, since I was essentially just moving in a straight line. This was much more involved, like parkour on speed.
Daredevil ran along buildings at a slightly slower pace, but not by much. He knew the city better than I did, even with all my patrolling, taking alleyways and shortcuts to match my pace. His new billy clubs helped, having been made to be as close as I could make them to the comics. I'd even included a variation on the Goop formula so it could attach to walls without needing to wrap around anything.
Heading over to the docks he'd indicated, we ended up near a warehouse. I landed on a water tower in a classic Spidey pose, Daredevil landing at the foot of it as we gazed at the dock. A bunch of large shipping containers lay next to the warehouse, at the edge of the water leading to the harbor. A man in a chair was near the shipping containers, clearly waiting for someone. More men milled around the area. In the darkness though, only the fact I was looking for them let me see where they were. I thought about changing to Wildmutt to try and sense if they were armed with guns, but I decided to leave that for later. After all, if I needed super-senses, I could outsource rather than expend Omnitrix energy.
“What have we got?” I asked, shifting my bright green eyes to look down at Daredevil. He stood still a moment, shifting his head from side to side and taking deep breaths. I imagined, like Wildmutt, he was smelling and tasting the air. Which, in New York City, was an extremely mixed bag.
“About ten guys guarding the area. Only three are armed with guns. One is drunk, smells like he had tequila at the Mexican restaurant nearby. One of them, the guy near the door, he's jittery. He's an addict, jonesing for a hit. Everyone else is bored though like they have a long wait ahead. I think we have some time before the 'cargo', whatever it is, shows up.”
He cocked his head at me as I stared, dumbfounded. After a silence, he rubbed his chin. “I'm not sure how you're reacting with this alien form. Is that enough to go on?”
“Pretty sure it is,” I said slowly. I stroked the mask bit where my chin would be, a raspy sound from my wraps rubbing together filling the air. “Well, we need proof of wrongdoing. Can't just rush in and attack a bunch of guys on a dock.”
“So we wait,” Daredevil said, moving to sit on the edge of the building.
I did the same.
For a few minutes, we simply sat in awkward silence together. Finally, unable to handle it, I turned to look at him and said the first thing that came to mind. “So, you, uh... watch movies? Play video games, read, any of that?”
He chuckled, sounding surprised. “Not, uh, not as much as I wish I could. I'm usually too busy. Can't remember the last time I did any of that. Plus, you know, not a lot of media for blind people,” the last words teasing.
Oh crap, don’t tell me I forgot! I was just trying to make the time pass, and that’s such a stereotypical conversation starter! “Ah, crap, I'm sorry man, I didn't-”
“No, it's fine. I've, uh, read a lot. Since I can read the raised ink, its one of the only ways I can absorb media. I also like comic books.”
“Really?” I asked, surprised.
“Well, if the ink is distinct enough, I can feel it and get an image in my head. It's easier to read regular books though. Nowadays, comics are a bit fuzzier for me.”
“You should try manga,” I suggested. “Their brushstrokes tend to be a lot more defined. So, what books have you read?”
“A lot of the classics,” Matt said. “Lord of the Rings was good. I also liked... someone's coming.”
In a smooth movement, Matt rose to his feet, while I shapeshifted myself to stand. Below us, a white van pulled onto the docks. Matt stiffened, and I looked over at him.
“What is it?”
“...screams,” he said in a soft voice. A dangerous voice. “We need to get down there.”
He swung his billy club out and attached it to the nearest crane on the docks, swinging across as the van rolled towards where the man in the chair was sitting. I followed, my mind slowly realizing what was happening, but still not quite processing it.
We landed on a shipping container as the white van rolled to a stop in front of an open container. As we watched, two guys got out, leaving the van's headlights on to illuminate the docks. A tall, thin, black man with a shaved head and groomed goatee walked up as the driver and passenger opened the back of the van.
More men walked up, helping to drag the ‘cargo’ out.
Eight of them, female, young, pretty, with makeup ruined from crying. All of them were wearing some variation of low-skirted dress, and they were different in many ways, from skin tone to hair color, to body type.
The clinical side of me noted all of this. The emotional part of me felt a cold chill in my wraps. I stared at the screaming and crying group of girls as they were dragged over to the open container, the men forcing them along uncaring.
“Okay,” I said coldly, my ghoulish voice letting me whisper very easily. “I'll start with the guys on the edge. Point them out for me, please.”
Matt pointed them out. I nodded. “Got it. Keep your comm open.”
“What is the plan?” Matt whispered.
“I'll get rid of the guys around the area. You protect the girls from harm. Good?”
“Good,” Matt flourished his billy clubs.
Down below, the tall black man was saying something about a bucket. He raised a baton and demonstrated the shock feature. When the girls panicked, he rolled his eyes and moved in to touch it against a girl.
I forced myself to move at the same time Matt dropped down. I swung up using the crane, moving towards a section on top of shipping containers that were triple-stacked. A guy was roaming back and forth on top of it. I turned into a bundle of bandages and dropped in front of him in that shape. He swore, stepping back in surprise, then blinking at the sight of me.
I didn't give him time to wonder where I came from. Instead, I leaped upwards, wrapping around his mouth as he tried to shout. My other bandages squeezed tight to the rest of his body, pinning his arms and legs together, bones creaking under my grip as I wrapped around him. I made sure to wrap around his throat extra tight as my head rose up. He screamed once more when his eyes met mine, air leaving his lungs. I took pleasure in the sight of his face turning red, the tears and fear in his eyes. He struggled, and I growled in disgust before letting go and gagging him. I hung him up Batman: Arkham Series style from a light post, leaving him wiggling with a silent scream against my bandages.
At the same time, Daredevil was giving the guys hell. He broke the nose of the tall black man, sending him flying. Another man tried to jump him from behind, so Matt backflipped over him before dropping down to slam his boots into his attackers back as he dropped, the man screaming on the ground as Matt ground his feet into his back. Another man grabbed the shock baton off the floor where the tall man had dropped it, swinging it to hit Matt in the head. He grunted at the impact on his helmet, then spun around with his billy clubs to hit the guy, sending blood and teeth spraying from the thug's mouth.
Damn. Matt looked… scary. He flowed around in a dark blur, seeming to blend in the shadows. His horns somehow seemed massively prominent, and his hands and feet smashed into people with hatred I couldn’t fathom. The guy seemed unstoppable. Natasha and Bucky, as ruthless as they were, felt business-like in their combat. Matt was more like… like…
His horns stood prominently on his helmet as his red eyes glowed in the flash of the lights.
I left my own target on the top of the containers wrapped in bandages and jumped over to another guy.
------
Random Thug
He had no idea what was going. Today was supposed to be just another day on the job. Watch the docks in case of police, be ready for the shipment, watch it head out, then get paid. It was easy work as long you weren't arrested, certainly paid more than being a fast food worker.
Now here he was, his gun out as he ran in between the shipping containers. Apparently, according to the radio, some guy in a costume was attacking. One guy and he was kicking their asses. He needed to get over there, he needed to-
Something tall dropped down in front of him. He panicked, raising his gun at the tall figure in the darkness and shooting, hitting it in the chest several times. The figure froze. Then it walked forward.
He fired again, his bullet hitting it where the figure's heart should have been, but it kept walking forward. Then, it’s arms seemed to… open, at three lines around the forearms on both. They glowed a bright green. A sickly green. A pair of lights joined in where his head should have been.
“What the fuck?” he said quietly in horror. “What are you?!”
In response, the figure seemed to stretch outward. Then it filled the alleyway.
“Oh my god!” he screamed, shooting over and over again. Something that smelled like sand and cloth wrapped around him, throwing him to his left hard enough to break his arm. He screamed again. The last he saw before passing out was a pair of green eyes in the shadow, his scream drowned out in a sea of rough cloth choking him.
------
Matt Murdock/Daredevil
Breathing hard, Matt threw a billy club, bouncing it off the pavement, then a shipping container, where it hit a man who had been reaching for one of the women, presumably to use as a hostage. The girls had huddled together as they watched, screaming and shaking with fear.
Matt caught the billy club when it returned, ducked under a punch from a tall pale skinned man with large muscles and came up in a backflip that smashed his boots into the man's chin, sending him back to the ground.
Someone cocked a gun, drawing Matt's attention. He tossed his billy club at the tall black man on the ground, knocking the gun out of his hand, then flipped over to kick him in the face.
He closed in on another man, sliding around a kick to close in. There was a terrifying brutality as Matt fought. As though all the anger and hatred a human could have suddenly moved through him, his hands twisting the man's arm to shatter his wrist, then fists flowing to break his nose. Matt growled a low inhuman sound that further scared the women watching, then twisted to throw the man against a shipping container with the brutal slap of pounds of flesh on metal. When the beaten man tried to struggle up again, the devil stomped on his head with just enough force to knock him out.
Two men, the last of those standing, rushed Matt at the same time. He stood his ground as they came, then slid around a kick to punch one of the men in the face.
Suddenly, the three men were in a melee, dodging, blocking, and attacking in a fierce blaze of blows. Matt's senses sang, the sound of fists and feet slicing through the air, the smell of sweat, the feel of vibrations through the pavement, the taste of blood in the air and on his mouth, all working together to create a world of flames. He navigated through the fire, taking a few hits on his new armor.
His new, and apparently very strong, armor.
It still hurt a bit to be punched, but it was nothing compared to before when his heightened sense of touch seemed to scream with every blow.
The fight ended in a single moment. Matt leaped up when one of the men tried to sweep his feet out from under him, twisting to kick his feet out in one direction while punching the other, savagely hitting both men in the head and sending them to the ground.
He twisted in the air and threw a billy club in the head of the tall black man, who was reaching for his gun. As the hardened steel sent teeth flying and shattered bones, Matt smiled just a bit. With that, he walked over to finish him off.
------
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
I tossed that guy aside wrapped in my bandages, then flew towards a man coming around the corner. I decided against any fancy tricks. When he pulled out a knife and stabbed me in the chest, I simply ignored the knife to tackle him into a brick wall behind him, then wrapped him up, letting him lay there wriggling as all nine feet of me ran to the next guy.
It was almost sad. One guy tried to punch me in the face, only to scream in horror when I opened up a ‘mouth’ with 'fangs' of cloth and devoured him, spitting him out in bandages with all his fingers in his hands broken. I would have felt sorry.
But when I'd finished and rejoined Daredevil, he was finishing off the last of the guys, resting on the man's chest and punching him over and over in the face. I'd have stopped him if it wasn't for the fact I could see two things. The group of eight women and the container they would have been transported in.
I dropped down from the sky and landed, all nine feet of mummy standing tall over the devil beating a man. Matt and I must have made a terrifying sight, me with my strange appearance and glowing green eyes, Matt's fists sending up blood to fall across his armor and bare mouth under the lights of the white van.
One of the women screamed when I stepped forward. Thinking quickly, I tapped the Omnitrix, turning back into my human form in the armor I'd created. With a twist of my wrists, my helmet fell away, leaving me looking over at the group of woman. Matt rose next to me, panting hard.
“Ladies, please calm down,” I told the group, feeling a little nervous. “I'm Dial, from the Avengers. This is Daredevil, one of the...” I thought fast, realizing he wasn't on a team. “Marvel Knights,” Matt cocked his head at that. “We're heroes. We came to help.”
The women began to calm down after hearing that. I twisted my wrists, bringing my helmet back up and looking around as my comms called 911, recording the call as well as bringing X in on the conversation.
“Daredevil,” I said while the phone rang. “This was too-”
“Organized,” Matt agreed immediately. “Think we should ask some questions?”
“This ends,” I said harshly, breathing the words out hard.
Human trafficking. Slavery. My eyes panned back to the shipping container, with two ratty mattresses and a single blanket resting inside, no food or water. I looked at the ground, where a single bucket rested innocently on the pavement. Then at the women, who even now were crying.
I felt an impulse then, to turn into one of my brute aliens and smash the dock apart until I could forget what had been happening in my city. Sex slavery... No. Not anymore.
As the phone rang, I looked back at Daredevil, who was clenching his billy clubs tightly. “Going to be a late one. You okay with that?”
Matt smiled a slow and vicious smile. “Yes. Yes, I am.”
“Good. Because we need answers,” right on cue, one of the men Matt had beaten up groaned in pain. We looked over at him lying on the ground. He looked at us.
I’m not sure what he thought of us. Me in my strange plated helmet and Matt dressed like the devil while covered in blood. But he shuddered in fear, twisting on his stomach and trying to pull away.
I had just the alien for this. With a twist of the dial, I brought up my chosen alien. “X, can you let the police know what is going on?”
“Of course,” the southern accent of my favorite AI said, sounding a bit distracted, but willing.
Looking over at my current partner, I played further with the Omnitrix, just out of habit.
“Daredevil, can you ask him questions? I won’t be able to talk.”
Matt blinked. “Then what will you be doing?”
I walked toward the man whimpering as he scrambled at the pavement, pulling himself away from me while I pushed down on the Omnitrix. “I’m playing Bad Dog.”
“Don’t you mean Bad… Oh,” Matt said as the green flash ended, nose flaring. He shrugged, walking over to join me.
The man on the floor, with his tanned skin and leather jacket, looked up at me as his nose poured blood. His eyes widened, and he screamed.
I snarled at the noise, leaning in towards him. He surprised me by struggling quickly to his feet and taking three running steps. Curious as to how far he’d go, I began to chase him, roaring. My claws tore through the pavement to shoot me after him. He screamed in horror, reaching the van and getting in.
I jumped at the hood of the van, landing on it hard, and aiming my eyeless face at him as my drool poured down long fangs while I growled loudly, dripping against the windshield, his sweet fear scent filling my scent glands. He shrieked, scratching at his jacket, tears in his eyes. The animal in me reveled in the presence of prey. The human in me smiled at the knowledge of a scared monster.
Because what else do you call a sex slaver?
He finally got his keys out, reaching to put them in the ignition. I put my paw against the glass. Slowly, I pressed against the windshield.
He let out a wordless scream when cracks started to blossom beneath my paw. I smiled, fangs flashing. Daredevil walked slowly up, and I could hear the low chuckle he made as the thug in the van screamed.
The man finally got the key in the ignition, hands twitching and turning on the engine.
In a quick move, I slammed my other paw through the hood and ripped into the engine of the van, my claws treating steel like paper-mache. The smell of oil and the sound of an engine dying filled the air as I dug around in the car, then ripped it out of the hood, presenting over three hundred pounds of metal in one paw to him as I smiled at my prey.
“P-Please put that back…” the crying thug whimpered. My many fangs flashed as I tossed it aside. He broke down then, screaming and crying at the same time.
The windshield broke under my paw, and he lost it, going into the fetal position in the driver's seat as I leaned in, taking deep whiffs of his exquisite fear. God, you haven’t lived until you found out how good a scared person you're hunting smells.
I barked loudly, getting another whimper, the man’s snot dripping down his upper lip from his nose.
Then someone knocked on the window. The man looked over at Daredevil, who gave him a wide grin.
“You know, I can end this. Just answer some questions and, well, I might tell him not to eat you…”
I snarled, trying to convey disappointment, leaning forward and licking the man’s face. Oddly not as gross or off-putting to my current mind as the action would likely be if I was human.
“OH GOD! Please, please, just get it away from me!”
“Oh, believe me, I want to. Seeing him eat is not pleasant,” I bit the guy's hair and tugged hard, Daredevil knocking on the glass as though admonishing me for it. The guys screamed and sobbed, trying to push me away while also trying not to touch me.
“Pal, look at me,” Daredevil said, sounding both chipper and threatening all at once. He switched up, taking on a smooth and calm tone. The devil offering a deal to the desperate and dying. “You can get out of this. All you have to do… is talk to me. You have a chance. What’s your name?”
When he didn’t speak, just kept sobbing, I slashed outwards, ripping his shirt off, then pressed my paw to his chest.
For just a moment, I hesitated. Then I thought of what would have happened to those women, and pushed down my humanity, dipping into the animal I was borrowing.
My claws dug slowly into his chest, blood beginning to be drawn.
“BRIAN! My name is BRIAN ROBERTS!”
“Brian. Okay, Brian. You have a chance here. Answer my questions, and we’ll let you go. It’s an easy choice, Brian. Aren’t those nice? Say yes, and you get a great prize. Say no, and you get something… else,” claws tore just a bit, followed by whimpers. “What do you say?”
“Y-Yes!”
I backed away from Brian, who sobbed with relief, reaching to pull his jacket over the claw marks in his chest. My scent glands flared at the scent of blood.
“Good. Now, what do you know about your bosses and their business? And don’t lie, believe me when I say…”
Daredevil leaned in close and his eyes glowed red, from inbuilt armor systems, as his voice grew deadly serious.
“I’ll know.”