chasing waterfalls [Peter Parker]

~70~

A few days later, I was doing some last minute Christmas shopping with Lily. Even though I had bought presents for everything, I still felt like I was missing someone. As we were walking back to Lily's house, my phone rang. I checked the number, and it was Clint.

"Hey Clint, how's the movie marathon?" On the other end, I heard Clint.

"I'm actually still in the city. I sent the kids home." I raised an eyebrow. Why would Clint still be in the city?

"Okay, well, what's up?" Clint sighed.

"I need your help." I nodded.

"With what?"

"It's a long story, but..." He hesitated for a second. "Someone hired a Black Widow assassin to kill me." My eyes widened and I almost dropped my phone. Next to me, Lily stopped walking.

"Nix, you okay?" My breathing was getting quicker.

"Okay. Where should I meet you." Clint gave me an address and I hung up the phone. I turned to Lily. "I gotta go." Lily nodded.

"I'll see you at home." I plugged in the address in my phone and headed over to meet Clint. When I got to the address, I knocked on the door. The door opened and on the other side of it was a brunette girl not much older than me. I tilted my head, not sure if I was in the right place.

"Hi?" The girl asked.

"Hi..." I looked around the girl. "Um... is Clint Barton here?" Behind the girl, I heard Clint's voice.

"I'm in here, Nixie." The girl looked back at Clint, then moved over to let me in. I walked in to see Clint sitting at a table with some guy and a dog.

"Who are these guys?" Clint sighed.

"This is Grills." He pointed to the guy, who waved at me. I nodded, looking back at Clint. "He's been helping us out." The girl sat down at the table, leaving one empty chair. I sat down to join them. "And this is Kate Bishop." I recognized the last name.

"Bishop? Like Bishop Security." The girl nodded.

"Yup. That's my mom's company." I smiled.

"I'm Nixie Romanoff." Kate's eyes widened. She looked at Clint. "So..." I turned my attention to Clint. "You said you needed my help?" Clint nodded.

"Yeah, last night, we were trying to find information on the tracksuit mafia." I tilted my head. Tracksuit mafia? "And we were attacked by this woman."

"And then she broke in to my apartment to talk to me." Kate continued. "And she said she was here to kill Clint, and then..." She looked down, as if she was holding something back.

"What?" I asked, and she sighed.

"She said she was Natasha's sister." My stomach dropped. Other than me, there was only one person who Nat considered her sister. I looked at Clint.

"Yelena?" He nodded, seeming to know this already. I guessed Kate already told him. "Yelena is the assassin hired to kill you?" I sat back in my chair. "Wow."

"Yeah. I know it's a lot." Clint said. I sighed.

"No kidding." I looked at him. "Okay. I'll help." Next to me, Kate's phone chimed. She picked it up and looked at it, and her face looked the same as mine did five seconds ago. Clint seemed to notice her expression.

"What is it?" Kate said nothing, just stared at her phone as texts came in. "Kate?" She put the phone on the table, passing it to Clint.

"Look at this. Who's that with my mom?" Clint looked at her phone, scratching his chin. After a second, he looked up at her.

"Well that's the guy I've been worried about this whole time. Kingpin." He gave Kate the phone back, and she played the video on the phone. "Who sent this?" Clint asked. I looked over Kate's shoulder at the video. I had never seen the guy before, but I've only been fighting crime for about three years minus the blip. Kate sighed.

"Yelena." She looked at Clint. "Apparently my mom is the one who hired her to kill you." Clint sighed.

"Oh wow." Kate looked like she was starting to spiral.

"It doesn't make any sense. My mom doesn't even, she doesn't even jaywalk. And now she is working with the mob? She killed Armand?" I was a bit confused on the Armand part. Kate stood up. "My God, I need to talk to her." Clint stood up to try to stop her from leaving.

"Kate, wait. You gotta calm down, okay. Let's talk this out."

"Yeah, if your mom is working with the mob, the last thing you want to do is confront her." I added on. Kate looked at the two of us, calling her mom.

"Just take a breath, okay." Clint tried to calm her down. "But your mom needs our help. That video, Kate, it's not good." Kate sighed. "The Kingpin will not take this lightly, he's going to react. And he's going to do it in a big way." Kate put her phone down.

"Clint, this is my mess to clean up. You should go home, you should be with your family. You can still make it home in time for Christmas." She turned to me. "And you should go, too. You did not need to get roped into this." Clint shook his head.

"Kate, you're my partner. Your mess is my mess. I'm not going anywhere until this is finished." I nodded.

"And you guys asked for my help with Yelena. So I'm staying too."