Promise - Kate Bishop

6.1 - Supplies

"Who sent this?" Barton asked after Kate and him had watched the video.

"Yelena," Kate answered. "Apparently my mom is the one who hired her to kill you. She also tried to get her to kill Jasin but since she's her niece she refused."

"Oh, wow." Clint said.

"It doesn't make any sense. My mom doesn't even, she doesn't even jaywalk," Kate said, astonished and confused, voice cracking. "And now she's working with the mob? She killed Armand?"

"My god, I need to talk to her," Kate stood suddenly, walking away from the table and calling her mom.

"Kate, wait. You gotta calm down, okay? Let's talk this out." Clint said, trying to persuade her. Kate groaned, tears springing to her eyes as the call was declined. "Just take a deep breath, okay?"

Kate looked up at him, closing her eyes and swaying side to side, trying to control her emotions. Barton spoke again, "But 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 going to do it in a big way."

"Clint this is my mess to clean up. You should go home, you should be with your family." Kate said. "You can still make it in time for Christmas."

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

"Neither am I," Jasin said, appearing next to Kate, bringing her into a hug. Kate grasped onto the back of Jasin's shirt, letting her tears soak the front of it. Jasin softly rubbed her back and combed through her hair.

"Jasin..." Barton barely whispered, but Jasin heard it. She looked up, seeing his eyes lit up in anger but his face showed he was concerned.

"Katie, go get ready. We're going out." Jasin said, kissing her head and sending her off to the bathroom.

"Jasin, what the hell happened?" Clint questioned softly, rushing over, tenderly touching her neck where angry red marks and purple bruises were forming.

"A lot," Jasin answered, voice shaking as stray tears ran down her face. "It's okay though, it's healing already. It looked way worse a few minutes ago."

"What. Happened." Clint demanded.

"I was in the room when Eleanor was. I heard everything. I confronted him, and you can bet he wasn't too happy with me betraying the organization." Jasin said, releasing a shaky breath. "I hid out in an alleyway, looking into Kingpin's senses. Maya showed up. She figured out the truth after you told her what happened, and now, she's turned against them."

"Well, that's one positive in a bunch of negatives." Barton huffed, Jasin smiling. "Are you okay?"

"After being choked out by a man who is 2% body fat, the rest of him being pure muscle? No way. Will I get over it? Hell yeah." Jasin joked, voice not as strained anymore.

Clint pulled her into a hug, "It's okay to cry. It doesn't mean you're weak, it just means you've been strong for too long."

Jasin laughed, "That is the most original and dad quote I've ever heard. Thanks."

"Anytime, pipsqueak." Barton answered, ruffling her hair.

-Skip-

Jasin and Clint looked at each other, worried. Kate had been silently staring out of the train window for the majority of the ride.

"Kate, I'm really sorry how this has all turned out for you," Barton said sympathetically.

"Well.. Can't think about it right now. We've gotta focus on tonight." Kate said.

"I seriously hate how the longer you hang out with someone the more you sound like them," Jasin growled, glaring accusingly at Clint. Kate gave a small laugh, leaning into Jasin's side, who immediately reacted, wrapping her in her arms.

"You're right though, Kate." Clint confirmed, sighing. "We need a ton of gear."

Jasin gave Clint an amused look. She knew what he was trying to do and he only confirmed it as he kept talking, "Like a whole batch of way-too-dangerous trick arrows."

Kate's head snapped over to his, slightly smiling, "You can make more?"

Clint looked away, looking back with a smirk.

-Skip-

After a long trip to multiple different stores, they had finally made it back to Grill's apartment, where they started the adventure of creating new trick arrows. Clint designed and made the arrows as Kate labeled them. Jasin just sat back with a cup of warm tea, on safety duty. She was there to make sure no one got killed.

"Hey, Kate. Have you seen that pepper spray?"

"Yeah, I've got it. Here." She said, handing it to him.

"Alright. Thanks."

After a few more arrow heads being made, Clint blowing on the smoke, and Kate handing him supplies, the youngest finally spoke, "What is this one?"

"Way too dangerous," Barton answered.

Kate put it down, printing a label that said 'Too dangerous'. Barton unlocked an old case, STARK arrowheads coming into view. Jasin instantly locked her eyes on them.

"These could be yours if you'd like," Clint offered, seeing how she looked at them.

"Don't be dumb, I'm a good shot, but I'd miss. I'll stick to my knives." Jasin laughed.

"What weapon is your go-to weapon?" He asked.

"It's called a claw crescent knife. It has a grip in the middle, it can break into two different blades, and join into one double blade sword. It also can turn into a bow if I need it for a long range attack." She explained. 

Clint nodded, "Will you be using it tonight?"

"You bet." She answered, smirking.

-Skip-

Around 20 arrows had been made now, and there were still more to come. Many more.

"So, this holiday party tonight, is it a fancy thing?" Clint asked.

"Yeah. Formal." Kate answered.

"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 going to do this..." Barton said, exhaling. "I just wanna know you're ready."

Kate looked down, staying quiet for a moment before speaking, "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 is brave enough to do what's right, no matter the cost."

Oh, look, she mentioned when I tried to take over New York, Loki said in a false happy tone, Jasin smiling.

"How are you after the whole... getting choked?" Jasin thought.

I'm... okay. It just brought back unpleasant memories. He answered, Jaisn hummed. You've seen how I died, haven't you?

"Yeah. Quite brutal." Jasin noted, Loki scoffing.

Trust me, I know.

Barton exhaled sharply, smiling. Kate spoke again, "I'm ready."