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━━━━━━━━☆★☆━━━━━━━━
Opening his eyes, Heather slightly groans feeling groggy. He finds himself laying on the bed of the guest bedroom. It's night time. He can literally see the stars night sky blinking at him through the window.
The floor is cleaned stainless even though his clothes are bloody. His own blood. It makes him cringe.
Heather rubs his face feeling overwhelming with the weight of his past memories. The darkest part of his life. Triggering his memories is a mistake. Something that shouldn't be done. Clint was right. He should've stayed away from the blonde Widow he adores for life. But it's too late now and he already screwed up.
What is he going to say to Clint? That Yelena seduced him to her fancy penthouse and cornered him to remember his crappy past?
Heather groans once again into his hands, waiting for a miracle explanation to fall off the sky.
"Hello to you too." Clint walks in with a tray of food and sets it on the younger Barton brother's lap. "Tell me everything."
Heather sighs with a grimace. But begins to explain the whole situation from beginning to end leaving out the part of his intimate experience with Yelena.
When he's done, he looks at Clint Barton, who is surprisingly silent all this time. There's no disappointment or any lecture. It's like Clint expected him to screw up.
"Why did you take me in, Clint?" Heather speaks up, cutting the thick silence. "I'm not a saint. I have done far worse things in my life. The kind of things I can’t even speak without feeling disgusted with myself."
Clint exhales sharply. "After our parents died, Charles and I, we grew up together. I loved him to the point where I blindly ignored his dark side. No matter what, he was my brother. But later, we split up when we realised our thoughts weren't matching. He became a killer. I joined the S.H.I.E.L.D. I tried to stop him, tried to tell him he was going in the wrong path. But it's too late for him. He's not my brother anymore. He can't be saved. I had to give up."
"He chose to be bad. You didn’t have any choice. And I know everything, Hedeon. I know what you did." Clint continues and pats on Heather's knee as an attempt of comfort. "What has happened has happened. You can't change the past. Don't let your past define you. You're a good man. And you always will be my annoying little brother. Blood or not."
Heather gives his brother a crooked grin. "You love me?"
"I hate you." Clint grumbles, trying to keep up a straight face even though the corner of his lips are already twisting into a smile. "Now eat the damn food and get your lazy ass up, dipshit."
"You don't wanna talk about what just happened?" Heather asks, his grin still on full display.
"What are you talking about?" Clint questions confusedly.
"We had a moment."
"We didn't have a moment."
"No, we had a moment." Heather remarks, not willing to give up the bickering which causes the elder Barton brother to give up with a loud sigh.
Next day, there’s only more bad news after that, as via some shocking texts, Yelena informs Kate that she took her advice and looked into who hired her. That said, she felt Kate deserves to know that her mother Eleanor hired her who just so happens to be working with 'Kingpin.'
When Derek Bishop died as a casualty of the Battle of New York, Eleanor found herself drowning in her late husband’s debt with Wilson Fisk. The only way to pay it off, and make a life for her and Kate, was to work alongside the man known as Kingpin.
Eleanor could have kept this under wraps, but unfortunately, Yelena has obtained a video of their meeting, which she sends along to Kate which obviously proves that throughout the years, Eleanor has done what Fisk has wanted, including killing Armand Duquesne III and framing her fiancé Jack Duquesne, but now wanting to quit since Eleanor is worried about Kate’s safety.
"Kate, wait. You gotta calm down, okay? Let’s talk this out." Heather says to Kate, who is undoubtedly freaking out, pacing around the living room. "Just take a breath, okay?"
"Your mom needs our help. That video, Kate, it’s not good. The Kingpin will not take this lightly. He is going to react, and he’s gonna do it in a big way." Clint declares.
"Clint, this is my mess to clean up." Kate tells, looking between the Barton brothers. "You should go home, you both should be with your family. You can still make it in time for Christmas."
"Kate, you’re my partner. Your mess is my mess." Clint states with a serious expression. "I’m not going anywhere until this is finished."
Heather walks with his morning black coffee into the room where Kate and Clint are working on making a batch of new trick arrows. He stops at Clint's chair and holds up his mug to take a sip of his black coffee. "Sorry, can I bother you for a moment?"
Clint looks up from his work. "Yeah, sure. what's up?"
"Nothing. Just wanted to bother you." Heather shrugs, moves to the empty chair and takes a seat, gaining a glare from Clint. But then again, something interesting catches his supersoldier sight.
A retractable blade. More like Ronin's sword. The sword is incredibly sharp and displays a unique construction, similarly towards a modern sword appearance. However, the sword does not have a fuller or back bevel. The entire back section of the blade is nearly empty with the exception of a series of vertical bars, rendering it little more than its cutting edge. The blade also retracts into the hilt for efficient storage, not dissimilar to Clint's collapsible recurve bow.
"Woah." Heather awes at the blade, taking it and swinging it in one hand efficiently. "This shit is crazy. Can I have this?"
"You can keep it." Clint approves to the former Destroyer's satisfaction before he turns to Kate. "So, this, uh, this holiday party tonight, is it a fancy thing?"
"Yeah. Formal." Kate confirms with a nod.
"You know, you don’t have to do this. It is part of the job. It’s always inconvenient. It’s lonely. You will get hurt. Heroes have to make some tough decisions. So, if you’re gonna do this… I just wanna know you’re ready." Clint says, a hint of worry laced in his voice.
"When I was younger, aliens invaded. And I was alone. And I was terrified. But then I saw you, fighting aliens with a stick and a string. I saw you jump from that building even though you can’t fly, even though you don’t have superpowers. And I thought, 'If he could do that, then I didn’t have to be scared.' You showed me that being a hero isn’t just for people who can fly or shoot lasers out of their hands, it’s for anyone, who’s brave enough to do what’s right, no matter the cost." Kate says, nostalgia dripping her eyes at the memories of the battle of New York. "I’m ready."
Clint smiles giving a proud look at the girl and opens his mouth to encourage her. But quickly cut off by his annoying little brother.
"You guys are breaking walls. It's healing. It's important." Heather says and notices the two archers now giving him this look that makes him let out a nervous chuckle. "I ruined the moment."
"Yes, you did." Kate admits.
"I'm gonna make some more coffee." Heather grabs his empty mug and the sword before rushing out the room. "And thanks for the sword, bro!"
