Chapter 1
Her whole life Kate had never doubted that she wanted to be a superhero, just like Hawkeye. Until now.
“One more lap, let’s go!”
Kate has to suppress the urge to roll her eyes. She quickly learned that these kinds of small insubordinations were not appreciated at the Avengers compound. Of course, she knew that training to be an Avenger would require a lot of hard work, but she had to work hard for all those titles in archery and martial arts too. She had expected it to be something similar. Turns out, training to be an Avenger, which was basically SHIELD training, is something else entirely.
It wasn’t just physical training, they were expected to attend a lot of classes too. Classes that were probably directed copied from SHIELD Academy now that she thinks about it. She was still excited by the whole idea of being an Avenger, really. All the different classes were really interesting as well, but everything crammed into one day was just too much. Kate longed for their tight schedule to be over and to be in the field again.
She had hoped that fighting the Tracksuit Mafia alongside Hawkeye would excuse her from some of these tedious training sessions, which turned out to be far from the truth. Sure, her connection with Clint helped her to even get considered to join the "Avengers Initiative 2.0", which has recently been dubbed "Young Avengers", but that was all there was to it. Once she arrived at the new Avengers compound, she really was considered a rookie agent – meaning doing everything that a normal rookie agent was supposed to do.
The problem was, she was probably far from a normal rookie agent. Everybody at the compound, which included the remaining Avengers and new SHIELD agents, knew that she had worked together with Clint and that she had her own mother arrested. Especially the other rookie SHIELD agents loved to remind her about that as if she didn’t think about it as soon as her brain was able to think about something else than running or mission strategies.
Kate kept telling herself that the other rookies were helping her keep both feet on the ground, and they definitely succeed in doing so. Despite what they probably hoped for, it only made Kate more determined to be the best rookie Avenger ever. She wanted to prove everybody wrong. But most of all, she wanted to prove to herself that she was good enough and that her lifelong goal was something she could obtain.
So, Kate clenches her jaw, releases a puff of air and once again increases her running pace. She is in the front of the group again, running alongside Cassie. Kate was determined to prove everybody wrong, and Cassie wasn’t that different. They had struck a tentative friendship – bonding over their fight against accusations of nepotism.
“Damn, Bishop, what has gotten into you?” Cassie asks, slightly out of breath.
It was no secret that Cassie was the better runner between the two of them. Cassie might go for a run to relax and actually enjoy it, while for Kate it was something she just had to endure. Because why would she choose to go for a run? Her bow and arrow could be used for long-distance targeting as well as close body combat, she doesn’t know in what instance she would ever have to run so many miles?
Kate does her best not to show that she is out of breath when she answers. “Just want this training to be over.”
Cassie smirks at her. “Race you to the finish line?”
“You’re on,” Kate replies, never one to turn down a challenge – even though the is close to her max.
They sprint away from the rest of the group, Cassie increasing the distance between them inch by inch.
“Ladies! Slow down!” their instructor shouts, but it falls on deaf ears. There is no stopping two competitive Young Avengers desperate to prove themselves.
Cassie beats her, of course. But they giggle when they both lean over to catch their breath. Cassie is the first to recover and pats Kate on her back.
“The day you beat me is coming closer and closer.”
Kate nods, taking that as a win for today.
“Show-offs”, she hears someone mumble to their friend, probably Kevin, but she pays it no mind. Not everybody can be as fast as she and Cassie are, after all.
“Okay, regroup guys,” their instructor, Noelle Hartley, shouts at them.
The group of five assemble around her, trying to stand as upright as possible after she made them run for over an hour.
“I hope for your future team that you won’t complain as much as you’re doing now when you have to run for a few minutes during a mission!”
Kate can’t help herself from looking at Kevin, one of the two boys in their training group. Cassie and Kate were the only two in their small group that are part of the Young Avengers. The other three are there as rookie agents training to be official SHIELD agents.
The higher-ups probably thought combining rookie SHIELD agents with some new Avengers would make for a highly motivated group. Unfortunately, Kate believes they were definitely wrong. If someone is always complaining, it’s Kevin. He signed up for the marines but decided that going on tours to the ‘dessert’ wasn’t what he wanted in his life – so he decided to make everybody's lives at SHIELD harder. Although, according to him, their training is nothing compared to what he went through in his time with the marines. Of course, he fails to mention that he didn’t even complete that training.
The other boy, Freddy, listens to everything Kevin says. Freddy would be the ideal team member and SHIELD agent if he wasn’t trying so hard to be Kevin's friend. It’s a shame because the redhead is quick to laugh and is always willing to work hard – someone Kate loves to have in her team.
Their last team member, Lydia, is the more silent type who seems to get along with everyone. In the beginning, Lydia and Kate seemed to gravitate towards each other, but once rumours about Kate and the crimes of her mother started to spread, Lydia distanced herself from Kate and started hanging out more with Kevin and Freddy.
That’s fine, Kate still had a great friendship with Cassie. Or at least, it was starting to be a great friendship.
“Cassie and Kate stay, the rest of you sorry asses can go shower,” Noelle says, immediately catching everyone’s attention. The other three throw Cassie and Kate a suspicious glance, but then they leave.
“Keep working hard, and maybe you guys will be able to run a few miles while on a mission," Noelle calls after them before they are out of earshot. The enjoyment of hassling the young recruits is evident in her eyes.
"Cassie, Kate," Noelle says to have them focused again. "I spoke with Agent Hill, and she agreed to have you tag along on one of the missions."
Kate can feel her heart skip a beat. First of all, their instructor spoke about them with Agent Hill? Talk about moving up in the world! And second, probably more important, they can go on a field mission. That means they are one step closer to finishing their training and becoming full-time Avengers.
Noelle gives them some more details on time and place. Kate has to tone down her excitement and actually force herself to listen to what Noelle tells them before she leaves. She doesn't say anything when she does, but Kate is sure she's proud of them. She has to be, right? It's their first official mission.
“A mission!” Kate turns towards Cassie. Her excitement is mirrored in Cassie’s eyes.
“Our first mission, that's amazing!”
“I feel like we should celebrate this,” Kate says excitedly. The last few months consisted mostly of just working hard, they should spend some time celebrating this small win.
Cassie immediately agrees with her. “We would be the first Young Avengers to be sent on a mission, we should celebrate that.”
Neither acknowledges the fact that at this time they are the only two Young Avengers. Although, Kate heard about other young superheroes being recruited to join the Young Avengers Initiative. For now, it’s not important. Full of curiosity about their first mission, Cassie and Kate start walking towards the Academy, making plans where to meet and who brings the snacks.
Later that evening, Kate and Cassie are laying down on the grass looking at the stars. A half-eaten bag of popcorn in between them.
“Isn’t it weird that Thor is probably up there?” Kate asks completely mesmerized by the stars. The Avengers Compound is located in a relatively unpopulated area. The lack of light pollution makes it possible for them to actually see the stars very clearly, something that was just not possible in New York. Every night Kate looks up at the sky and a tentative smile spreads across her face. Maybe it is not the worst thing to be away from New York for now. If not to be away from the media circus that still surrounds the “Bishop” name, then for the possibility to look up at the stars and fantasize about the superheroes in space.
“Or Captain Marvel,” Cassie pipes up, probably caught up in the same thoughts as Kate.
She thinks about that for a second. “What if Thor is just on Earth, playing video games or something?” she snickers.
“And Captain Marvel has a shelter for cats or something,” Cassie plays along.
“Can’t you ask Hawkeye what the rest of the Avengers are doing?” Cassie asks.
Kate scoffs. “Can’t you ask your dad?”
They are both silent over that, both realising that their connections aren’t that much of an advantage nowadays. The distance to the Avengers they know is a lot bigger than they expected. Not that Kate doesn’t send the occasional text to Clint – to which he seldom replies.
Clint might be one of the best agents SHIELD ever, but he is a terrible texter.
Thankfully, she is in contact with Laura who sends her updates about Lucky every few days – for which Kate is very grateful. From everybody, she misses Lucky almost the most during her time at the Avengers compound. Who wouldn't want a big Golden Retriever around to cuddle with at the end of the day? Especially one as sweet as Lucky.
“What do you think our mission will be?” Kate wonders, voicing the question that has been on both their minds.
Cassie hums and thinks it over for a few seconds. "Would they allow us to go to space?”
Kate shakes her head. Hopefully not, a bow and arrow have no use without gravity. “It will probably be something simple. Babysitting the daughter of a higher-ranking official or something. Maybe some simple breaking and entering?”
You can’t be disappointed if your expectations are low, right?
They continue coming up with ideas about what their mission might entail, which start off realistically. At the end of the evening, they are sure they will be sent to the future to stop evil cats from going back in time to kill all the humans.
Later when Kate is laying in her bunk below Cassie, she thinks back to that idea and a smile appears on her face. That wouldn’t be so bad, she’s more of a dog person anyway.
Cassie and Kate are waiting in a boring grey SHIELD meeting room. Kate has to appreciate that they were consequent with their colour palette when designing the meeting rooms. It’s unfortunate that that colour palette didn’t contain any colour at all.
The unimaginative decorated room is a stark contrast to the energy and excitement that Kate radiates. She has no idea what to do with this exciting feeling, or are it nerves? It's has been hard to distinguish between the two of them lately.
Hartley eventually enters the room, but doesn’t say anything and just takes a seat too. This only makes the two rookie Avengers fidget more. Of course, a mission is a serious business, but do they really need to look at each other as if they are about to discuss how to defeat the next Thanos-like villain?
Just when Kate can’t take the nerves any longer and is about to speak up to say just about anything to break the silence, the doors open and nobody but Agent Hill enters. Kate instantly understands what everybody is talking about when they mention her stoniness. There is no playing around with Agent Hill. Cassie and Kate both feel this and straighten themselves in their seats.
Agent Hill stands at the head of the table and looks at the two Young Avengers separately, with a short pause on each of them. Kate just gives her an awkward smile when her gaze seems to spend a few seconds longer on Kate than on Cassie. With a small nod, Maria Hill officially starts the meeting.
She starts by going over the basics, how she appreciates their hard work to restore the Avengers Initiative and thereby SHIELD to its old glory. Kate feels the warm feeling of pride spread through her body. It serves as a reminder that she is really training to be an official Young Avenger.
“The reports of agent Hartley show that your progress recently has been promising,” agent Hill eventually concludes.
Kate looks at Noelle surprised. Never did the stern woman indicate that she was relatively satisfied with their performance. Noelle just raises her eyebrow at Kate, but quickly gives her a disapproving look. Kate immediately turns her attention back to Agent Hill.
“So we want to see how you do in the field. Agent Hartley will go over the mission with you, good luck.”
With that, she abruptly leaves the room. Kate can’t help her eyes from following the best SHIELD agent she knows.
“Damn, she’s so cool,” Kate whispers. Cassie mumbles her agreement.
“Rookie Avengers!” Noelle snaps them out of their admiration.
Kate tries to reign in her excitement and focuses on their mission debrief. But it's their first real mission! In addition to her excitement, there is a small wave of disappointment that leaves a bitter taste in her mouth. How she would have loved to call her mom after this to talk about it. Sure, her mother would definitely not approve of her becoming an Avenger – but Kate is sure she would be happy for her nonetheless.
“Before I explain what your mission will be, I want to stress how important a first mission is,” Noelle starts. She explains to them that they do not expect their first mission to go smoothly without any mistakes, they have to show their potential. It could very well be important for their future within SHIELD as a Young Avenger.
“So, the mission,” Noelle finally reaches the part they are most interested in. She turns on the screen behind her, and two photos fill the screen.
One is of an older man, who is probably in his forties. “This is Shawn Collins.”
Kate is not sure if she should take notes, pay really close attention, or already start asking questions. She glances over at Cassie, whose focus is completely on the screen. Kate decides to copy her partner and looks back at the screen too.
“Collins is part of an American oil company with ties to Russia. They appear legit on the surface, but our tech department dug deeper and found they are involved in several criminal activities.”
Kate has to swallow, her throat has gone dry. This is not just another example case they discussed in one of their classes, this is a real case. A real mission, where actual people were involved. Is she even up to this? Well, she is the best archer there is – of course, she can do this!
Noelle continues. “But we are not interested in their crimes. That’s something for the FBI,” there is something close to disdain in her voice. “We have intel that Collins has hired an assassin to take out a possible whistle-blower within the company.”
Well, Kate’s throat has completely closed by now. Do they want them to stop an assassination? Isn’t that a bit above their paygrade? Theoretically, it definitely is, because they are not even getting paid.
It must have shown on their faces because Noelle chuckles before returning to her serious tone. She continues explaining how SHIELD wants to follow Collins to hopefully get a better idea of who his contact is, who might be depicted in the second vague photo on the screen. Apparently, a new organisation has risen in the criminal ranks. A lot of recent unsolved crimes, from kidnapping to murder, might be linked to this organisation.
“It has nothing to do with just your typical street criminals. We are talking about corporate espionage and international assassinations,” Noelle says to stress the weight of this mission as if Kate wasn’t already nervous.
Kate hesitantly raises her hand. It feels like slow motion when Noelle turns her head towards her. “Yes?”
“This feels really important, what are we supposed to do?” she asks.
Noelle nods and twists her pen between her fingers. It suddenly appears as if she is reluctant to share the next bit of information.
“There are rumours that this organisation has members who are enhanced, something close to the super soldiers from Flag Smashers,” Noelle informs them. “And since the Falcon, although I should probably say Captain America, and the Bucky Barnes are unavailable like the rest of the Avengers, you two will be there to help with the stakeout and serve as backup might things get out of hand.”
It’s the best way to observe how SHIELD operates, and get a feeling for the role they might play as Young Avengers in the future.
Yet, disappointment mixed with relief takes over. Disappointment that their mission turned out to not be of the world-saving kind, and relieved that the mission isn’t actually the world-saving kind. Of course, they both signed up with the idea in their head that they wanted to save the world – but they are far from being experienced enough to do so.
“Enjoy your lunch, in the afternoon we will start planning,” Noelle instructs them before dismissing them officially.
Naturally, Kate and Cassie spend their lunch discussing all the possible tactics.
Cassie comes up with several ideas, but Kate is finding it hard to participate. She's not much of a planner. She works much better in the field, where she needs to come up with a plan on the fly. Or at least, that's what she tells herself.
She zones out and envisions herself during the actual mission. What if she somehow comes face to face with the contact person within the organisation, or even better (worse?) the actual assassin they hired?
Her mind starts to drift to Yelena. She has come face to face with an assassin before, and she survived that. Is this Yelena’s kind of business? She knows what Yelena does, but it’s still hard to imagine her actually murdering somebody in cold blood.
With a soft sigh, Kate shakes her head lightly, trying to get rid of her thoughts of Yelena. She hoped nobody had noticed, but Cassie is looking at her curiously. Kate just shrugs, maybe she will tell her later.
To be honest, she doesn't actually want to tell Cassie about Yelena. And what's there to tell really?
That she met a Black Widow assassin who was surprisingly fun to be around. How she asked said assassin out for drinks, which may have been part of a plot to distract her, or may have been sincere. Which was all there really was to say about her.
After everything that went down on Christmas Eve, followed by her short stay with Clint, her return to New York, and signing up for the SHIELD Academy - she texted Yelena.
Or she should say, she sent a text to the number Yelena had used. No reply. And that's that. Yelena is gone and she has no way to contact her.
She's not sure what she would even say to her. The text she sent her was just a short text:
I hope you're okay, still up for drinks?
Kate was actually pretty proud of herself for that one. It was a very casual text, or at least that is what Kate thought. A text she could have sent to a cute girl she met at the library, or at a cafe or something, right?
Yet, Yelena never answered. And Kate didn't send her anything ever again. She wasn't desperate enough to double-text, which she could only say about herself if she ignored the fact that she waited desperately beside her phone for days - hoping that Yelena would answer. It was the month when the media really picked up on her mom arrest. Those weeks were mostly filled with dark days where her only company was Jack, who was actually really sweet and fun. Up until a certain level. A few hours with Jack was all she could handle. The rest of her social circle in New York didn't really bother contacting her. Her friends from college texted her to ask how she was doing, but other than that, they didn't really know what to do with the whole situation.
Kate couldn't blame them. It's not every day that your friend has her own mother arrested after she uncovered a whole conspiracy involving mafia members in tracksuits and her own mother.
Young Avengers was a new start, and even though the rumours surrounding her and her mom followed her to the compound, it felt good. She was still grateful that Clint recommended her to Fury. And less than a year later she was about to go on her first mission. They were going to do great, they would have to. She has no life to return to.
The next day, Kate is sitting in a car with Cassie next to her, watching hundreds of children leave the school to run towards their parents. If their intel is right, once every two weeks, Collins picks his daughter up from school. They hope this change in routine might also result in identifying other changes that will eventually lead to figuring out where he will meet with the contact person. Because up until then, the SHIELD agents only observed Collins going to his work and going back home. For a man who plans assassinations, he has a surprisingly boring life.
It would have made the mission so much more entertaining if Kate was allowed to shoot a really small arrow in the backpack of the kid. Attached to the arrow would have been a small camera, and with that camera that could literally watch the kid's back. An amazing idea in her opinion.
Unfortunately, the rest of the SHIELD agents didn't share her enthusiasm and Hartley even laughed at her once she brought it up in the actual meeting later. Instead of her amazing idea, they decided upon a simple stakeout mission, where they would follow and watch over Collins' daughter from a car.
"I'm starting to think that your camera idea might not have been too bad," Cassie suddenly says, and Kate starts to smile. See? Her idea was good!
Her eyes never leave the trail of children leaving the school ground. "Well, it's a classic stakeout mission. This is what we signed up for."
They eventually spot their mark. Collins' daughter looks like a really sweet girl in real life too. Her black, curly hair is done up in two buns on the top of her head, and an innocent smile is visible from far away. They are instantly in mission mode. Kate lets the others know that they have their mark insight, and Cassie starts the car.
The girl hugs a man that is without a doubt Collins. He coldly pats his daughter on her back and then ushers her inside the SUV that is waiting for them. They follow him for a few minutes, and then another car takes over their tailing to avoid suspicion.
It's nothing too exciting, but the thrill of being part of a mission keeps her focused and alert. The last thing she wants is to miss anything. As expected, Collins just returns home with his daughter. Cassie and Kate are not even tasked with watching his house, they are posted around the corner, watching for anything suspicious heading towards Collins' house.
At the end of the day, a new duo of SHIELD agents takes over and Kate and Cassie return to Avengers compound, where they quickly discuss the first day of their mission. After dinner, they do part of their physical training that they were not able to do during the day of course. Honestly, after sitting in a car the whole day, it feels surprisingly good to be running around. The uncomfortable car seat really caused her to have stiff back muscles. Kate's still disappointed by the fact that they didn't get the fancy SHIELD-issued SUVs. Instead, they had to drive around in an old pickup, something that wouldn't draw too much attention. One day she will have a car chase in one of those fancy SUVs, she's sure of it.
After they've showered and returned to their rooms, Cassie joins her on her bed to watch a movie.
"Our first mission," she says giddily.
"Our first mission," Kate repeats, her excitement overpowers her tiredness.
"I almost feel like a real Avenger now," Cassie admits.
Kate agrees. "You were amazing at sitting in a car."
Cassie pushes her shoulder. "Just shut up, and start the movie."
They continue watching over Collins for the whole week. The constant being on alert during the mission combined with the physical training in the evenings is taking its toll on them. It's Friday, the last day of their initial tactical plan. They have decided that if nothing happens today, they will switch up their tactics.
During the week she has started to doubt whether this is even a real mission. It feels a bit too easy and vague. There was no real endpoint. There was nothing they really could screw up. Perhaps they were really just following a random man. Were they even allowed to do that? This morning only contributes to her hesitation about how legit this mission is.
Real or not, they are staked around the corner from Collins' house again. This time, they also have a view of his house.
"Wait, look," Cassie pulls her attention towards the entrance of the gate at Collins' estate again.
"That's strange," Kate mumbles, shifting a bit forward in her seat to get a better overview of the street.
A car passes through the gate. It’s not a car they have seen before, just a sleek Audi. It’s still clearly expensive but draws a lot less attention than the SUV or sports cars they have seen up until now. They get the instruction to start driving, and to make it look like they are just passing by. They do just that and end up being the ones that get behind him on the main road through the town.
Hartley tells them they can follow him for a while without it getting suspicious, it’s a busy road after all. Even though they are just driving slowly behind Collins’ car, Kate’s heartbeat starts to increase. It might still be possible that Collins is only driving somewhere to get some milk or something, but it feels different. And her instincts are usually not wrong.
They are able to follow him until he leaves the town. Just a few minutes out of town, he stops outside of a small park that nobody clearly uses. There are a few benches and some attempts at a playground, but it’s clear that the people that live in the few houses surrounding the park don’t use it much.
“Well, that is not suspicious at all,” Kate mumbles sarcastically. Nobody responds of course.
Cassie parks their car behind a larger pick-up, which hopefully hides them from view. They watch how Collins steps out of his car, and looks around nervously. With his head bowed, he makes his way over to the third bench and sits down.
“They make it almost too easy, how suspicious can one look?” Kate remarks, and this time Cassie has to chuckle.
“He’s basically screaming look at me being a criminal.”
This time, it’s Kate’s turn to laugh, but her laughter quickly fades away when they can see two people approaching him from their side of the park. They are still too far to clearly see if they look familiar. Besides, their back is towards them, so she can’t see their faces.
Cassie communicates this with the rest of the team, while Kate is focused on the scene in front of them. One of the two, a woman with a long black coat approaches the man while the other person turns away and leaves Kate's field of vision. Kate notes how the woman still in view has her dark hair in a bun, and Kate has to admit that she is slightly intoxicated by the woman. She clearly radiates confidence, control and power.
She doesn’t take a seat next to the man but just stands in front of him, breaking the expectations Kate had after watching too many episodes of NCIS. Don’t bad guys always sit on two different benches, one of them reading a newspaper as a front for their meeting?
Well, apparently not.
From this distance, Kate can’t make out what they are discussing, but her attention is on the pair. That is until the third person approaches. Kate lifts up her head a bit more and her mouth slowly falls open.
She would recognize those intricate braids anywhere. The third person, clearly a woman, stands next to the other woman. Her hands are clasped behind her back and she falls into a military stance.
She is standing there stoically but eventually turns her head and Kate’s worst fear has become reality.
She’s looking Yelena straight in her eyes, which she knows are a beautiful colour green, and Kate knows that Yelena has recognized her even from that far away. Yelena is just that good.
Yelena looks away again, says something to the other woman, who in turn says something to the man before abruptly walking away. Yelena doesn’t immediately follow her. She stands there and watches how the man scrambles away.
It’s as if someone has hit a pause button. Yelena staring straight ahead, and Kate’s eyes are trained on the assassin she secretly has missed since their last encounter.
Suddenly, Yelena looks at her again. Their eyes are interlocked for a few seconds, then she winks before following the other woman. It leaves Kate reeling in the car, feeling lost and uncertain.