Iida Tenya took long, drawn-out, calm breaths as Daredevil coiled strong, steel ropes that had been inside of his billy club, around Stain's now, finally, defeated body.
Why Daredevil would normally need a billy club capable of firing off a long, taunt rope of steel at high speeds he did not know, nor did he ask.
It was probably for situations like this.
At the side, the flying creature that had attempted one last ditch effort of taking out Izuku, only to be thwarted by first Daredevil, then Stain himself, was lying in a pool of it's own blood, paralyzed and dead.
Izuku, his great savior, was currently lying on the concrete not too far from where he was lying.
Venom had finally managed to get back on his feet, and had once more engulfed Izuku, though he had not exploded forth like he had at the tournament, instead just engulfing Izuku in his regular suit and letting him lay there, not even bothering to remove the makeshift bandages for his wounds that Daredevil had made from Stain's torn up scarf.
Probably busy healing all the damages Iida mused.
At the moment, Iida dearly wished he had similar powers.
Daredevil, after having secured Stain and locked him tight, tight to a steel fence, came over to him, and sat down beside him, having pulled out a phone from somewhere.
In rapid succession, he called up both Police, and medical services to come to aid them.
"Medical is probably gonna be slow I'm afraid." He said sadly.
"Gonna be a LOT of injured people that need help tonight."
Iida just nodded, feeling… Empty.
"It's alright... I can wait."
It was bravado, but at the moment, Iida sincerely meant it. He felt absolutely worthless like he was not worth saving.
Daredevil looked him over, those pupilless red eyes not giving away any emotions.
For a bit, they just sat in silence, Iida's thoughts only punctuated by the sharp pain in his leg where the knife was still embedded… And would remain so until he got actual medical help to aid in stopping the bleeding beyond just letting the knife keep plugging the wound and applying some cloth around it to lessen the blood flow.
"You've been trained." Daredevil noted. "Most heroes in training have a nasty tendency to rip out stuff like knives, spikes, and arrows. Not realizing that it plugs the wounds and prevents them from bleeding out."
"My brother once told me about…" He cut himself off, the memories of his brother, and his shame surging through him anew, even amidst the pain.
Daredevil did not press him.
Eventually, Iida's eyes went over to the alley, it's darkness looming like some beast in the night.
He knew what awaited there. The final proof of his shame. His absolute, complete, and total failure.
"So… What are you going to do now kid?"
His tone was friendly, as was his hand on Tenya's shoulder.
"I… I don't know."
At the moment, it had all seemed so clear to him, but now that the adrenaline was wearing off, it was substantially less so.
"I… I am not the man I thought I was. The... man I wanted to be."
He'd been so blind. So absolutely blind.
Daredevil nodded, his head also turning to the alley.
"It was not your fault kid."
"Maybe… Maybe not… But… It was my responsibility."
That word seemed to resonate with Daredevil.
"I… I took it upon myself when I went into that alley… And the failure of what happened is mine as well."
"Responsibility… I had a friend once, who talked a lot about it. What it meant for those with power… For me though, I'd say you had the right of it back there… The ultimate failure of responsibility is giving up. Stop trying to better yourself, and just accept who you are, flaws and all."
"That's… That's the coward's way out isn't it?"
"Yes. It is. But… That is only part of it. Stain… Stain was not wrong when he said that people do not change their natures so easily. Changing yourself… It's not just about looking at the parts you don't like about yourself in the face… It's also about living with those changes, making an effort to not backtrack on them. To keep being better."
Iida… Iida nodded slowly, memories of the entrance exam flooding through his mind. He'd seen the problems even then… And he hadn't done anything about it.
Instead, he'd abandoned Uraraka in a moment when she needed him.
Just like he'd done with that girl at the entrance exam. Like he'd done with Native.
He… He had NOT done so with Izuku… He had made the choice to stand by him and help…
It was a start. A beginning. But as Daredevil said, that was not the hard part. The hard part… Was continuing.
And then there was another fact he was forced to face.
Stain might now be tied up and captured right by… But that had not solved any of his problems. His brother was still crippled.
Stopping Stain would not miraculously heal his back.
He hadn't thought it would, but… He had thought… That something would surely change.
It hadn't.
His eyes wandered over to Izuku.
Izuku… Had no connection to Stain. Hell, he hadn't even seemed to know who he was.
And yet… And yet he'd acted like a true hero.
"He… He truly is Spectacular… Isn't he?"
"Izuku?"
"Yes."
"I'd use Amazing, but yes, I suppose Spectacular is one way to put it. The boy has a good heart, that's for sure. Of the kind you don't tend to see anymore."
His voice turned melancholic and reminiscent, but Daredevil did not elaborate.
Instead, the two of them just sat there in silence for a time, until Iida perked up at the sound of a police car approaching.
He turned his head to look, as out of said armored car, no several cars, about a dozen armed police officers poured out.
It wasn't before they came up to him, and began asking questions that he realized that Daredevil was now gone.
---
The rest of the night was for most people, a very, very busy affair.
Whether it be the Police who worked to reestablish control, the medical facilities of the city, that worked around the clock as thousands of people had suffered some form of damage in the night, or the media and news who all had an absolute field day getting to sink their wretched claws into the juicy development and get to craft a narrative, one which would get a wrench thrown into it because of a certain youtube video popping up the following day.
It was going to be quite the news week, that was for sure.
Felicia Hardy-Ashido in particular was going to win a lot more fame, given her and Endeavor defeating and finally putting to an end the activities of the infamous Molten Man once and for all, and her interns Mina and Izuku getting quite the golden star under her belt.
Her star had not been this high in the sky in well over a decade.
Not that she cared.
Once Black Cat had seen to it that both Mina and Izuku had gotten the full treatment and rooms at a very well-off hospital, the woman had taken a bag of beer, two fold-up chairs, and set up shop on a rooftop.
Normally, she would have spent her time with Mina. Yes, there were policemen aplenty outside, and in the lobby, but Felicia had never been one to trust in the strength of others when she could trust in her own.
At the moment though, there was something she had to do. Or rather someone she had to talk to.
Through the Iida boy, and police reports, she'd learned of a certain man being in the city.
One she hadn't actually seen since… Well, since before she'd come to Japan. Since the Old days.
Finding the man was an impossibility. However, getting him to come to you was easy enough, provided he wanted to see you. All you had to do was find someplace to meet under the open sky, and say you wanted to meet him.
She was through her third beer when finally, the click of the door behind her announced that she had company.
She wordlessly handed him a beer, as, beside her, the old man sat down in the other chair.
"I hear you almost got yourself killed earlier today."
Matt Murdock had seen better days. The bruises and the cuts were one thing… But the thing that struck Felicia was how OLD the man looked.
She shouldn't have been surprised though.
Matt Murdock, better known as the vigilante Daredevil, The man without Fear, was almost twenty years her senior. Well into his seventies, the man had always been the outlier. Amongst their old gang back in New York, he had always been the old one, the one from the previous generation.
That might not have been so obvious back in the day when they were all young, and in the prime of their lives, but it certainly was obvious now, as his once deep red hair was now flecked with grey, to the point that the coloring was almost completely on it's way out.
"Sure was. And yet here I am, still alive and kicking, despite everything."
The man opened his beer and took a draught.
"It's good stuff." He noted.
"Yeah… It's one of the perks of having millions to throw around."
"Yeah… That and good security… I got a good "Look" at the stuff you've got around your property. How much did that cost you?"
"20 million. It was one of the final jobs Calypso worked on before she decided that Tombstone was the way to go after all."
Matt nodded, taking another sip.
"So… Are we actually gonna talk about it?"
"You're going to have to be a bit more specific."
She rolled her eyes.
"Alright. I'll be blunt then. Why are you here?"
...
If you want to read ahead of the public release, or just want to support me.
You can join my p atreon :
[email protected]/Huvnn