Part One: Savage-Land
They thought this was going to be simple, though now that Kate thought about it, she couldn’t decide how and why they had ever come to that conclusion. And sure, on the surface, it sounded like it would be simple.
They were a group of a half dozen super-powered teenagers (well, eighteen pluses and one preteen that was actually an immortal god, but whatever) so surely going after one man who had kidnapped the twin brother of one of their team members should’ve been if not easy, at least quickly resolved.
Of course, that cute little summary didn’t mention that said brother was a speedster that shouldn’t have been so easily captured/tricked/banished into another plane so easily, that said brother on the team was a reality warping mage which should’ve only made things easier but didn’t because Billy had very little control over said powers. It also didn’t mention that said brother only knew about Tommy’s kidnapping after a strange, know-it-all depowered mutant that was kind-of-friends with Tommy decided to track them down for help, and that the guy who’d kidnapped Tommy didn’t appear to have a physical body and yet ran around wearing the uniform of a previous team member and just so happened to have the ability to transverse the multi-verse at the drop of a hat.
Yeah, Kate doesn’t know where they got the idea that this rescue mission would be quick or easy.
They did come to that conclusion though, which is why they had all subliminally decided to power through the first half-dozen universes Patri-Not dragged them through over the period of three or so days (keeping track of time is difficult when jumping to different dimensions than your own).
Three days of crossing through war-torn and devastated dimensions’ without pause, with their goal no closer to being achieved, and the team’s ready to drop. Thankfully (and suspiciously) the next dimension they land in appears to be peaceful.
Or at least, as peaceful as a jungle that looks suspiciously like a rapidly depopulated Savage Land can be peaceful. And Kate says ‘rapidly depopulated’ because that’s the nice way to refer to a bunch of carcasses thrown about every visible direction, obviously killed brutally and building up quite the stench.
“Kate…” Noh-varr steps up behind her, his voice gentle but heavy, “It’s not the best location, but we should stop and rest while we can. America might be able to do another jump, but she needs rest. And Loki…”
Noh-varr trails off, but Kate doesn’t need him to finish. Loki is physically, at least, the youngest of them all. Kate had been told by Loki and Billy both that Loki didn’t have much control or stamina or much magic to use at all, but it hadn’t really sunk in that they were telling the truth until about mid-way through the second day of their travels, in one Kree-controlled universe or another, where Loki would have been crushed under falling debris if Teddy hadn’t shoved him out the way. Loki, blinking blearily, hadn’t even seemed to notice the save or that he’d been in danger.
The adrenaline rush of the next world they landed in had been enough to push Loki past his exhaustion for a while longer, but Loki was swaying on his feet now, dark circles forming under his eyes and sweat making his clothes stick to his skin.
They couldn’t keep going like this.
“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll take first shift, okay?” Kate relied, and Noh-varr frowned.
“You need rest as well, and I don’t need as much rest as the rest of you…” Noh-varr began, concern clear in his voice, and it was a little sweet of him, Kate was willing to admit.
“Yeah, I know. That means you’ll recover the quickest and that I’ll have the shortest watch, doesn’t it?” Kate smirked and saw Noh-varr’s lips twitch slightly in a smile.
“Yes, you’re right of course, Kate Bishop of Earth.” Noh-varr yielded, bowing his head and going to the others; relaying the plan.
They all looked relived, except America, whose stony expression meant she was either insulted by the idea she would ever need something as mundane as sleep or concealing that she was as exhausted as everyone else and was just as relived as the rest of them.
Kate honestly didn’t know which option was likelier. America wasn’t the easiest person to read, and nowhere near the most open in regards to emotions, mundane thoughts or plans or anything, really.
Nonetheless, they had a makeshift shelter quickly constructed thanks to Billy, with the watch shift schedule quickly set up. Kate took the first shift, having been the one that fought at a distance (as archers tended to do) and thus had managed to get less injured than the others - though, it was also thanks to America’s desire and ability to take the most opponents at the same time and get away without a scratch.
Kate was sore, and definitely could really get down with joining the rest of the team in dream world; but as she’d said before - she was the one in the best condition, and Noh-varr, with all his manipulated genetics, would take the least amount of time to recover and thus take over for her.
It was a surprisingly quiet shift. Either most of her team weren’t the type to snore or they were too exhausted to, as only the soft sounds of deep breathing filtered their way up to Kate’s watch post (which was really only the entrance to the cabin Billy had magiked up from the surrounding uprooted trees) and the occasional sound of shuffling or shifting as they moved in their sleep.
The Savage Land look-a-like-dimension was deathly quiet as well, and Kate was thankful she had a strong enough stomach to deal with the pervasive smell of rotting flesh and spilt blood from the various Savage Land creatures that had been devastated.
After nearly two hours of absolutely nothing, Kate relaxed her guard enough to look back and observe her team.
Noh-varr, of course, had chosen the spot closest to the door, and thus closest to Kate. America, Kate was amused to notice, had apparently fallen asleep just as quickly as the rest of the team, her back to the wall of the cabin and her feet pulled up into a ball. Billy and Teddy had collapsed on top of each other, no surprise there, and David had chosen to take up the spot closest to America, which was somewhat surprising. Then again, maybe America’s no-nonsense, straight to the heart of things attitude was something David approved of, especially compared to Loki, whom he seemed to despise on sight. (Though that feeling seemed to be mutual.)
Speaking of Loki…
Loki had curled up into a ball in the corner furthest from the rest of the group. Kate frowned at that. Loki appeared to be asleep - and he, like America was one who needed it the most - but Kate didn’t like it. It was a constant clash for Kate - the desire to keep Loki at a distance, not get too close and keep a careful eye on him; and the desire to keep him close, not to watch for mischief but to see him open up to the rest of them, to think he was around them for more than just to teach Billy enough magic to banish Mother: that as long as he was apart of her team that he was their friend, that they would take care of him.
Even if he was a little snot most of the time. But hey, he was still a kid. Mostly.
Kate sighed, and pushed the thoughts from her head. She would think about what to do later, when their lives weren’t in (as much) danger.
--
Of course, a full shift, even as short as Kate’s was planned, couldn’t pass peacefully. Half an hour before Noh-varr was scheduled to wake up and take over for her, their camp was attacked by what looked to be the angriest remaining residents of Savage Land.
And boy, are they ugly.
Really, they look like several different creatures’ stitched together, like discarded experiments, and Kate’s glad her stomach is already empty.
Everything becomes a blur of fists and roars as the attack wakes up the rest of the team and sends them straight into fight mode: America and Noh-varr at the front taking on the biggest and baddest of the attackers.
Kate doesn’t know how, but she ends up next to Loki, whose has the misfortune of being harassed by a particularly large pterodactyl-look-alike. Kate rushes towards him just as the creature swoops down and picks a squirming Loki up with a squawk.
As Kate aligns her bow up to the bird’s feet, she thinks this looks like something out of a storybook she’d read years ago - where a giant bird of some sort captured little kids to feed to their own offspring. Kate plans on ensuring she doesn’t have to find out if her analogy is correct or not.
Just as Kate lets an arrow fly, Loki stops trying to tear his way out of the bird’s grip - his clothes aren’t lose enough for Loki to escape that way - Loki’s fingers light up green, signaling he’s about to use magic.
The plasma arrow from Noh-varr’s Kree bow connects - tearing through one of the creature’s legs and Loki’s magic bolt hits the other. Loki is free, but falling and Kate throws her bow to the ground as she rushes towards him, barely managing to catch him and soften his blow.
Loki’s a lot heavier than Kate expected, for as tiny as he is, but unharmed. Loki grunts, and peers up at her in confusion.
“Thank you, I suppose. But there was no need to catch me. The fall was far too short to harm me and you do not have the super-strength needed to carry the full brunt of my weight without harm.” Loki tells her.
“You’re welcome.” Kate bites back sarcastically, in tune with the sting of her shoulder blade. Only the hint of true gratitude in Loki’s explanation keeps her from saying something worse.
Her arm really does hurt. Crap, how had she forgotten about asgardians being so much denser than humans?
Even as she asks herself this question, she knows her answer. Loki, even if only physically, is a child, and her previous days of superheroing had hardwired her to react to children as civilians, civilians that needed to be protected.
“Oh dear…” Loki mutters and Kate hears what’s caught his attention before she can spin around and see it.
The fucking bird isn’t dead.
Not only is it not dead - it’s angry. The stumps of its legs are still bleeding, but that doesn’t stop the creature from clawing its way towards them, roaring at uncomfortably loud volumes. Kate braces her shoulder with her other hand and prepares to run - but wait a -
Her bow! (Noh-varr’s bow. Whatever. He’s letting her use it.)
Kate scans the area quickly backing up until she can feel Loki soundly behind her (he’s watching the bird warily but seems unwilling to start running without her. This is either sweet because Loki cares about her or a douche move because he just wants her around for his own protection.) Finally Kate sees the damn thing - and it’s right in the stupid pterodactyl-hybrid-things path.
Kate likes that bow.
Ignoring Loki’s indignant protest, Kate runs straight towards the pterodactyl, intent upon reaching her bow before the creature’s rage-fueled stampede. She makes it, the bird-thing apparently more concerned with Loki than the girl running slightly in its direction, but she doesn’t have any time to celebrate.
Because, y’know, the pterodactyl is still trying to eat Loki, and they kinda need him to track Patri-not.
And yeah, Kate’s a little fond of the kid.
Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Kate slides into the best position she can, aims her bow and -
And nothing, no arrow is forthcoming. Kate is momentarily dumbstruck - why is nothing happening? But she spies the answer to her question nearly immediately. There’s a long crack in casing of Noh-varr’s bow, and that plus no plasma arrow means the bow was broken when Kate dropped it.
Crap. What’s she supposed to do now? The dino is still headed towards Loki, and there’s no way Kate has the strength or speed to intercept it before it reaches Loki…
Only, Loki apparently has it all covered. While Kate was staring, dumbfounded at her broken weapon, Loki had activated one of his magic portals to a pocket dimension, where Loki kept - well, Kate didn’t really know what all he had in there, and didn’t really want to know.
She did know, by virtue of Loki reaching into it a few times since they left Earth, that it seemed to contain anything and everything Loki considered necessary for a training trip to escape a multi-dimensional parasite, which seemed to be just a little of everything.
Apparently, it also contained a bow and arrow.
Kate couldn’t tell from this distance, but she thought it was made out of wood - an actual wooden bow, in this day and age - but she was more concentrated on the look of utter calm on Loki’s face, the easy way he’d slide and remained in a good aiming position, drew back the bowstring and -
- Hits the mutated pterodactyl straight in one of its eyes, killing it immediately and sending it crashing to the ground.
As Kate stares in shock, Loki frowns a little, easing his arms out of position, slacking the bowstring and the second arrow he hadn’t fired, considering the corpse of the dino carefully, as if he almost expects it to be playing dead and jump straight up and go back to trying to eat him.
Which isn’t entirely out of the realm of possibilities Kate admits, but after a breathless moment, nothing happens, and Loki seems to accept the creature as being truly dead.
“Did you find your bow, Kate?” Loki calls out to her, his voice both childishly annoyed and yet still concerned: Loki does respect her position as a Hawkeye, and knows how much her bows mean to her, even if he doesn’t appreciate that concern taking precedence in a middle of a fight.
“Y-yeah.” Kate manages hoarsely, and if Loki hadn’t already walked the distance to her by the time she found her voice she doubts Loki would’ve heard her, Asgardian hearing or no.
Kate wants to ask so much: When did Loki learn how to use a bow and arrow? How long has he been towing that - now that she looks at it, incredibly old, crafted and vintage bow and arrows? Why had he never mentioned this skill to the team before? Granted Loki was mostly put behind the team for his own protection during their cross-dimensional journey: he was the only one who could track Patri-not so it only made sense, but still…
Kate doesn’t get the chance to ask any of things however, as there is a faint whistling in the air, and then a crash as another mutated dinosaur is thrown across the clearing. Though Teddy and Noh-varr have super-strength, Kate knows the only one on the team that would throw a dino like that is America, and she’s right: America lands in front of them not a moment later.
“Cast your spell, Chico, and be quick about it. It’s not safe to stay anymore: the whole forest’s woken up and is lookin to make a meal of us.” America tells Loki, calm as ever while in the middle of battle, and Loki nods, not arguing for once.
What happens next is a blur to Kate. The rest of the team is quick on America’ heels, fighting a hoard of stomping, raging land-dinosaurs and quick-flying pterodactyl-look-alikes, Loki’s muttering his spell under his breath, America waiting in the ready to stomp open another portal, and something whistles past Kate’s ear.
Kate feels her arm snap not a moment later, and realizes, through the dullness of shock, that one of the mutated dino-brids has escaped from the main group and grabbed her, intent on flying away and presumably eating her.
Noh-varr shouts, and a plasma ray from one of his guns hits the bird carrying Kate squarely in the chest, sending Kate pummeling the few feet falling head first towards the dirt. Noh-varr is there a second later helping her up, Teddy and Billy running only a second behind, shouting in worry, David is near America who stomps down…
Noh-varr leads her towards the portal, and Kate is falling.
Part Two: I Didn’t Know You Could Do That
Three hours, a good dose of pain-killers, and makeshift cast built by David later, and Kate’s feeling much better. She still hasn’t gotten to sleep yet, but she’s the only one left in the abandoned warehouse the group’s picked out to hole up in for this dimension, and Loki’s her only company.
The dimension America’s portal lead them to looks a lot like New York as they know it, and Kate’s beginning to realize that means absolutely nothing in the great wide multiverse, but it’s familiar enough that she feels confident in her teammates ability to fake normal long enough to pick up some food, because all of them are starving now that they’ve gotten some much-needed sleep.
While the rest of the team sought out food, David and Noh-varr were scouring pawn shops for some parts or another that Noh-varr was absolutely certain can be used to repair his bow; apparently the crack in the casing hadn’t been too severe and only bolts had been shook loose and a some piece or another Kate hadn’t understood the translation of had been crushed. Kate was glad that not only was the problem apparently very fixable, but that Noh-varr wasn’t mad at her for roughing up his bow, since Kate was only borrowing it.
After a half an hour of silence and contemplating the dimensions that they’ve been to the last few days, however, Kate’s bored. Loki has, unusually, been completely silent, staring out one of the unblocked windows, his expression inscrutable.
“Sooo…” Kate draws out, aggravating enough that Loki finally turns his head to raise an eyebrow at her. “You never told us you knew your way around a bow and arrow. Tryin’ take the Hawkeye name from me or something?”
“Hardly.” Loki scoffs, but manages to sound adorable, since he’s like, thirteen and pre-pubescent. “I assure you, Kate, that I have no intention of ever becoming known as the arrow-slinging hanger-on avenger.”
Ouch. Well, Clint’s never exactly been the most popular Avenger, but Kate doesn’t feel like defending Clint’s reputation to Loki. Especially since defending Clint’s honor is a particularly hard job that even the Black Widow, Clint’s best friend, barely tries to do.
“Well that’s good an all, but that still doesn’t tell me when and where you learned how to shoot.” Kate says instead, her curiosity burning bright: Loki didn’t talk much about himself, but surely something as simple as this wouldn’t be something he’d bother to deflect, right?
“Hmph.” Loki crosses his arms, grumbling slightly, but amazingly enough, apparently willing to share the information. “Regardless of the fact I was adopted, I was prince of Asgard. Even the most minor of noblemen learned to use weapons at an early age in Asgard, for self-defense, if not to become a warrior. Swords were usually the starter weapon of choice, but I was seen as not having the build for one, so I was given the bow and arrow instead.”
“Huh…” Kate mulls that information over for a moment, deciding to ignore the red flags in the info dump, (she really doesn’t want to try and wrestle that information from Loki, not in this situation) before finding something to say.
“Aren’t you, like, a kid right now though?” Though he represses it quickly, Kate sees Loki clench his teeth, the line of his jaw flexing in anger, before he forces out a response.
“You know what I meant Katherine Bishop.” Kate throws her one good arm up quickly in a pacifying motion.
“Touché.” She relents, but drags out the word enough to sound annoying but repentant, a trick she learned from Clint.
Loki’s silent for several moments, apparently unwilling to start up conversation again, but Kate can see the story burning in Loki’s eyes. Kids loved to talk, especially about themselves, and Loki might talk a lot, but never about himself, so Kate’s pretty sure Loki doesn’t completely want to miss the chance to talk about his past.
“So, when did you decide being an archer wasn’t for you? I thought with - ya know, your tricks and schemes and stuff, that the whole ‘fight from a distance’ thing archers do would be right up your alley.” Kate asks, leaning forwards curiously.
Loki side-eyes her for a moment, before apparently deciding her interest is genuine and begins talking.
“Around the time I was roughly considered a pre-teen. Midgardians might have plenty of assassins and species and such to justify making a career of fighting from a distance, but there is not nearly enough so in the rest of the Nine Realms.” Loki explained. “Most species in the realms prefer a head-to-head fight than any other method of combat, and I found a bow and arrow too cumbersome and difficult to use in a close-combat situation to continue using it.”
Remembering how bulky Thor and his Asgardian friends were, Kate could understand where Loki was coming from. The bulkier and larger the person was the harder they were to take down with arrows, unless you get to their eyes or a lucky shot through their mouths.
“I changed my preference towards daggers then,” Loki continued explaining, “with enchanted metal that could easily pierce through armor where arrows could not, but still be thrown with accuracy at a distance; something you are correct in assuming I had liked about wielding a bow. But that was considered too cowardly, too womanly by my peers so by the time I was approaching adulthood I switched to a staff, now that I had the muscle for it.”
Well, there were a lot things Kate could say to that last sentence, but Loki was on a roll with his speech, and looked a bit happy to see her genuinely listening to him, so she decided not to interrupt and bring down his mood.
She’d try to bring it up later, though. When they had rescued Tommy and were safe again.
“And of course, later on, my speech became beguiling enough that I rarely needed to be in direct conflict with anyone, and if I did I fought with my magic alone. I’ve only rarely used traditionally weapons since I first became an adult. I’ve never let myself rust in the knowledge I had on how to use them though, using them in spars and such, and the habits stuck.” Loki wrapped up and one question immediately popped into Kate’s mind.
“So why did you use one today? And the one you liked the least?” Kate asked, and saw Loki turn to her, confused.
“I don’t hate the bow and arrow, Kate.” Loki told her, his voice colored with confusion, which was surprising. “I’ve never felt any particular attachment to any weapon, besides my magic which is something far more than a simple weapon.”
“Huh.” Kate didn’t know enough about magic to say anything to that. “Still, why did you suddenly remember that you knew how to use weapons today?”
“It’s never came up.” Loki said, frowning slightly. If it weren’t for the slow way he said it, and the confusion still faintly present in his voice, Kate wouldn’t have believed him. But it was there, so she did. Kate supposed anyone could be excused for forgetting that they knew how to use weapons if they hadn’t for a long time, especially if they were recently reincarnated - or whatever it was Thor had done to bring Loki back.
“I’ve only needed to assist Billy or track Mr. Not-Patriot so far, so it… simply didn’t cross my mind to try and lend hand in the physical part. Miss America certainly did not seem to need help.” Loki said, shrugging slightly.
“Hmm... I guess that makes sense.” Kate decided to let the kid off the hook. They had made it seem like they hadn’t expected Loki to fight after all, and even if they hadn’t, Kate was pretty sure even David would agree that Loki should just focus his energy on tracking Patri-not. This conversation didn’t really change anything.
“Would you like them?” Loki said, startling Kate out her thoughts. She turned and looked back at him not entirely sure she understood what he was saying. Surely he wasn’t saying…?
“The bow and arrow.” Loki elaborated, and oh wow, he actually was. “Would you like them? It’s not as if I use them, and I heard you say you like ‘vintage’. As these are magically reinforced against age, they are many - many- hundred years old and still battle-worthy.”
“Oh, Loki no, you don’t have to do that.” Kate rushes to say, but god is she tempted. She really does love vintage, and you can’t get much more vintage than a centuries-old Asgardian weapon. “You didn’t hear Noh-varr? His bow will be fixed up and ready for me to use again in a few hours, I’m good. You’ll need it more than I do, especially if something like today happens again.”
Loki starts to frown, and Kate swears she sees genuine hurt in Loki’s eyes from refusing his gift, and she won’t let that stand. Shuffling closer to Loki, Kate rubs her hand over his, and Loki flinches a bit at the unexpected contact, but quickly melts into it.
“Really, thanks for the offer, Loki but I’ll feel better if you kept it. Besides, once this whole Mother business is over with I’ll be able to go back to my house and start using my old bow again, so what would I do with yours?” Loki opens his mouth, but Kate already suspects what he’s going to say and cuts him off before he can start. “And I already have a back-up bow, I got one as soon as I started super-heroing, it was just common sense.”
Loki closed his mouth, still looking a bit miffed, but nodded and seemed to accept her reasoning.
The air seems clearer, lighter after that, and Kate surprises herself when she ends up spending the next hour passing time by cracking jokes and conversing pleasantly. America, Teddy and Billy show up with food, and though they seemed surprised by the pleasant atmosphere, they accept it quickly. They come bearing pre-packaged and processed junk food, but Kate’s hungry enough to not care, ripping open a package Teddy passes to her and immediately starts eating.
Unfortunately, the break doesn’t last long.
Noh-varr and David come running in soon afterwards, David breathless and Noh-varr quickly handing Kate the repaired bow as he explains they have to leave - now.
“It’s the invasion of the Skrulls,” David explains and Loki and America rush to figure out where Patri-not has gone to since the Not-Savage Land world. “The shop we were at had one and Noh-varr realized what was going on. As soon as the Skrull realized his cover had been blown they started attacking. We threw them off a little coming back here, but it’s not going to take them long to catch up.”
David’s right, as always. Just as America kicks open her portal the Skrulls come crashing in, shouting and angry, and Kate’s glad that they don’t have to stick around and fight them off. As Noh-varr and Teddy quickly tackle the invaders to ensure no one gets into the portal who shouldn’t be, Kate wonders if Noh-varr’s actions have lead the Skrulls to attack earlier than planned, or if the Skrulls are still trying to cover this incident up, before the local superheroes take notice.
Kate tries not to think about things like this: about how many dimensions’ timelines they were screwing up by barreling in for a few hours and leaving just as quickly. Thankfully, she just hasn’t had the time to give it real thought, but she knows it’s something that’s going to haunt her once they’re back safely in 616.
Still, there is one thing Kate can do as Teddy and Noh-varr start running to America’s portal - Loki, David and Billy have already jumped in, and America’s waiting just beside Kate - she’s the last to jump in now, to ensure her portal doesn’t close before everyone makes it through.
Smiling, Kate raises Noh-varr’s bow and feels a flicker of joy as the purple bowstring lights up. Taking a small jump backwards, Kate takes aim at the most persistent Skrull: one that’s trying to reach into the portal and come after them, and lets the arrow fly.
Before the sound of shattering glass overtakes her, Kate’s pretty sure she hears the angered screams of the Skrull solider, and the thought makes her laugh.
Epilogue: New Years
The last few months have been crazy, and the worst of it was two weeks ago, during the final fight against Mother. They’ve lost Loki (if they ever really had him to begin with), but finally found Tommy, who seems none the worse for wear after months of being kidnapped and held hostage by an eldritch abomination.
They would’ve interrogated David more extensively on how exactly he convinced Not-Patriot to give back Tommy, but they’re all buzzed - or in Billy’s case, completely sloshed, so he gets a pass. For now at least. After everything that happened with Loki, Kate knows no one is going to go easy on David just because he’s their friend.
Loki. Kate still doesn’t completely know what to think about him. From the moment they picked him up with Billy and Teddy everyone was expecting him to be hanging around for something more than what he was saying, but none of them, not even David or America had anticipated what he’d actually done.
But really, and Kate sighs, depressed at this: they still don’t know everything Loki did. Kate had still been pushing down her desire to yell at Noh-varr when Loki had started talking, and honestly, over her rage, Kate hadn’t really understood what he’d been saying.
No one else seemed to have really gotten it either, except for America (which made some sense, as she’d been the one keeping the closest eye on Loki, and unlike David, Loki actually let America close to him.) and Billy (which was weird, but apparently he got the spark-notes version of everything when he temporarily became a god, or whatever it was he was supposed to become.).
What they really wanted to do - everyone, not just Kate - was talk to Loki fully about it, but they’d never gotten the chance: Loki had disappeared as soon as Mother had been taken care of and they were safely back in their own dimension. No one had really expected that to happen either, and for a while, they had been convinced that Loki would come back, just like he had when they’d been attacked by parents at Central Park. But hours turned into days, and then weeks; and bitterness and anger crept into their sympathy. They had accepted that this time, Loki really wasn’t coming back to explain himself, or try to fix anything.
And then David flippantly told them that Loki had made a pass at him right before he had gotten Patri-not to give back Tommy. (They really needed to have a long talk with David, Kate thought. He and America were the only ones who seemed to know what was going on - not only with Loki but whatever messiah-like purpose Billy was supposed to serve in the future.)
Kate shook her head: she was buzzed on New Year’s after a party, now really wasn’t the time for such thoughts. In fact, she should be concentrating on getting off her make-up and out of her party clothes and getting to bed.
She was about to start doing that too, when she noticed there was a box on her bed that had most certainly not been there before she’d left with America.
Kate tensed, searching her room for any signs of break in, traps or anything to explain the new presence, but found nothing. With David’s strangeness being so recently on her mind, a sudden, budding suspicion grips her, and Kate marched determinedly to her bed, and looked down at the box more closely.
The box itself is nothing special: long and somewhat narrow, it’s a plain brown box, utterly devoid of markings of any kind. Which, admittedly, is a little weird, most people don’t have large boxes with no logos ready for gift wrapping.
What is noticeable however, is the plain white piece of paper on top of the box, stuck with a small piece of tape holding it down. There’s only a single sentence written on it, but the green ink and fancy, old-timey writing tells Kate all she needs to know.
The note reads simply:
Happy Twenty-First, Hawkeye.
Loki
For a long moment, Kate wrestles with her emotions: anger certainly, but confusion chiefly. First paying for the party, food and drinks, now this? Was Loki trying to buy their forgiveness or what? She’s too drunk and tired for this; Kate thinks and decides to do what Hawkeye does best: rush in, regardless of the consequences.
Kate picks up the box, ignoring the letter flapping slightly, and checks the seams to see if Loki’s tapped the box shut: he hasn’t, which is a relief, because Kate doesn’t have the patience to find a pair of scissors or an arrow to open it with right now.
Lifting open the lip, Kate blinks and takes a moment to realize what she’s looking at. It’s the bow and arrow Loki used all those months ago, back at the very beginning of their search for Tommy. Kate’s nearly forgotten about that day, after the near non-stop travel through dimensions and betrayals that have happened since then.
But now, looking at the bow, the memory is crystal clear, and Kate feels shame at the thought she never did get around to addressing all the problematic things Loki had blithely spoken about. She wonders if Loki had been hurt by that: that maybe she hadn’t gotten his hint that he wanted to talk about things that had happened to him, maybe even a cry for help for his hallucinations.
Because hallucinating to the point your magic made said hallucinations life-like and visible to everyone else wasn’t the sign of a healthy, mentally sound magic-user. In fact, it sounded uncomfortably like the Scarlet Witch, and everyone knew how that had turned out. (Maybe that was why Billy hadn’t seemed too angry. This would’ve been close to home for him.) Loki’s issues would’ve started long before the final battle, and probably long before the team had meet him.
A chilling thought. Kate shivered and put the bow back down. Her thoughts circled back to what she had decided earlier: she was too tired to fix anything right now. No one even knew where Loki was now; let alone where he’d been the past few weeks.
But maybe… Billy could probably find him. Heck, with as much as America let Loki help her with portals, America could probably track him down too, if she wanted to. And then they could talk, all of them, and...
Kate didn’t know. Her thoughts were too fuzzy; she needed to sleep. But these gifts, proof from David that Loki wanted to apologize - they were good signs, right? They meant that the team hadn’t (yet) completely screwed up like they had with Nate.
Maybe, that’s what it all came down to. The team needed to talk with David and figure out what he had figured out. They needed to find Loki and figure out what had really happened, how far he’d really gone. And then maybe, maybe they could start to pick up the pieces and be a real team again, not something hastily thrown together and running on adrenaline alone.
Kate will even give Noh-varr another chance to explain, if he can.
‘Maybe’ holds a lot promises, and Kate finds herself looking forward to the possibilities. If there’s one thing America’s taught her, it’s that nothing is truly impossible.
Kate smiles, bends down and picks up the arrow cache.
END