Upon crossing back through the portal, he found himself on a rooftop rather than falling hundreds of meters toward the ground, which he was grateful for given the circumstances of his departure.
Stretching his arms and loosening his muscles, he ran to the edge of the building, jumped, performed a somersault, and began swinging back toward home.
Strange. When I left, it was nowhere near dawn. Maybe....
He cut off the thought as his spider-sense activated.
Suddenly, time seemed to slow as he sensed imminent danger.
Two arrows.
One with a chromium, cobalt, and nickel tip aimed at the web line. The second with a titanium tip reinforced with tungsten and boron nitride, intended to pierce my head once the web is cut.
Impressive aim, skill, and foresight. The shot came from a considerable distance. Good eye. Only two people match those characteristics, and one of them is not operating in this city.
Smiling to himself, he thought of only one person.
Clint Barton. Hawkeye.
Pulling on the web, he used the momentum to spin. Just as the first arrow reached the web line, he kicked it aside and caught the second. Using the airflow around him to his advantage, he immediately hurled the arrow back in the direction it had come from.
Hawkeye was startled when he watched his target dodge the first arrow, catch the second, and redirect it straight back at him.
"Damn!"
Acting purely on instinct, he dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the metal-reinforced arrow, though it still sliced across his cheek. The arrow embedded itself in the surface behind him.
"Phew. God, that was too...."
Beep. Beep.
Hawkeye turned his head, and his eyes widened when he saw the arrow. Small gray spheres attached to its shaft were flashing red and emitting a warning beep.
"So this is what it..."
Boom.
The explosion detonated before he could finish.
Hawkeye barely managed to hold on as the blast hurled him a considerable distance across the rooftop.
"Clint!"
A female figure dressed entirely in a tight black suit, wearing a mask that concealed her face and included a voice modulator while leaving her blonde hair exposed, burst out of the stairwell only to see her partner flying off the roof because of the explosion.
"Damn! Damn!"
She sprinted toward the edge of the rooftop but was knocked to the ground when Clint came flying back and crashed into her.
Spider-Man had caught him in midair and thrown him directly at the blonde agent.
"Give me one good reason why I should not scatter your remains all over Manhattan after you ruined my good mood," Spider-Man said dryly as he landed on the rooftop's edge and looked down at the two agents groaning on the ground.
"Damn, how was I supposed to know you were in a good mood?"
Hawkeye groaned, trying to stand, only to discover that his hands had been webbed to the roof.
Sniffing the air, Spider-Man immediately recognized the blonde-haired woman.
Natasha. How angry must Fury be to send his two best agents after me?
Natasha sprang to her feet and drew her Glock, aiming it directly at his head. He merely glanced at her.
She shuddered slightly, gritting her teeth at her own involuntary reaction as she tightened her grip on the pistol.
"I will say this once. Release my partner, surrender, and come with us."
She spoke curtly, never taking her eyes off him.
Spider-Man stepped down from the ledge and calmly walked toward her.
"Do not move!"
She fired, only to watch him evade every bullet before appearing directly in front of her.
Natasha instinctively took a step backward.
Seeing his partner in danger, Clint desperately struggled against the webbing, but it refused to give way.
"Shoot," Spider-Man said, taking her wrist and guiding the barrel toward his own chest. "Do it."
Bang.
The bullet struck his body, flattened harmlessly, and fell to the ground.
Both Natasha and Spider-Man looked down as it landed.
Natasha slowly raised her eyes and found the black lenses staring directly into hers, making her shudder once again.
Already frustrated by her own reaction, she raised the pistol and fired again, this time aiming for his head.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
He did not even flinch.
Each bullet bounced harmlessly off him before falling to the rooftop. He calmly took the last few steps until he stood directly in front of the agent.
Natasha watched the tall, masked figure cast a shadow over her as the sun began to rise behind him. He wrapped his hand around the one holding the gun and gently pressed his forehead against the barrel.
"If you intend to kill me, you will need considerably more than that, little one. Everyone saw my fight with Rhino. Bullets only make me itch."
Bang.
The final bullet lodged itself inside the barrel, ruining the weapon completely.
Romanoff began to sweat.
When she tried to pull her hand away, she found herself unable to break his grip.
"I hope this satisfies you, Agent."
He released her hand, allowing her to take a step back.
"Are you afraid of death?"
He opened the pistol's magazine and showed her that it was still completely full.
Natasha's eyes widened when she realized he was holding her second Glock.
She instinctively looked at her right thigh and found the holster empty.
Her spare magazines were gone from her waistband as well.
"How did you...."
Just as Natasha began to speak, the words died in her throat when she found the barrel pointed directly at her face.
"Do not look at the muzzle. Look at the hands."
He held up the stolen magazines.
Barton continued struggling uselessly against his restraints.
"I will tell you something, Agent. Do you think he is the only one?"
He tilted his head toward Barton before relaxing his breathing. Without even looking, he casually pointed the pistol in another direction while maintaining eye contact with Natasha.
"Church."
He squeezed the trigger.
The suppressed shot sliced through the cold morning air and struck a hidden sniper in the shoulder.
The man screamed in pain.
"Sniper one down! Romanoff, you need to..."
Natasha could do nothing except listen as Fury shouted through her communicator.
"Bell tower... Window.... Hotel."
Two more suppressed shots echoed through the city.
"Snipers two and three down! You need to..."
Natasha felt her body freeze involuntarily, as though death itself had wrapped icy fingers around her throat.
Barton could not stop trembling, the smell of blood carried to him by the wind.
Spider-Man slowly raised the pistol and pointed it at Natasha once more.
This time, she could do nothing.
Fighting was no longer an option when she could not even stop herself from trembling.
He reached toward her mask, slipped his hand underneath without removing it, and removed the communicator from her ear.
Meeting her gaze, he released a fraction of his bloodlust.
Both Natasha and Barton visibly trembled.
"What? Does your life pass before your eyes?" he asked in a cold, mocking voice.
Natasha's pupils dilated.
Her heart rate skyrocketed.
Every hair on her body stood on end not because of fear but of determination.
Barton experienced the exact same reaction within seconds.
Spider-Man held up the communicator and brought it close to a device on his belt, interfering with the transmission.