She bats at the alarm, muttering about a few more minutes.
Of course, that's when it explodes.
Her world is now a barrage of sound and sights. She can't see, her eyes are being assaulted by bright lights and shiny, reflective metallic surfaces. There are people shouting, the beeping won't stop, and her mother is still criticizing her. When the lights are moved, she can see her mother's angry glare and ...
"Where's Dad?"
"That good for nothing deadbeat's gone," Blake retorts and Cassie wonders how she ever spent any semblance of guilt on him.
"Where's Dad?" she repeats, shaking, glaring at her mother, feeling as if she could break everything in this tiny room. "Did Doom ...?"
"Cassie, you need to rest," her mother says, miffed. "The doctors said you'd be hazy on ..."
"WHERE?" she screams and she's about to panic, her powers aren't working, she can't ... she's ... her dad ... she was ... they were all ... where is everyone?
Where's her dad?
~*~*~*~
It's been a long few months, but Kate Bishop made it.
She's finally home. God, she missed this hellhole. Duffel bag slung over her shoulder, Lucky at her side, she heads home. She heads to the old Bishop Publishing building, in the Meatpacking District, her only place left.
"I'll call you if something comes up ... ?" she vaguely hears the voice-mail conclude. If she wasn't so busy staring at the shadow before her door, she would have caught the fact that it was forcibly ended, that call.
Instead, she drops her bag and yanks her bow out. "Hey," she says, walking towards the figure standing before the bay doors. "Hey, this is private property!" she calls out, making her stance and arming herself with an arrow, holding it steady as she gets closer. "You can't be here!"
Said mysterious figure turns, a wry smile on her lips. "I see you changed the password."
It goes like this: her purple stun arrow clatters to the pavement. Next, her prized bow falls to her side. Finally, her mouth drops open. Her phone, pocketed in her shorts, starts ringing again. But all she can think of is: is that her? Is this a dream? Is she being punished? What did she do now?
"Cassie?" she finally gasps.
"What's new?" she asks with a smile. When Kate stares, just stares, Cassie's smile falls. "I ... Aunt Jan helped me come back. Is ... is that okay?"
"Cassie," she says, blinking back tears, forcing herself to stay at her stance, to stay away. This could be a trap.
"I'm not ... I don't know what you're thinking, but I'm me. I can prove it."
"You're so much older, you know."
Kate whips around to meet the blonde's eyes. "Well, I lost my best friend a few years back. Aged me terribly, you know."
Cassie smiles thinly. "My mom wouldn't let me talk about it with anyone. She didn't want me getting into the habit of hero-ing again."
"So why are you here?" Why now?
"She wants to move."
"Oh,” she nods. She doesn’t know what to say. Her mother’s dead and her father’s dead to her. She’s of the mind to live your life the way you want. But Cassie’s a baby, still.
"San Francisco, she said."
"I was in L.A. for a while." It still sounds worldly and mature. Futz.
"I heard. Sucks you're back."
She takes a deep breath. “Okay. I’ll bite.”
“What?”
“Why were you skulking in our old hangout?”
“I wanted ... I wanted to get my suit. Get some West Coast Avengers vibe going on."
"The Pym Particles were never on the West Coast."
"They could be." She holds out a hand and Kate takes it. "Hawkeye was there."
Kate pulls away. "Oh ... the uh ... this Hawkeye is needed in NYC."
"Oh."
"Well, that's that. I can't give you your suit and your dad won't want that."
"You ... you've seen him?"
"What? No ... I ... No," she stammers. "I took a break from the whole 'New York' thing and I've been in LA. I told you."
"Right. Is he ...?"
"Last I heard, he's alive."
She lets out a breath. "Cool. So ... how are ... how is everyone?"
Kate swallowed a gulp of air. How would she be able to tell her everything? Would Kate be able to say, we broke up after we lost you two? Would she tell her how they all gave up, in literally the same way the Avengers did, with Wanda's cry for help? Would she tell her that Eli sends a short e-mail every two months to each of them, copied and pasted, nothing different? They had become the people they hated, the bad type of Avengers, that day. Would she tell Cassie about the nights filled with screaming and waking up from bad dreams only to realize they were actually reality? Would she tell them about the tiny memorial they had for them, not nearly enough? Would she tell her about everything? Would she? Or would she lie?
"They're fine. Everyone's kinda doing their own thing, college wise, you know."
"I always was the baby of the group."
"Actually, Billy mentioned this Inhuman in Jersey."
"Not their cousin?"
"Not their cousin," Kate agrees. "She's a freshman, like you, and she’s a Captain Marvel fan. She'd do us good."
"Who replaced me?"
"Hope Van Dyne."
Cassie stares at her, surprised. disbelief pouring out of her very being. "What? Really?"
"No. That was the other universes, remember? When we ...?"
Cassie nods and laughs, nervously. The girl who once declared she was going to be a hero, she laughs and Kate watches her. She watches her and she can see the blonde girl who approached her, that fateful night. If she squints, she can almost feel the fabric of that ugly dress, can see it all fold out like some bad dream waiting to happen. She can see everything and nothing. She takes a deep breath. Her best friend is back.
Billy literally falls into the room, the space-time rip healing as soon as he exits fully. "I was in Wundagore, at a rally, strapped with anti-mutant wristbands, without any trace of my magic, for some goddamn reason and ... is that Cassie???"
"Hi, Bibby."
Billy stands, frozen. There are marks on his wrists, bright red and angry-looking. "Cass Lass, is ... Katie?" He asks, not turning, eyes still on their former teammate, sounding so goddamn lost. How does this tiny blonde do it?
"That's her," Kate confirms.
"My god."
"Surprise?"
Billy finally turns away. "Did you call Tom? I couldn't reach him. I know this isn't ... but I am terrified. I have never not been able to use my powers since ... the Civil War." He turns to Cassie, again. “Not that this isn’t the greatest thing to happen since forever.”
"He hasn't called back," Kate says pointedly.
"Billy?"
"Yeah, Cassie?"
"What's going on?"
"Avengers went old and evil. Bad dudes went good. I lost my powers. That's old news. I was being held at a peace rally by some overzealous gun eenthusiasts." Kate's phone rings. "And Kate's got a call."
Tommy’s face beeps on the screen and suddenly, a slurry of words, of which they can only make out: "I lost my speed."
"Please don't sell drugs, Tom."
"Or take them!" Billy calls out.
"I'm stranded in bumfuck nowhere, without powers, and I'm fucking terrified, okay? So fuck you Billy and teleport me."
"I ... don't have powers."
"WHAT?"
"I lost them. I don't ... I don't know! I got Strange to collect me. I'll get him to collect you. Just ... hold on, okay?" he mutters, snatching the phone. "Tom, I called you five times in half as many minutes and it said no signal and suddenly, the first person you call is Kate?"
Kate smiles blandly, swinging her bow back across her shoulders. "So ..."
"So," Cassie agrees, smiling. "I missed this."
Kate lets out a huff and reaches for her best friend. "It wasn't the same without you, Giant Girl."
"By the way, I don't have Pym Particles in my body anymore so I stole some from Pym Industries and they're clowns for letting my dad's codes work still, after all these years."
"What?"
"What?" Cassie smiles, widely, too widely. “Come on, you need the suit for them to work properly.”
"No, you don't."
"Well, whatever, I can't change anyway." I' m useless without powers, please don't make me be useless. "Are you going to turn me in, super girl?"
"The name's Hawkeye and you know it's Hawkeye."
Cassie smiles widely. "Wanna partner up, Hawkeye?"
"Give me a few weeks to sort out my business here, I'll consider a spot on the West Coast Avengers."
"Cool. Gives you time to tell me about all the lies you've tried telling me."
Kate blinks, before a smile slowly grows on her face. "You always were smart, Giant Girl."
"Stature."
"Yeah," Kate grins.