Chapter 2
One, two, three times Kate tried to pick up her phone when it started ringing again and again. Completely sleepy, she opened her eyes just to be able to check the time on the clock: 9 AM.
She cleared her throat for a moment, knew that number perfectly so she took a moment to fake her voice so as not to reveal that she was still asleep.
“Happy New Year, kiddo!” Clint said on the other side when Kate managed to answer, making her smile for a bit. “Still asleep, huh? How was your New Years Eve? Alone in New York, I hope you’re not getting into trouble.”
“Happy New Year to you too, Clint.” She flopped down on the bed again. “It was okay, I had a great time, you wouldn't believe it.”
“Sounds interesting ... but I think, the less I know, the better.” Clint joked, behind him you could hear how his children argued and laughed to decide the plans of the day. “Tell me, are you doing good? I'm surprised I didn't have messages from you, it sounds suspicious. Laura says that when is too silent, kids are doing mischief.”
They both laughed at that, it was something typical of Laura. That woman had been wonderful to her since she had come to her home, same with the kids.
“I just spent the night with a friend and the Pizza Dog, everything has been fine. I’ve behaved well, but I’ve not called you ‘cause I have promised to give you some vacation, remember? Free time after these awful and painful weeks.”
“Thanks for that, kiddo.” Clint said with kindness and after a few moments the doorbell of the house was heard, after a few seconds she noticed how Clint seemed to have changed the tone of his voice. “Listen, kiddo... a friend has arrived, it's something a little bit unexpected ... umh ... I have to go now, but first of all I need to tell you something.”
“Shoot.” She whispered Kate still a little sleepy, her gaze fixed on the ceiling.
“Be very careful, okay? Kingpin is a dangerous man, and although it seems that we have given him a hard time... my advice is to be careful. Umh… When he can't get his hands dirty, he surrounds himself with very dangerous people. Be careful who you surround yourself with, don't make me to go there or send you help. Laura has threatened to do so, but I managed to calm her down. Okay? I trust you.”
“She’s such a mom. You don't have to, I can take care of myself. I'm not a kid, I'm 22.” She exclaimed, though inside she felt a pleasant warmth as she realized Laura and even Clint cared for her. Someone cared about her. “But thank you, I appreciate that.”
“Gotta go, kiddo. Talk to you later, Hawkeye.”
“Bye, hawkeye.” Kate whispered before ending the call. Yawning, she dropped her arm and her phone to the side of the bed. Her gaze never left that spot on the ceiling. What was Yelena doing now? She took the phone from her and decided to send a message.
***
Drops of blood fell slowly on one side of the chair in that messy apartment. They came from a man in his forties, tattoos on his face and some parts of the body that indicated he belonged to a gang or mob, the man remained tied to a chair.
To one side, a blonde girl was watching out the window with a melancholy look on her face. She had not left a trace of her presence in that place. Besides the hits and cuts on his body, the death of that man had been a myocardial infarction. Letal.
Yelena woke up from her thoughts. A notification, few people had that number and one of them was the one she feared.
Kate Bishop: « Hey, you. What are u doing? Are u ok? Wanna do something these days? »
Yelena sighed, leaving that message marked as read but didn’t answer, looking for another person to send a new message.
« Done. » She typed on the keyboard fast to an unknown number, put her phone back in her suit knowing that at that moment her account would be filled with several more zeros. Money was good, she was doing what she knows but... Was that really making her feel whole? The blonde opened the window, letting the breeze of fresh air pass through and without hesitation, she dropped herself again to escape from that scene without leaving any trace of her presence. Just a corpse that she made clear, it looked like a mob job.
***
SOME DAYS LATER...
Days passed, the new year had started with the blonde having completely disappeared. Although Kate wanted to stay out of her way and don't bother, she hadn't resisted sending Yelena a few messages to see if she was okay. Sure she was okay, Yelena was a Black Widow. She could possibly beat the crap out of anything she got in the way.
Day by day, she felt her absence.
“So we had pizza, the best pizza we've ever had in our lives. You know that was pretty good tho. After that we went to Central Park, we drank that cheap vodka, I didn’t know it was cheap! I mean, I was rich I didn’t just… never cared to know about prices, and even much less vodka because I don’t like much drinking and… we said to each other ‘happy new year, Yelena. Happy New Year, Kate blah blah blah’ and then… we kiss. FULLY CONSENT!” She said babbling quickly. “Of course it was… just a New Year kiss, just that. So, she said good night and… poof. She left… as she always do.” Kate said somewhat excited as she was also confused before raising her hands with some exasperation, definitely confused as fuck by the situation.
The brunette waited a moment for her partner to say something but the dog only tilted its head, as if trying to understand what she was saying.
“Yeah, I need to get new friends who can actually answer me when I’m melting in a fucking crisis.” She grimaced. Kate turned to look at the place in front of them, it was time. The sound of the washing machines and dryers running, the lights flickering a bit sometimes.
There were two people in that laundry service room, and one of them was a boy with a hoddie, he had taken his bag with clothes and had left but not before watching Kate from the corner of his eye. A bit weird, maybe.
The other person, an almost 6 feet tall woman with brown hair, in her thirties maybe. Really nice body. She was wearing a black leather jacket, black boots and jeans, that's all she could see from behind. She seemed somewhat distracted trying to find the correct softener, after doing so she put a few dollars into the machine that started working.
Kate ignored her presence, simply walked over to the washing machine and put the basket of clothes next to it. The woman was now shaking her head slowly, Kate could see from the corner of her eye that she was listening to music.
Almost as if she sensed something, Lucky walked up to the woman to sniff around her, especially the sports bag on the side of her dryer. Kate's eyes widened when she saw that, approaching to take the dog away from it, although the pizza dog insisted again which made the stranger remove her earphones. She smiled.
“Don’t do that!” Said Kate very embarrassed trying to take Lucky away, but it was difficult without a leash.
“Oh, don't worry about him. He's so adorable.” The woman said petting the dog, who seemed to have come to sniff her after winning the battle against Kate. “You're the curious type, huh? Such a good boy. What’s its name?” She looked up, Kate could see her better. Hazel eyes and somewhat prominent fangs that could be seen when she smiled, perfect face. A beautiful woman who made the archer babble a bit.
“Pizza Dog.” Kate replied with a small smile, noticing how the woman seemed to melt in the presence of the dog.
“Aww. Pizza Dog? Really?” She giggled before standing up next to Kate. “Interesting name, surely he must have a nice story to tell. And do you have one?”
“What?”
“A name.”
“Oh yeah. I'm sorry, I'm Kate.” She said she quickly holding out her hand. The woman took it without hesitation, holding her gently.
“Nice to meet you, Kate. I'm Aidan.” She introduced herself with a friendly smile and then went back to her place, noticing that the dryer had finished working. “Are you from New York, Kate?”
Kate frowned at her. “What do you mean?”
“You know, everyone here… New York is like a lighthouse. They all seek the light of this city to grow, to shine, to find something better in their lives.” She opened the dryer to remove the clothes slowly. “We are all part of New York, even those of us who were not born here.”
“Yes, I was born here. And where are you from?” Kate asked curiously while she opened the washing machine to drop all her clothes and put it to work.
“Not from here.” She joked with a mischievous grin as she picked up some T-shirts, over one especially a black one which she seemed to fold quite appreciatively before putting it away. Kate couldn't see the logo, just a small part that she felt she saw it somewhere. “But I'm new in town.”
Aidan took her backpack and waved at Lucky with her hand.
“I have to go, I just moved here and I must settle the chaos in my new home.” Aidan took a small card in her jacket and handed it to Kate, who took it somewhat confused. “Sometimes this city makes you feel alone, if one day you feel that way and need something, don't hesitate to ask. Take good care of yourself, Kate Bishop.”
Kate nodded and for a moment somewhat confused staring at the card. Just a number, not even her name. She remained thoughtful until she heard the nose of the door, Aidan was ready to leave but Kate said quickly: “I never told you my lastname.”
Aidan turned around. “I think… yeah, you didn’t.” She said before leaving again, leaving Kate completely confused.
The archer took her clean clothes as fast as she can and left that place with her dog, not quite understanding the situation she had experienced. She was not far from her apartment so she tried to speed up her pace, once inside her apartment she closed and leaned her back against the door, letting her weight fall against it. Kate closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Her mind was a huge question mark right now, not understanding too much the situations that she had been experiencing for weeks. Between Clint, Ronin, Echo and the tracksuits, her mother working with the mob, Kingpin, the money, the lawyers, Yelena, her absence, the new stranger.
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.” The archer repeated trying not to go into crisis, kept her eyes closed and tried to control her breathing. Take a deep breath again, count to three, exhale. “I am okay.”
Kate sighed again, ready to throw herself onto the couch when that voice made her jump. That raspy voice, that sexy russian accent and that way of saying her full name.
“Hello, Kate Bishop.” Yelena said with a beautiful cute smile, although this time she seemed less cocky than the time before.
“Okay. Why does this keep happening to me?” Kate said.