Spider-man: Christmas with Two Hawks

How Could She Do This?

This was nice. Two superheroes, a superhero newbie, a LARPer and a golden retriever just gathered around a table and sharing a good time. It had taken some encouragement to convince Spidey to stay and celebrate with them but he was having just as good of a time as everyone else.

Sure, a simple breakfast wasn't what many would consider a celebratory meal, Thor would be insulted, and sure, it might be a bit early to ceĺebrate but they didn't care. This moment of calm was exactly what the three of them needed.

Kate laughed with the rest of them as they watched Grills teach Pizza Dog to spin on his hind legs. Grills was probably her third favourite person that she met since this whole mess with Maya and the Tracksuits started. She got the feeling that the top two shared her feelings on that matter.

Once Pizza Dog snatched the food out of Grills' hand, Kate grabbed a piece from her own plate, "Wait, wait. I want to try."

Grills just smiled and nodded, turning his attention back to his own food, "Here, you try."

Kate held the bit of food above the dog's head, suddenly extremely conscious of Spidey's eyes staring at her, and commanded, "Alright, dance."

The one-eyed dog just sat down and whined at Kate, suddenly forgetting the trick he learnt half a minute ago.

Kate sighed and shook her head, "No dance"

She gave the dog the food before turning to face Grills, "You made it look so easy and cool."

Both Clint and Spidey raised their respective eyebrows at the comment. Kate could sense the doubt emanating from both of them so she made sure to make what she said crystal clear, "Yeah, Grills is cool," she turned to the man in question, "You can cook, you can Larp, you can put out fires."

He warmly waved off her praise, "Ah. Stop it."

Spidey smirked, mask lifted halfway so he could eat and rested his head on his hand, "I consistently lift cars above my head and run into fires with zero protection but I don't get any praise? Wow, Kate, I'm hurt."

Clint smirked, "That's because the compliments that she wants to give you can't be said in public."

Kate barely stopped herself from spitting out the orange juice that was already halfway down her throat while Spidey just fell off his chair. The two adults in the room burst out laughing while Kate tried desperately to clear her airways and Spidey picked himself up.

"Damn, Hawkeye. Didn't know you had that kind of sass in you."

Clint shrugged, "I spent four years working alongside Tony Stark and have to take care of two..." he quickly glanced at Spidey and Kate who were still collecting themselves, "Four teenagers. You pick up a thing or two in that sort of environment."

Kate's mind was still reeling when she heard her phone buzz. She picked it up and her mind immediately threw away what Clint had just said. Her mouth fell into a frown as she read the message again and again.

The others noticed.

"Kate, are you okay?" Spidey asked, concern leaking from every letter.

"What is it?" Clint asked, sounding more collected but definitely concerned.

Kate ignored them and reread the messages that came from the unknown number, 'Kate Bishop. I found out who hired me. Eleanor Bishop. Thought you deserved to know. Also, please tell your friend to give me back my stuff.'

Below the text was a video, the image it showed making Kate gasp. She quickly flipped the devices around and handed them to Clint with Spidey looking over his shoulders, "Look at this. Who's that with my mom?"

Clint's eyes widened in disbelief while Spidey cursed behind him, "Well, that's the guy I've been worried about this whole time. Kingpin."

He quickly turned to Grills and said, "Sorry, Grills but I'm going to need you to leave. This is, extremely confidential."

The LARPer nodded, "Yeah, figured. Call me if you need anything." he whistled, "Come on, Pizza Dog. Time for a walk."

The three heroes remained silent as the firefighter exited the apartment. They remained silent when Kate played the video and they watched as Eleanor left Wilson Fisk's employment, and essentially gave the most dangerous man in New York the middle finger.

As soon as the video ended, Clint asked Kate, "Who sent this?"

"Yelena," Kate answered shaking her head, "Apparently my mom is the one who hired her to kill you."

"Oh, wow."

Spidey sighed, his mask now fully covering his face, "You know, I don't know if I should respect her or berate her for trying to blackmail the Kingpin."

Kate ignored Spider-Man's comment and in a shaky voice she began muttering to herself, "This doesn't make any sense. My mom doesn't even, she doesn't even jaywalk. And now she's working for the mob? She killed Armand?" she gasped, getting up from the table and picking up her phone, "My God, I need to talk to her."

Spidey and Clint followed her example, getting up from their seats and walking over to her. Clint's expression was filled to the brim with worry as he tried to reach out to her, "Kate, wait. You need to calm down, okay? Let's talk this out."

"Think about this Kate. What are even going to say to her?"

Kate ignored them both, placing the phone against her ear and listening to it dial. She cursed when her mother didn't answer.

"Just take a deep breath, okay?" Clint suggested, sensing the intensity of Kate's emotions. They couldn't have her having a meltdown right now, "Your mom needs our help. That video, Kate, it's not good. The Kingpin will not take this lightly. He is going to react and in a big way."

"Trust me, Fisk isn't someone you want to cross," Spidey explained, taking a step closer to Kate than Clint, his hand at the brink of reaching for her, "If we're gonna help her, then we're gonna need you to stay calm."

Kate looked up, her attention switching between the two of them before looking back down at her phone, "This is my mess to clean up. You guys don't need to get involved," she looked to Clint, "You should go home to your family, Clint. You can still make it before Christmas."

Clint shook his head and with complete sincerity answered, "You're my partner, Kate. Your mess is my mess. I'm not going anywhere until this is finished.

Kate smiled, touched by his words but still overwhelmed by grief. She gasped silently when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to look directly into the eyes of Spidey's mask. Somehow, the unmoving fabric and plastic were showing more emotion than she could process.

"Kate, the whole point of a superhero is fixing problems that aren't yours. We've been by your side since this mess started and we're not going to leave you until this mess is solved. I'm not going to leave you until you and your family are safe."

Kate wasn't sure what to say. She felt so overwhelmed. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to punch her mother and she wanted to hug her and tell her that she loved her. Tears began to trickle from her eyes as she forced out one word, "Thank you."