Promise - Kate Bishop

2.4 - Bandages

"Any luck?" Jasin asked, noticing Clint reentering their 'safe house'.

"No." He replied.

"But you have a lead?" Jasin questioned.

Clint merely gave her a look. Jasin hummed in interest, soon listening into Kate's conversation with her mother once again.

"I was so scared. What happened to you?" Eleanor, her mother said.

"Nothing. I went out the back." She answered simply, looking up at the movement of Clint.

"Hey." She greeted with a slight crack in her voice, causing Jasin to raise an eyebrow at her. Kate was also holding a frozen pizza box to her head, using it as a mock ice pack.

"Hey." Clint greeted back, but with a rougher edge, obviously still frustrated with not finding the suit.

"That was crazy. An explosion? Some kind of black market auction?" Her mother said in concern again. Kate looked at her phone in a mix of sadness and annoyance.

"I gotta go. Love you." She said, voice cracking again.

"I love you too." Eleanor responded, Kate ending the call right after.

"Since when did everybody start saying, 'I love you,' to everybody all the time?" Clint questioned.

"That was my mom." Kate clarified.

"Since when did your heart shrink three sizes?" Jasin fired back, holding out her hand for a high five from Kate, who did indeed return the gesture.

"When a little girl in a ninja costume and her weirdly trained friend stole my Christmas." Clint answered.

All of them let out a sigh of frustration, Clint sitting in a chair in the kitchen, going to clean his own minor injuries. Kate stood up walking over to him with the box still on her head.

"What?" Clint asked.

"Multitasking." She answered simply, motioning towards the box. Clint hummed in confusion. "Reducing swelling, thawing out Pizza Dog's breakfast."

"Is that the dog's name?" Clint questioned, pouring rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab.

"He doesn't have a name yet." Jasin answered from the couch.

"It's more of a title of nobility." Kate announced. "Like Earl of Sandwich."

"How's your wounds?" He asked Kate.

"Uh, alright. It still hurts a little bit." Kate answered honestly.

"I'm doing just peachy, thanks for asking." Jasin said sarcastically. Kate set the pizza box down, Clint looking up at her.

"Oh. Shit." He growled in frustration. This caused Kate to look up in alarm and Jasin to immediately stand from the couch and walk over.

"What?" Both girls questioned.

"Did you clean it?" Clint asked, meaning Kate's cut on her temple.

After a pause she responded, "Yeah."

"You did it all wrong." Jasin stated bluntly.

"Let me fix it," Clint said, standing up.

"You're taking it off?" Kate questioned.

"Duh, it's on wrong." Jasin said.

"I'm just going to rip it off like a Band-Aid, okay?" Clint said, Kate nodding. "Ready? One-"

Rip!

Kate groaned and glared at Jasin, "You prick."

Jasin merely shrugged, moving to throw the bandage away whilst Clint grabbed a q-tip with rubbing alcohol and cleaned her cut, causing her to whine in discomfort.

"You don't want this getting infected, it'll ruin your week." Clint spoke. "Oh. That's actually not so bad. Okay."

"It's a deep scratch." Jasin spoke, grabbing another bandage to put back on. "You want these perpendicular to it, you wanna close it. This is helping it cinch so it can mend to each other faster."

As Jasin explained, she placed the bandage perpendicular to the cut, soon asking, "All good?"

"Yeah. Mhm." Kate answered, pausing before looking at Clint. "So, how's my place?"

"Crispy." Clint replied, Jasin chuckling at the word choice.

"Did you get the suit?" Kate asked seriously.

"No." He answered.

"But you have a lead?" Kate questioned, Jasin smirking at Clint who looked between the two females.

"What makes you say that?" Clint asked, looking around, his eyes catching a paper. "What's this?"

"Oh, I started to describe, um, what I could remember of the Tracksuits' faces." Kate answered, Jasin peering over Clint's shoulder to get a better look.

"I guess you aren't an art major." Clint and Jasin spoke, turning to each other in shock. Both soon shaking their heads and chuckling.

"Okay." Kate said, throwing her hands up. "I would offer to buy you a hotel, 'cause from certain angles, I know this looks like all my fault. Um, but my mom canceled all my credit cards due to an incident."

"That's not going to be necessary. I'm just going to be another minute, kid." Clint answered.

"Okay, thank you for..." Kate let off, pointing to her new bandage, and walked towards a random room. "I'll um, see you tomorrow, I guess."

Jasin and Clint shared a look of confusion, why was she suddenly so upset? Clint pulled Jasin by her arm and whispered to her, "Keep an eye out for her. She's still just a kid."

Jasin nodded in agreement, heading after Kate. Clint settled himself in a chair in the living room, starting research on his lead. The NYC Larpers.

"Oh, god." Clint murmured, not looking forward to any future events that are bound to happen with this group. Scrolling through, he pressed on a video uploaded not so long ago with a very familiar hood located on someone's head.

People always like, "Grills, when you gettin' a new costume? Your costume looks pretty bad." How about now? You see me? When you see me sneakin' and creepin', it's too late. You're already dead. Ninja style.

Clint dropped his phone in his lap, "Oh, shit."

He looked sadly into nothing before texting his middle child, and only daughter: Pack and be ready to go tomorrow in a few hours kiddo. On my way!

Putting his phone in between his legs, he shook his head. The dog came over, sensing his frustration, and licked his hand, causing Barton to pet him.

Barton chuckled before speaking to the dog, "I'll be back in the morning, buddy. You're a good dog."

He turned slightly, to see if anyone was watching him, only to be spooked by Jasin staring directly at him.

"Creeper." He stated, looking back at the dog and smiling. "Did you figure out what was up with her?"

"No. She found a spare room and knocked out. My guess is she's stressed and traumatized. She did see a dead body." Jasin said.

"Yet you seemed unfazed by it." Clint stated, looking her in the eyes. "Why?"

It wasn't a question. It was a question disguised as a demand. She stared back with a challenging gaze, soon sighing.

"It'll be explained soon enough, but as of right now, it would interfere with everything too much. I'll wait till things aren't as stressful to explain." She said, causing Clint to sigh in aggravation.

"Will you at least give me a hint?" Clint asked, almost desperate.

Jasin stared at him long and hard, soon replying, "I was once someone's daughter, but one day I was either left, forgotten, or abandoned."

Clint's eyes widened, realization setting in, "Oh."

A heavy silence filled the air, only being broken by Jasin's long sigh, "I'll see you tomorrow Clint. Goodnight."

"Night," Clint answered, getting up and leaving. Once he had shut the door, Jasin made sure to lock it. She sat down on the couch where she previously talked with Clint. Pulling out her phone, she opened it up and smirked at the red dot moving slowly down the road.