Chapter Text
Kate Bishop was strong. Constantly working out, shooting her bow, and running across New York made sure of that. So why was she struggling against holding on to a leash, you might ask.
Well it's simple. Lucky was hungry, and he had smelled the pizza shop on their late night walk which he was relentlessly pulling the duo towards.
Sighing, Kate let the one eyed dog lead her to Poppa's Pizzeria, pulling out her wallet in preparation.
"You know, one day I'll learn how to say no to you," she told the golden retriever in defeat.
After paying for their pizza, the archer and her sidekick (she liked to think of Lucky as her sidekick now that she was officially Hawkeye) sat on the cleanest looking bench in Central Park.
Passing a slice of the greasy greatness to Lucky, the dog nearly took her pinky off in his excitement, causing Kate to let out a small laugh.
"You act like I don't feed you," she told him, gently patting his head as she dug into her own slice of pizza and pulled her phone out.
She doesn't know what she was hoping for, but no notifications or texts was disappointing.
Kate knew that Clint was busy being a father and husband, but it had been two weeks since they last spoke and she had been hoping for at least a text from her mentor, especially as it was almost Christmas time.
Thinking back on the last year, the brunette didn't expect it to be this lonely. She shouldn't be surprised though, since it was her own fault.
Her mother was in prison, due to herself, which she doesn't regret, but the loneliness still sucked.
The bitter cold air was causing her fingers to numb as she slipped the phone back into her pocket and stood up, tugging on the leash a bit.
"C'mon buddy, time to go home before we both get sick. Besides, I have a busy day tomorrow. With meetings at Bishop Security, then my shift at FEAST, I'm gonna have to ask Grills if he could stop by and let you out," she told her best friend.
He replied by licking her hand, his warm tongue bringing slight feeling back to her fingers.
As the two walked back towards Kate's apartment, which was only about 10 minutes away, the archer felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, an uneasy feeling settling in her stomach.
Out of the corner of her eye she could see a group of men following behind her. It didn't take a genius to figure out what their intention was, and Kate was proven right when she noticed the few weapons they carried discreetly.
It shouldn't surprise her. Kate has made many enemies over the last 11 months, the biggest one being Wilson Fisk.
After the Christmas fiasco with Clint, Kate had spent the holiday with the Bartons. It had been great to take her mind off what went down with her mother and Fisk, but she had to face reality sooner or later.
When she returned to New York, she wasted no time in moving her apartment into a more beat up part of town, hoping that the rundown neighborhood would pay her no mind. Which they didn't, making her night job as a vigilante much easier.
Kate had set her sights on tracking down Fisks hideouts and employees, knowing that if she couldn't find the murderous man himself, she could at least make his job a hell of a lot harder.
Deciding that Lucky was her priority at the moment, the brunette decided to drop his leash as they rounded a corner.
"Just give me a minute buddy, don't run off," she whispered, giving him a gentle pat before turning around.
The men, which she could now see was a group of five, continued walking towards her, pulling out their weapons now that they were made.
One of them stepped in front of the others, a large knife held by his side as he spoke.
"You'll fetch a pretty price when we turn you into our boss, Kate Bishop," he snarled, clenching his frozen red hands.
Seeing the sharp weapon he held, Kate was suddenly very aware that she had no weapons on herself. This wouldn't be easy, but it didn't matter. She's been in a few worse situations over the last year.
"Just to be super clear, you do realize there's only five of you, right?" She stated, assessing the rest of the group.
The apparent leader was the only one with a knife, but the other four were slightly bigger and their hands were adorned with brass knuckles.
All she has to do was disarm the knife and avoid getting decked in the face. This would be simple. Hopefully.
Her martial arts instincts kicked in as she took a defensive stance as the men started circling her.
"You're just a little girl, I'm sure we can handle you," one of the other men said, suddenly lunging forwards.
Kate didn't hesitate to sidestep him, locking her leg behind his and tripping him. He went flying to the ice covered pavement and slid a few feet away, the others jumping all at once.
Two fists flew at her face from different directions as the archer dropped into a low crouch, sticking her leg out and sweeping the feet of the closest man before jumping up and uppercutting the other one, causing both to join their friend on the ground.
The leader of the group yelled as he stabbed at the brunette, the reflection of his knife giving Kate a warning of the imminent danger as she grabbed for his arm.
"Why can't we just talk about his like civil people?" She huffed, her breath visible in the chilly air as her hand wrapped around the man's wrist, her elbow connecting with his throat a moment later.
Her triumph was short lived when she felt hot white pain explode in her temple, momentarily causing her vision to blur. Before the last man knew what hit him, he was on the ground cradling his now broken arm.
The leader of the group, still choking for air, stabbed at Kate again, managing to slice through her heavy winter coat and draw blood on her shoulder.
She winced at the pain but didn't let it stop her from grabbing his arm once again, this time twisting it until she heard a sickening crack, letting the man fall to the ground in pain.
The other three men she managed to slow down were now back on their feet, circling her once again, debating about how best to approach her.
Just as one of them stepped towards Kate, a low growl was heard from her left followed by a shout of pain as Lucky latched his teeth into his leg.
"Fuck! Fuck that hurts, let go you stupid mutt!" He shouted as he fell, trying desperately to kick at the archers sidekick.
Kate's lips turned up in a small smile, pride filling her chest. She would make sure Lucky got pizza for breakfast as well.
The last two men now looked nervous. Obviously this wasn't going to plan. They looked to each other before looking at their friends on the ground. Then they took off, helping the others as best they could.
Lucky was still tearing into the leg of the last man left behind.
"Lucky!" Kate shouted to her best friend, causing the dog to run to her side, licking his lips as he snarled one last warning to the man who was scrambling to stand.
As he limped in the opposite direction he called out over his shoulder.
"You'll get what's coming to you, Kate Bishop!"
Kate let them go, not wanting to fight again. Especially with Lucky in harms way. With a deep sigh, she bent down to pick up his leash again.
"You're such a good boy, you know that?" She praised her companion, rubbing her aching fingers through his soft fur. "That was stupid, but brave. Let's go home, yeah? I'll give you the leftover pizza for breakfast," she promised.
Glancing over her shoulder once more, Kate and Lucky made their way home, the night air soothing her pounding head.
As soon as the duo walked in the front door to their run down apartment, Kate could tell something was off.
The warm air hit her face, a welcome relief, but her eyes scanned the open kitchen/living room of her entryway, trying to figure out what was off.
It didn't take long until her nose picked up the smell of macaroni and cheese.
That's when she saw her.
Blonde hair cascading down her shoulders and wearing an old fencing hoodie of Kate's from high school stood a certain Russian assassin.
The blonde didn't bother turning around from the stove as Kate closed the front door with a deep sigh. Something told her that this night was far from over.
She hadn't seen Yelena in over 3 weeks, the Russian having set off for a mission somewhere across the country. Yelena didn't give her any specifics, stating it was safer for Kate to not know anything, but it still worried the archer.
After returning from the Bartons farm last Christmas Kate was surprised to find Yelena in her brand new apartment a few weeks later. The blonde stated she needed a place to crash for a couple weeks, which the brunette was about to deny, but thought "What the hell, why not?"
A couple weeks turned into a couple months. Kate wished she could say that her and Yelena had time to hang out and get to know each other, but with the younger woman taking over her mother's business and the older woman always on missions, they hardly saw the other.
It wasn't like Kate minded the company, especially since she realized her best friend was a dog, but Yelena was definitely a ghost. Here one minute, gone the next.
They had a few fun weeks together here and there, with Kate showing the other woman around New York and even going out for those drinks they talked about. But other than that, she didn't know much about the blonde.
"Kate Bishop! You're finally home from work. I hope you didn't get a paper cut from pushing papers all day long," the assassin greeted, still not turning around.
Kate scoffed at the woman, unclipping Lucky's leash as the golden retriever ran across the room to greet his old friend.
Whenever Yelena stayed at the apartment, Lucky always ended up in the guest bedroom with the blonde. Kate even caught the two cuddling one night and thought of taking a cute picture, but was worried Yelena would murder her if she found out.
"Well the paper pushing is what pays for this place, so it's worth a few papercuts," she responded, shedding her jacket and hanging it up. She noticed the blood soaking through her sleeve and decided to take a quick peak to make sure it didn't need stitches.
It wasn't as deep as she thought it was, but she couldn't tell if it needed stitches or not. Regardless, it needed cleaning.
Making her way to the bathroom she quickly got her first aid kit before heading back to the kitchen table and sitting down.
Yelena finished with her cooking and turned around just as Kate discarded her sweatshirt on the ground.
Kate watched the blondes face go from excited to shocked in less than a second at the blood flowing freely down her arm.
"What happened?" She asked, quickly putting her favorite food down and rushing to Kate's side for a closer look. "I was kidding about the papercut Kate Bishop."
The girl in question laughed before wincing, realizing now that the left side of her face felt slightly swollen. She just knew that it was going to bruise.
"A few men jumped me, I think they might've belonged to Fisk. With my mother's trial coming up in a couple months, it wouldn't surprise me."
Yelena took the disinfectant from the brunettes slightly shaking hands, not knowing if it was from the cold weather or pain or both. Leaning in, the blonde pinched the skin on the shoulder, causing a bit of blood to pour out.
"It's not too deep, but I should probably stitch it just in case," she told the younger woman, getting a needle prepped.
Kate winced slightly when the needle entered her skin, but this wasn't this first time she's been stitched up.
To say the last year has been brutal is an understatement. Starting with the fact that Bishop Security belonged to her, yet the board members were hesitant at letting such a young woman take over. Kate knew she could run the company, she's learned alot from her mother. There was also the fact that the police were reluctant to let her take over, knowing what her mother had done.
In the end, Kate won the company over and they allowed her to become the new CEO as long as she had help. Which is where Jack came into her life. Even after everything that had happened, he decided to stick around and become Kate's personal assistant in running the security company, which she could never express how grateful she was for his help.
Jack even celebrated the holidays with his almost step daughter, the two of them becoming closer over the year. He was a good man and not at all the monster Kate thought he was.
No, the monster ended up being her own mother, a thought that kept her up at night sometimes. For the most part, Kate tried to push that thought to the back of her mind, stowing it away for later. Although later never came, as she never addressed the fact that her mother is in prison because of her.
She's tried on more than a few occasions to speak to her mother, but Eleanor Bishop wasn't interested in seeing her daughter. Which Kate couldn't say she was surprised, but the fact that her own mother wouldn't see her still sucked.
Then there was her nighttime job as the new Hawkeye. She hasn't had any adventures as crazy as the one with Clint, but she was certainly busy.
Tracking down Kingpins storehouses and operations around the city was surprisingly time consuming. Between running a company and being a full time hero (although she was never addressed in the news like other big heros like Spider-Man and the new Captain America), Kate had hardly anytime for sleep.
Not that she minded. It kept her mind off the loneliness and emptiness that consumed her.
A sharp tug of pain brought her back to the present as Yelena finished the stitches and gently taped a bandage over the wound, causing the archer to flinch.
"Thanks, Yelena. How was your mission?" She asked, changing the topic as she walked towards the stairs that led to her bedroom loft.
Yelena started cleaning up the bloody mess at the table before answering.
"It was good. My mother, father and I finally freed the last Widow. At least the last one that we know about. I went back to Ohio for a week to celebrate with them," she said, a fond smile crossing her lips.
Kate smiled at that, glad at least one of them had made significant progress in their goals, before heading upstairs.
"I'm gonna shower and change quick, then I'll join you."
There was no answer as Kate finally made it to her messy and clustered room. She really needed to find time to do some laundry, she thought as she stripped down and hopped in the shower.
The warm water was just what she needed to chase the rest of the cold New York weather out of her system. She took care to avoid the stitches on her arm, wincing as she gently prodded the side of her face.
The smell of food is what eventually convinced Kate to get out of the shower, her stomach rumbling in protest even though she just had some pizza. She could always eat, especially if it was Yelena.
Her face flushed at that thought before she corrected herself. Especially if it was with Yelena.
Wrapping her towel around herself, Kate wiped the steam off her mirror and almost gasped at the sight that greeted her.
The left side of her face was already a deep black and blue, the outline of brass knuckles evident.
She silently cursed to herself, noting that she needed to be more aware in the future and maybe start carrying the collapsible sword that Clint had gifted her. His words rang through her head.
"For emergencies only, Kate. It's good to have something concealable yet deadly."
Yea, she definitely needed to started taking the sword with her.
Quickly changing into some worn down sweatpants that have seen better days and a purple t-shirt, she brushed her hair before making her way down the stairs again.
Yelena was sat at the dinner table, some files strewn about, her eyes finding Kate's as she finally sat down.
"Brass knuckles?" The blonde asked with a raised eyebrow.
"That obvious, huh?" Kate questioned back, scooping some food onto her plate, suddenly famished. She noted that Yelena had automatically set the table for two, her heart warming a bit at the familiarity of the gesture.
"Maybe next time you should dodge the knuckles, Kate Bishop," Yelena teased, helping herself to some food as well now that the two of them were sat down.
"It was either the knuckles to the head or a knife to the heart," the brunette shot back in defense, before nodding to the files on their dinner table. "What're those?"
Yelena let out a long sigh through pursed lips, picking up one of the files in question.
"This would be all the leads I have on Wilson Fisk," she stated simply.
Kate paused for a moment, glancing at the older woman with a questioning look.
The past year, Yelena and herself had always kept their missions separate. The blonde was always in another state or country for her missions, while Kate was typically in New York. There was this one time she ended up in Vermont following a lead, but that's the furthest she's traveled away, unless it was for business with Bishop Security.
It was an unspoken agreement between the duo that they would work separate, their respective missions completely unrelated. Occasionally they would sit together and go over leads and evidence they had, an extra set of eyes never hurting. But they had never physically worked together.
"What?" Kate asked through a mouthful of macaroni.
"Close your mouth Kate Bishop, didn't your mother teach you to never speak while chewing food?" The blonde teased again.
An awkward moment passed between the duo at the mention of Eleanor, before Kate quickly closed her mouth, swallowing her food and clearing her throat.
"What are you doing snooping around Wilson Fisk?" She asked, this time with an empty mouth.
"Well seeing as I'm now currently free, I figured I would help you," the blonde stated, almost a nervous pitch to her voice. "If you'd like, at least. It'd be much better than you getting yourself killed and then having Clint on my ass."
Kate scoffed at that. She could handle herself just fine, thank you. Sure she's gotten a few injuries over the last year, but nothing more serious than some stitches now and again. And a concussion. And perhaps a broken bone or two. But that was besides the point.
She didn't need Yelena's help. It would be appreciated, sure, but not necessary.
"I've been handling myself just fine, Yelena," she stated her thoughts before quickly adding, "I wouldn't be opposed to some help though."
Yelena gave a sly smile at the latter half of that statement, sitting up straighter in her chair.
"Yes, yes, you can obviously handle yourself Kate Bishop. Your face definitely agrees with you," she laughed, pointing to the bruise. "But I'm serious. I'm free, and I'd definitely love to see more of New York, but there's no sense in that in my friend is dead."
Kate felt butterflies in her stomach at that.
Friends.
It was nice to know that the blonde thought of her as a friend.
Now she could say that she had a friend around her age. Not her almost step father, or her golden retriever. Not her personal assistant at the office. But an actual friend.
"Ya'know, we've already established that you know who I am. Why do you keep calling me by my full name?" The archer asked with a teasing smile, hoping that she wasn't blushing at the fact that they were friends.
Yelena looked to be in thought for a moment, her fork held above the plate.
"I guess it's just a habit by this point," she shrugged, finishing her bite of food.
Kate sighed before reaching for the files on the table. They ate the rest of their meal in silence while the brunette went over the leads Yelena had managed to find.
It seemed she had managed to gather invoices and incoming ship logs from a shipping company by the docks. Crowns Shipping Incorporated was a familiar name to Kate and it only took her a few seconds to realize that Bishop Security uses them to ship their larger products.
Based off the invoices gathered it seems that Crowns Shipping has been receiving more shipments than they were logging in the book. This could be how the new drug named Gloss has been hitting the New York streets. Interesting.
"Well? Do you know anything about this?" Yelena asked after a few minutes of silence.
"Yeah, actually I have a theory. I've been hitting the streets a lot lately and there's this new drug called Gloss. NYPD can't figure how it's hitting the streets so fast and hard, but this has Fisk written all over it," she answered, both woman standing up and cleaning the table.
"Who names a drug Gloss? I swear, you Americans are so weird," Yelena said, bagging up the extra food and putting it in the fridge.
"You don't have to tell me," Kate whispered. "It's not good news though. The death toll for the drug is in the hundreds as of last week."
"Well what does it do?"
Kate thought for a moment, trying to recall what she'd learned about the new mysterious drug last week.
"From what I've gathered, it's a party drug. It enhances your senses and nerves. The gangs on the streets have been using it for torture though, seeing as it enhances the way you feel pain. College kids have been using it to have, uhm, intercourse," she explained, remembering how she had to convince her old college friends to stay away from the drug.
Yelena snorted as she closed the dishwasher.
"You can say sex, Kate. We're both adults," the assassin teased once again.
Kate felt her cheeks flush slightly. The blonde had a point. It wasn't that she was embarrassed to say the word sex to the older woman, but the Yelena and sex in the same thought didn't bode well for Kate's dreams.
"I know," she squeaked in response. "Anyways, this is a good lead. Where did you find it?"
Kate watched as the other woman paused and looked directly into her eyes. Green met blue, and for a moment Kate seemingly forgot how to breath before Yelena spoke lowly.
"You probably don't want to know the answer to that," she said before walking towards her bedroom, the moment gone just as fast as it came. "It's late, Kate Bishop. Get some sleep and we can investigate in the morning."
"Alright, and Yelena?" She called, causing the older woman to pause in the doorway to the guest bedroom. "It's nice to have you back."
Yelena didn't answer with words, but the small smile she gave in return was enough.
And just like that, all the loneliness left Kate at once.