Spider-man: Christmas with Two Hawks

Who's Ronin?

Which is worse? Loud noises or quiet noises? This question is tougher than you might think.

Loud noises, especially if they are coming from multiple sources, can become overwhelming and can dampen your ability to process information. Annoying but simple enough to ignore or avoid depending on the situation. Quiet noises however are like an itch you can't scratch. They're always there in the back of your mind even when you try to ignore them, poking every nook and cranny they can find.

Dripping water, the hum of electricity, a fork grinding against a plate. These are minor sounds that should be easy to ignore or simply impossible to even notice but end up irritating you anyway.

This was something Peter Parker had to deal with constantly. Unless he had something to focus on, his senses would begin to wander and pick up every little thing. Every show or movie being played around him, his neighbour singing in the shower, the pitter patter of dozens of cat paws on the floor above him.

Sleep was always a race against his senses, with him needing to lose consciousness before his hearing could wander. That did not make waking up any nicer either. His mind immediately began to try and process every little thing even if he was only half awake.

This morning, he woke up two texts from Clint which immediately took his full attention, thus preventing any sensory overloads.

The first was an address that he explained was the 'New Safehouse', which made sense. Yelena likely gathered a lot of information about them, including where they had been staying. Information that she likely passed onto her employer, most likely Fisk. Although neither Maya nor Gargin seemed to have been aware of the Widow's involvement.

Weird.

The next message was sent a little under an hour later, this time saying, 'Get here NOW!'.

So Peter grabbed two slices of bread and a cold sausage, swallowed each in less than three bites, and jumped out of the window after getting into his suit and swung towards the address.

The apartment complex was smaller than the one where the penthouse they were originally meeting in was but that worked better for them. Crawling on the outside of the building, Peter listened out for the familiar voices of the two archers, eventually pinpointing them as well as some third guy he never met.

After tracking their location, he knocked on a window, causing the conversation inside to fall silent. Peter waited patiently as footsteps slowly came towards him. Clint opened the window and ushered him inside, "Come on. We need to talk."

Peter entered through the window, gracefully rolling onto his feet off the ledge. Closing his makeshift entrance behind him, he followed Clint into the main living area.

As soon as he entered, a familiar golden retriever rushed to him, jumping onto his hind legs to greet the vigilante. Spidey laughed, and scratching the dog behind his ear, "Good to see you too, boy."

He helped the dog down and he immediately rushed towards a makeshift bed in the kitchen, curling up and laying down where he could watch the show.

A man whom Spidey didn't recognise walked up to him, awkwardly offering his hand to him, "Uh, hi Spider-Man. It's an honour to meet you. My name is Grills. I'm not sure if Hawkeye said anything about me but me and my friends have been kinda helping you guys."

Spider-Man whacked his brain, trying to remember if Kate or Clint ever mentioned this guy. As he took his hand he asked, "Aren't you the guy that took the Ronin suit? The LARPer."

The man grinned, awkwardly rubbing off his sweaty hand against his trousers, "Yep. That's me. Although, in my defence, that suit looked badass and I had no idea that it belonged to one of the most deadly vigilantes in the world."