new partners
Three Nights Earlier
Kate found herself sitting on the sleek chair in Susan's office at Bishop Security. She looked out of the big windows, and watched the lively city from above. Clad in a black button-up shirt tucked into gray dress pants, she waited impatiently for her half sister to arrive.
The door swung open, and Susan rushed in, her presence marked with urgency. At 28, Susan was a few years older than Kate, with a striking resemblance. Her shoulder length dark brown hair framed her face, and she stood an inch or two shorter than Kate. They both shared similarities from their late father.
As Susan rushed into the office, she quickly took a seat, a mix of concern and frustration etched on her face. "Kate, you need to tell me what happened during the blip," Susan demanded, her voice carrying a tone of urgency. "I took you in for about two years, Kate. Do you know how worried I was when you'd come home with cuts and bruises? I need to understand what you've been through," Susan said.
Kate sat in silence, absorbing Susan's words.
"Kate, your mother is asking questions. Questions I cannot answer if you don't give them to me. She thinks you stayed with me all those years. Oh, and to top it off, she's blaming me for your tattoos," Susan explained, her voice a mix of frustration and concern.
Kate finally broke her silence, sitting forward as she began to explain. "Susan, I was in good hands. You don't need to worry about me," she assured.
Susan, in her frustration, interjected sharply, "Stop the bullshit, Kate. I've been covering for you, but I can't keep doing that if I don't know the whole truth. What happened during the blip, and most importantly what happened to you?" She asked.
Kate sighed, a heaviness in her expression as she leaned back. "Susan, have you ever heard the name Kingpin?" she asked. Susan shook her head, indicating she hadn't. Kate asks again, "What about Wilson Fisk?"
Susan's eyes narrowed slightly as she heard the name. "The name sounds familiar. Isn't he an associate of your mother?" she inquired.
Kate hesitated, debating whether or not she should tell her sister the truth. After a moment, she decided to reveal a fragment of the truth. "Our father owed Mr. Fisk a lot of money," she confessed, "And because of that Wilson turned me into his personal puppet, manipulating me to commit crimes." She admitted, her voice tinged with a mix of regret and resentment.
Susan attempted to interrupt, concern etched across her face. However, Kate raised a hand, signaling for her to let her finish. Then suddenly all the memories came flooding back.
"What do you want?" She asks the caller.
"I have an assignment for you." The voice replied.
The girl scoffed, "I told you I'm done, I don't want to do that stuff anymore. My family no longer owes you anything."
"This assignment is important. It involves Susan Bishop." Mr. Fisk replies.
Kate stops and freezes.
"Thought that would get your attention." He laughs.
Kate continues to walk down the street on the phone. "What about her?" She asks her employer.
She could hear the man sigh on the other side of the phone. "There's an event going on this weekend that your sister will be attending. An assassin will be there trying to steal information from a good friend of mine." He told the girl. "And it would be a shame if your sister got in the way. Being the CEO of a multimillion dollar company puts a target on her back." He added.
Kate sighed, "Ok yea, I'll do it."
The man chuckled, "Good. Oh and I got you some help."
Kate furrowed her eyebrows, "Help?" She asked the man.
"Yes. Have you heard of The Ronin?"
Later, Kate scans the party from a distance. She stood on top of a building, wearing all black. She made sure to cover her face with a black mask, which only showed her eyes and everything above. Her focus remained on the target as he moved behind the building where the party took place.
Kate never took her eyes off of him. She took her bow and followed the man as he headed towards an empty alley. The girl hid behind a dumpster as she watched the man talk to someone on the phone. Once she gets a good look she notices there are two other men waiting in a van in the distance.
Suddenly the girl heard footsteps coming from behind her. She quickly turns around and points her bow. When she faced the person she instantly knew who it was. She recognized the black suit from the pictures that Mr. Fisk had sent her. "Ronin." She whispered.
The person cladding all black goes up to the girl and pushes her up against a wall and takes off her mask. Kate grunts when her back hits the brick wall. "What the fuck, we're supposed to be on the same team!" She yelled.
They quickly put their hand on Kate's mouth trying to get her to be quiet. They look the girl up and down. "You're just a kid."
Kate could tell the person was a man based on his voice. "Well I was assigned this job just like you." She responded.
The man released her and drew a collapsible sword from his belt. "Leave," he ordered, walking towards the target. Ignoring the command, Kate followed, bow drawn.
Kate looked up and noticed the two men who were in the car got out and were about to shoot at them. Kate instantly draws back her bow and hits one of the guys in the chest. The guy dropped his gun and fell to the ground.
The second guy took a few shots at Ronin. Kate could hear the man grunt, she turned around and noticed he had been shot in the shoulder. When she turned back around, the guy who was shooting at them bolted.
Kate took a knife from her belt and threw it at the guy. It hit him right on the leg which caused him to fall. Ronin went up to him and lifted his sword and stabbed the guy right in the back. He then pulled the sword back and watched as the man instantly fell to the ground, and blood pooled around the body. Then he went up to the other guy who still had an arrow in his chest, and killed him too.
"Hey!" Ronin yelled, looking at Kate.
Something hit the back of Kate's head, and she fell to the ground. As she attempted to stand, she saw Ronin fighting the target. Gathering herself, she ran toward them. Just as Ronin was about to stab the target, Kate swiped his legs, causing him to fall.
"He's mine." Kate said, looking down at Ronin.
She draws her bow and hits the target in the leg. Kate tries to go up to him but Ronin grabs her leg and yanks her down with him. He then got on top of the girl and hit her right in the face.
"I can't let you do that, kid." He replied.
This only made the girl more angry. She squeezed the man's shoulder where he was shot, he groaned and put his hand over the wound. Kate took the opportunity and pushed the man off of her.
As she gets up she draws back another arrow and aims towards the target's other leg. The target let out a painful yell. Kate went up to him and grabbed him by his collar. "Why are you after Susan Bishop?" She asked. The target didn't respond. He just spit in the girl's face.
Kate balled her hand in a fist and punched the guy. "Tell me!" She yelled. When he didn't respond she continued to slam her fist into his face until it was completely covered in blood.
Ronin didn't stop. He got back up and ran toward the girl. He tackled her to the ground. The two of them continued to tussle not noticing the target had got up from the ground.
"Get off of me!" Kate yelled in frustration. The man stood on top of her and continued to try and keep her down. As he tries to keep her down he slightly glanced up and noticed the target escaping.
Ronin quickly stood up and chased the man down the dark alley. As he caught up to him he took out his sword getting ready to stab him. All of a sudden an arrow goes flying through the air, and goes directly through the target's skull. He watched as his body went completely limp.
Ronin looked back and saw Kate still holding up her bow. He noticed the guilty look on her face. "You shouldn't have done that." He told the girl.
She scoffed, "He was a bad person." She walked closer to the man and noticed his wound was bleeding really bad. "Come on, my apartment isn't far from here, we'll patch you up." She nodded to his injury.
The two of them entered Kate's apartment. She didn't currently live in it, she mostly used it for fixing herself up after jobs like she had just done.
Ronin looked around the small apartment and noticed a few Hawkeye posters and archery equipment.
"How old are you?" He asked as he continued to look around.
"Oh we're getting personal now?" She says and she grabs her first aid kit from one of the kitchen cabinets. She grabs it and takes it to the kitchen table. "I'm gonna turn nineteen soon." That was a lie, she just turned eighteen.
He scoffed, "You're a child, you should be in school. How did you end up in this mess?" He asked.
Kate continued to get the first aid kit ready. "I'll tell you if you take the mask off."
He walked towards the first aid kit and grabbed the things to tend his wound. He then took off the mask and jacket he was wearing.
Kate quickly looked up and was completely shocked. "Holy shit you're Hawkeye!" She exclaimed. He ignored the girl and continued to fix up his injury.
"You know I'm like your biggest fan. I own the complete Hawkeye bow collection, which are shitty by the way. You should really work on some better ones. Oh and I—"
"You never answered my question." He said cutting her off. He looked up at her, "Why are you involved in all this?"
Kate sat down in the seat next to him and sighed. "My dad got into some money problems and he owed Fisk a lot of debt. Then he died and my mom took over for him. Turns out she got herself into even more debt. And when she left with the other half of the world he asked me to work for him, to pay that debt. I think I was sixteen around the time."
Clint looked the girl in the eye, "No kid should go through that."
Kate chuckled, "Yea well I guess I can blame my parents for that."
They stayed silent for a few seconds. Clint had just finished taking care of his shoulder. He looked over at Kate and realized she had no idea what she was doing.
"Here let me help." He said. She gave him the gauze and let him do the rest. She hissed in pain when he poured the alcohol onto her cuts.
"Was that the first time you killed someone?" He asked. The girl looked up and was a little shocked by his question.
"I saw your face, you looked a little scared after you did it." He said.
That was in fact not the first time she killed someone. One day she walked into Central Park late and night, she was already working for Fisk at the time. A man went up to her and tried to grab her. By instinct she took the knife she had hidden in her coat and stabbed the guy right in the stomach. She then freaked out and called Fisk, who helped her get rid of the body.
"That was the second time I've done that." She whispered. She didn't look up at the man.
Clint nodded his head. They sat in a comfortable silence. Eventually Kate looked at the man and noticed how different he looked. He looked so tired. And he now had tattoos all over his arms. The man did not look like the hero she once idolized.
"You know you saved me during the battle of New York." She told the man.
The man looked over at the girl, "Oh yea?"
She smiled, "Yea. It was so badass, you jumped off the building and did this cool spin move. I tried it once from my chandelier...then I broke my arm."
The man let out a laugh. Kate laughed with him too. He was pretty sure that was the first time he laughed in years.
"That name you mentioned to the target earlier, who is she?" He asked.
"Oh Susan? She's my sister, she's the only family I have left." She replied.
"She's the CEO of your family's company?" He asked the younger girl.
"Yup. And our target wanted to kill her. I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't let my family get taken away from me again." She said sadly.
Seeing her like that reminded him of himself. He kind of felt bad for the girl, he knew how it felt to lose everyone.
"I want to help you." He said.
Kate looked up at the man, "What do you mean?"
"Well it seems like Fisk isn't going to let you off anytime soon. So how about we work together? And I can do most of the missions myself." He replied.
"Well I can help you out more—"
"I know kid, you definitely proved yourself today. But you shouldn't have to go through this at such a young age." He said as he stood up.
"Where are you going?" She asks.
"I'm going to talk to Fisk, see if we can make a deal." He sighed.
Kate smiled at the man, "Thank you."
"No problem...Wait what's your name?"
"Kate Bishop."
Kate snapped out of her memories, a heavy weight settling in her chest. Deciding it was best not to reveal any more to Susan, she abruptly stood up, excused herself, and swiftly left the building
Kate found herself at a dimly lit bar, conveniently located down the street from her apartment. Taking a seat alone, she ordered a whiskey on the rocks. The liquid swirled gently in the glass as she sipped, the sharp taste providing somewhat of a distraction from the thoughts swirling in her mind.
Feeling a presence beside her, Kate initially didn't bother to look over, assuming it was just someone trying to flirt with her. However, when she finally turned her gaze, she was met with the sight of a beautiful blonde woman. The stranger's eyes held a certain intensity, and Kate couldn't help but feel a spark of curiosity. She took another sip of her whiskey, awaiting whatever the newcomer had to say.
But the mysterious woman never spoke, she actually seemed frustrated. So Kate decided to start the conversation. "Rough day?" she inquired, taking another sip of her whiskey.
The woman's eyes met hers, and for a moment her gaze lingered on Kate's tattoo-covered arms as she took a sip of her drink, eyes tracing the intricate designs that adorned them. Kate, unfazed, continued to sip her whiskey, allowing the woman to inspect her.
The mysterious woman, finally breaking her silence, responded, "Yes, you could say that."
Kate nodded in understanding, "Rough days seem to be a common currency lately," she remarked.
The mysterious woman tilted her head slightly, her eyes lingering on Kate's tattoo-covered arms. "Interesting ink you got there," she commented, a playful smirk playing on her lips.
Kate chuckled, swirling the ice in her glass. "Thanks, I get that a lot."
The woman took a sip of her own drink, her gaze meeting Kate's. "You seem a bit... cocky. Confidence suits you, though."
Kate leaned back, adopting a confident posture. "Well, you know, it helps in navigating the chaos out there. You get used to it."
The woman laughed, it lightly echoed through the dimly lit bar. "Cocky and confident. I like that combination."
Kate raised an eyebrow, "Coming from someone who seems to have her own air of mystery, I'll take that as a compliment."
The blonde smirked, "I'm Sasha."
Kate studied "Sasha" with a knowing look, catching the subtle signs of deception. Deciding to play along, she smiled, "Elizabeth. Nice to meet you, Sasha."
Sasha chuckled, the air between them thick with unspoken understanding. "So, Elizabeth, what's your story?"
Kate leaned back, adopting an air of mystery. "Why don't you come over to my place and find out?"