When Peter wakes up, he finds himself in a cramped, dimly lit room. He sees a man in a red suit with his back turned, organizing his gear.
Peter is still in pain but due to his extraordinary self-healing ability, most of his wounds have closed. The man turns around and says, "Kid, you're lucky. They only dosed you with a laxative and an anesthetic. If they used something more powerful, you wouldn't have woken up."
Spider-Man's powers are not at their peak when he first gets them; they require a series of training and stimuli. The Spider-Man of later days is dozens of times stronger, faster, and more capable of self-healing than Peter is now.
Although Peter has his mutant abilities for a while, all he has encountered are ordinary humans. Now that his powers far exceed any normal human, he has no thoughts of improving them.
As a result, his bodily functions have not yet reached a level to be completely immune to drugs. The fight club's boss has dosed him with a large amount of laxative and added some anesthetics, which do the trick.
Peter says, "I remember you. You saved me, right?"
"It was your own good fortune, boy. And it looks like you have some abilities beyond mortal, otherwise, you would be dead."
Peter breaks out in a cold sweat. You can't expect a high school student to be very cautious. Peter comes from a neighborhood known for its simplicity and kindness. Uncle Ben always emphasizes positive education. Peter has never experienced evil intent, so with a lingering sense of terror, he says, "I thought..."
He punches the bed in anger and says, "I'm going to teach that boss a lesson! How dare he drug me!"
"You didn't really expect boxing there to have fair referees like in the World Championships, did you?" Daredevil asks.
"Alright, I see your wounds are nearly healed. Leave here quickly, kid. Hell's Kitchen is not where you belong."
"I'm not kid!" Peter says, "I am Spider-Man."
"You have a long way to go," Daredevil replies. As Peter is about to argue, a cane stops next to his neck with a whoosh.
And the spider sense has no reaction, or rather, doesn't have time to react.
Peter's cold sweat drips down his forehead as Daredevil's movements are too fast for even his superhuman vision to catch.
Matt, trained by Stick, had learned more than just basic martial arts. Although he is an ordinary human, his physical attributes have almost reached their human limits, and combined with his refined skills, he is even stronger than the young Spider-Man with his spider abilities.
Peter, still green behind the ears, swallows and says, "That move is cool, man. I saw you use it to save me."
As he speaks, Peter mimics a dodging boxing stance. Daredevil puts away his cane and says, "If you really want to be Spider-Man, there's a lot you need to learn. If you're interested, come find me."
Daredevil isn't the kind of hero that always plays nice. In the Marvel world, he's known for being not shy away from using violence. He saved Peter not only from his compassion, of course there is one part of it is due to the memories of his father's death; he doesn't want to see someone else die in an underground fight club.
Another part of him also plans to recruit an assistant. The stabbing incident made him realize that he can't be everywhere at once - he can't dodge his enemies and dispense justice simultaneously. However, with an assistant, things can be much easier.
Spider-Man fits his criteria well: strong abilities, high potential, but incredibly naive and inexperienced.
Thus, Peter starts visiting Daredevil every now and then. He realizes that his power is exceptional, but his skills and experience in dealing with people are lacking; otherwise, why would he need to fight in underground rings to make money? With such abilities, making decent money would be a breeze.
Driven by the desire to improve his life using his abilities and a young man's admiration for Daredevil's impressive martial arts, Peter quickly grows close to Daredevil and learns about his activities.
Though he admires him, Peter finds it unnecessary - how many can one man do? Just the criminals in Hell's Kitchen are innumerable. With such perseverance and determination, if he had pursued something else, he could have settled down and had a good life by now.
But soon, as Spider-Man grows more familiar with Daredevil, even spending several nights at his place during holidays, he sees Daredevil bandaging his wounds alone countless times, and his attitude begins to waver.
Daredevil is indeed just a mortal, without any super healing abilities. And unfortunately, he is more sensitive to pain than most, so every time he treats his wounds alone at his base, Peter can see he is in agony. Yet the next day, he still goes out and fights crime.
Although Hell's Kitchen is not as dangerous as Gotham, seeking justice in this place poses a high risk of injury. Sometimes is caught in the crossfire of gang shootings, sometimes has to jump from several floors up to evade a hit, and sometimes gets bruised from close combat. Every time Spider-Man sees these wounds, he has complex feelings about them.
He comes to consider Matt a friend and naturally does not want his friend to be hurt. But how can he persuade Daredevil to stop?
To discourage him from dispensing justice? From fighting criminals? But Peter is smart enough to understand that ,even the painful injuries can't stop Matt, so how can his feeble words possibly deter him?
One day, after Matt is shot in the leg by a ninja hunting him, Peter helps to extract the bullet. Peter has never seen such a wound before—the pungent, foul smell of blood makes his head spin, and the sight of torn muscles deep enough to expose bone makes him tremble.
He is not yet the battle-hardened, true hero that Spider-Man will one day become. Any high student witnessing such a scene would be no better off than him.
As he follows Matt's instructions to remove the bullet, a raspy voice comes from his throat, "Why do you do this? Is it really worth it?"
"I thought you'd ask sooner."
Daredevil leans against the wall, shifting his position. His voice trembles from the pain as he says, "It's clear that, although your family has an average condition, you must have a loving elder, a fairly happy family, and you've lived a stable life from childhood..."
"You might have some unhappiness at school, but most of the time you are safe. I can tell that you complain a bit about being short on money, but do you know? You're already quite lucky..."
In the dimly lit room, Daredevil speaks disjointedly, like in a trance, "Actually, I'm lucky too. I'm born in Hell's Kitchen, but my father was neither a gambler nor a junkie. He struggled to protect me and gave me the chance to leave this cursed place to go study outside..."
"He was a great father. To keep me alive, to let me get out here, he chose to become an underground boxer."
"Yes, your fate was supposed to be the same as his. He refused to fix the match at the night I came to watch his fight, so he was killed by the bosses who run the ring."
Peter is so emotionally and physically upset that he barely realizes he is weeping. Daredevil is in so much pain that he is losing consciousness, but he keeps talking:
"You and I, we're lucky. Some are not. Their mothers drink or do drugs while carrying them. They are born with addictions. To survive, they work for gangs or do even more dangerous, dehumanizing jobs. Because life is too painful, they continue to drown in drugs and alcohol, and their children repeat the same life..."
"...that's Hell's Kitchen."
"Yes... I'm fortunate. I have the chance to leave, to seek higher education, to practice martial arts. Since I'm luckier than them, have more, stronger ability..."
"...why I not do this?"
Daredevil often refers to Hell's Kitchen as "this godforsaken place," and Peter has countless times heard him curses everyone in this damned place would go to hell already.
But this is the first time Peter understands that Daredevil truly wants to save here. He genuinely holds a firm determination ,to struggle and lift Hell's Kitchen out of its hellish depths.
Peter can't imagine, being in such an environment, how anyone can think about saving such a place—it seems impossible.
But Daredevil is set on doing it.
Peter remains silent. As he removes the bullet from Matt's leg, the latter lets out a scream like a dying man. Quickly, Matt faints from the pain, turning deathly pale.
Peter stands in the center of the room, looking around the somewhat shabby space. He can't even find any anesthetics or proper bandages; Matt's wound can only be wrapped with strips of cloth from his shirt.
Peter feels a surge of anger, more intense and profound than when he complains about lack of money. He thinks that Matt shouldn't be in this situation; he is firm, persistent, and has resilience.
And he is a good person; good people deserve good things happen to them.
Why should the underground boxing ring's owners and shareholders live so comfortably, or even the drunks passed out in their seats, able to have a night sweet dreams?
While a good guy like Daredevil can only bear immense pain, sleeping in agony in this dim and narrow room.
With Peter's experience, he can't figure it out, and these emotions churn in his chest.
He leaves Daredevil's place, running through the streets of Hell's Kitchen late at night.
Using his spider abilities, he leaps from rooftop to rooftop, darting through New York's nighttime skyline. The neon lights of the casinos and nightclubs shine all night, in stark contrast to the dark alleys that seem never to see the dawn, all devoured by darkness.