The Weight of Us ｡ Peter Parker [3]

2 - Dance With The Devil

Clinton Church was illuminated in candlelight; soft and delicate and peaceful. Only a few quiet souls could be found in the pews or the confessional booths this afternoon though, the stormy weather brewing outside acting like a shield against New Yorkers deciding if it was best suited to stay indoors while the clouds turned ugly and the lightning flashed with a devilish humour. Even though the church was calm inside, downstairs in the basements was anything but. 

"Remember, you have to use your entire body, all your senses...not just sight." 

Matthew Murdock's words bounced off the stone walls and it felt like he was everywhere; standing on my left with calculated thoughts, perched behind me like an animal or nowhere in the circle of my limbs at all. Today, he had handed me a blindfold when I bounced down the brick stairs and told me to stand in the middle of the room and use all my senses to determine where he was standing and to anticipate where he would find himself next. 

It had been five full months since I had found myself knocking on his door, soaking wet and full of grief and frankly, feeling more lost than I ever had before. Matthew Murdock had faced his fair share of darkness and lost more than one person should ever have to lose in a lifetime. He had not been very pleased with the idea of teaching me to defend myself, teaching me how to fight back and to be brave. He would have slammed the door in my face if I had not have persisted that it was a vision that had led me to him that night. A bold lie, but it worked. 

I lifted up the blindfold an inch, eyes circling back to him. "I get using all my senses, sure. But come on, Matt, I'm not blind. That's kind of your thing. This whole exercise is pointless. Can't we just grab the boxing gloves?" 

Daredevil was still a touchy subject to Matthew Murdock. He had suited up before The Blip and faced his own demons but when everyone he loved was vanished from existence, he hadn't donned his suit in a long while. He thought living a life as Matthew Murdock the lawyer was the best thing he could do for the world. He was wrong. "Thank you for the reminder."

"You know what I mean," I replied, tugging at my Midtown High sweater. Sweat lingered on my skin and it was making me uncomfortable. "I don't really need to use all my senses. I can see perfectly fine."

Matthew had an amused smile on his lips. "I did not know you could see the dark, Florence."

Annoyance flicked in my mind. "You know what I mean."

Slowly, the Devil of Hell's Kitchen circled around me. He walked with so much confidence, knowing exactly where he stood in the room, almost like he really could see in the darkest of nights. "Being a good fighter isn't always about how hard you can throw a punch, or how you take a hit. Most of the time it's all about predicting what's coming next. Do you think your little spider friend can outweigh somebody like, Kingpin? No, not even a chance. He's pretty skinny, so he uses his other strengths." 

"Kingpin really isn't a problem," I reminded him. "You made sure of that."

Matthew's hands reached out, taking the blindfold from me and fastening it around my head again. Darkness meet my vision once again and it took everything not to roll my eyes, even though he couldn't see that. "Yes, I know. But it was an example. Peter not only uses his, what do you call it? Spidey sense? He's clever and flexible. He can't take a big guy with his fists, so he uses his other abilities."

"But I don't have a Spider sense."

A laugh sounded from somewhere behind me and my head snapped towards that direction. "Neither do I. I'm even more disadvantaged than most, but do I let my disability stop me from being the best in the streets?" 

"No."

Matthew's voice now sounded from my left and not being able to see him had chills running down my spine. "Exactly. So, the methodology of learning to predict, to anticipate your attacker's next move comes in handy. That's why I'm teaching you to use all your other senses, not just the obvious."