Prologue - A Star is Born
Kate Bishop listened to the singer for a few more minutes before turning the knob on the audio interface. The action cuts off the audio from the recording booth and the brunette rests her head on the workstation before groaning loudly. She was currently seated in her label’s recording studio and listening to one novice singer after another. She has been at this all day and it's past 10 p.m. Kate didn’t know how many more there were, the list that Clint had given her was rather long. She then takes her pen and crosses off the current person’s name and just then, Clint shows up beside her.
Clint Barton: You’re axing another one? Are you even listening to them?
Kate rolls her eyes annoyed, straightening up to show her Focal Utopia headphones that she had pressed to her left ear that was previously hidden from view. In the recording booth, the singer was unaware of what was taking place and still singing his heart out.
Kate Bishop: I am. It's just not a good fit.
Clint Barton: You’re being too picky.
Kate Bishop: I’m sorry, I thought you wanted me to take this seriously?
Kate has gotten up now, grabbing her glass of gin that she was nursing before downing the clear liquid.
Clint Barton: You are running out of time Kate. It’s either this, or a Christmas special.
Kate scoffs at Clint like he had insulted her mother, which he might as well have done. Where did he come off suggesting the things he did to her?
Kate Bishop: Right. And come out of my cave like a troll every year in December to play the same damn song to death?
Clint Barton: You are heading there as we speak Katie.
Kate ignores him and refills her glass, downing two fingers immediately before refilling her glass again from the Anty Gin bottle. This time she eyes Clint and gestures at him warily. Yes, it’s not like she doesn’t know how important all this is but she can’t force something that isn’t in the cards. They surely can’t expect this ridiculous idea of theirs to actually pan out do they? Kate reasons with herself, musing that lightning doesn't strike twice.
Kate Bishop: I can only work with what you give me. I can’t create..magic out of thin air.
Clint Barton: The last one you scrapped? Actually has a record deal, but apparently still not good enough for you?
Clint has the clipboard in his hand now, smacking his free hand against the writing pad with the name list.
Kate Bishop: Anyone who is worth their salt will know that any idiot can get a record deal. This is.. MORE than that. It's something that you’ve got to.. feel. Here.
She places her left hand on her heart, and the right one on her gut, momentarily before going back to pick up her glass. Clint just sighs tiredly and massages his temple.
Clint Barton: I know Kate. I know. You single handedly have put all four of my kids through college yourself, but you gotta play ball here kiddo.
Kate Bishop: Why, what did that idiot Fergie say now?
Clint Barton: He wants something on his desk by the end of the week and it's already Wednesday.
Kate Bishop: Fuck.
Clint Barton: Uh-huh!
Kate Bishop: I can’t do this anymore. I need a break.
Kate tosses down the drink and grabs her jacket and keys, heading to the door. Clint starts freaking out for real and moves to block the exit.
Clint Barton: I can’t help you if you just keep torpedo-ing yourself to shit Kate!
Kate Bishop: Well I guess I know who my real friends are.
The brunette storms off angrily and gets into her car. Moments later a black Lambo is seen whizzing in and out of traffic, headed straight to downtown. One moment she was easing in and out of traffic, and the next she felt herself getting dizzy and her vision blurs a little. It was all making her lose her focus, and when her eyes shut for just a moment, she swerved and hit something, hard.
Staggering out of the wreckage, she feels water sprinkling onto her body and face, momentarily clearing the fog in her brain. It's then that she sees that she has totaled her car, wrapped it around a fire hydrant and it was bursting like a man made fountain smack in the middle of downtown.
Cursing to herself, she staggers further from the wreckage to avoid getting more wet and heads to the nearest alley. She wasn’t hurt badly, just a couple of scrapes, nothing she couldn’t deal with anyway. Kate wasn’t sure how long she was standing there but she heard the unmistakable sound of sirens soon enough.
She hastily turns and heads the opposite direction from the blaring, emerging out of a long, dark alley and finding herself in a rather quaint park. Kate walks speedily through the park figuring that she’d rather deal with Clint rather than deal with the cops. Afterall, it wouldn’t take them long to ID her car.
The inebriated woman moves through the park until she reaches a little square of sorts at the end. There was a little raised, cemented area and there was a blonde busking there. There was something about her voice that made Kate stop short in her tracks. She changes direction, making her way towards the street performer, blending in behind a few other park goers who were eager for the blonde to play another song. The musician had a guitar case on the ground in front of her and was dressed casually in jeans and converse.
Blonde Busker: Okay so one last song for the night. This is from one of my favourite singers. It’s not one that a lot of people like but I like it and that’s all that should matter.
The blonde grins cheekily, with the audience members letting out a loose chuckle here and there. She then clears her throat and starts singing and Kate is transfixed, standing there listening to this mystery stranger sing of all the songs in the world - HER song. A song that she had written for someone who had meant a lot to Kate and if Kate be damned, she thought that the blonde sang it better than she thought she herself ever did.
xx
I'm so tired of being here
Suppressed by all my childish fears
And if you have to leave
I wish that you would just leave
'Cause your presence still lingers here
And it won't leave me alone
These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase
When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have all of me
You used to captivate me by your resonating light
Now, I'm bound by the life you left behind
Your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams
Your voice it chased away all the sanity in me
These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase
When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of these years
And you still have all of me
I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone
But though you're still with me, I've been alone, I'm alone
When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears
I held your hand through all of these years
You still have all of me ah, me ah, me ah
xxx
Kate notes that the blonde had made a few modifications to the song itself. A change here and there with the chords, a change here and there with the lyrics. But the soul of the song itself was still there in all its glory. The pain and hurt that Kate had put into writing the song was captured perfectly and brought out to the open for all to see.
Some parts of Kate’s heart hurt, hearing the song again and reminiscing the memories that coupled it, but there was a bigger part of Kate that was impressed. Actually impressed with this version that was being sung to her in the middle of some park, on one of arguably the worst days of her life.
Once the song is over, the small crowd disperses, with some listeners throwing in cash into the guitar case while others do that and stop to compliment the singer. When her captivated fans finally left her alone, the blonde started collecting the change and loose notes in the guitar case, gathering the money and shoving it deep into her pocket. She was packing up her capo and guitar when she heard Kate approaching her.
Kate Bishop: I don’t say this often, but I think your cover was better than my original.
Blonde Busker: You.. you’re Kate Bishop! Holy shit!!