Chapter Text
Kate felt the knife imbed her before the actual pain.
A curse escaped Kate once she felt the searing pain. The brunette reached for one of her arrows before jamming it into the thug’s thigh. The man yelled in pain and scrambled away. He was the last one left. Kate grinned victoriously, when a burning sensation rippled through her lower abdomen. Kate bit down on her tongue to ground herself, she needed to get herself stitched up.
The archer had endured her share of stab wounds, but it’d never had been jammed so far in. Kate breaths turned shallow, her vision occasionally blurred. She just needed to get home.
The vigilante got off from the wall she was leaning on, but still using it as support. One hand held her left side, trying to keep the bleeding to a minimum. She was obviously failing at that, because her suit had a big red splotch on it and she could feel blood seeping through and travelling down her leg, staining the dirty concrete.
Kate’s scent was obscured by the tangy smell, it was overwhelming, disorienting. She’d smelt blood through out her life, almost always, whether she was fighting in the streets or after a particularly bitter fight with her mom, as a teenager, who ended with her having to clean herself up. God, why was she thinking of that? It’s really not the time. Kate bit the inside of her cheek to distract her from the scorching pain on her left side (and from her thoughts, but she’d never admit that out loud).
Kate realised half way on the insufferable walk back to her apartment that she was dying. The brunette’s blood had painted the side walk all the way to where she was standing, the metallic red drenched her hero suit completely, her vision escaping her. She needed to call for help. Yelena. The chance Yelena was going to answer was slim but better try before dying in an alley.
The archer reached into her pocket to get her cracked phone, her hands shaking, she just now noticed the clamminess. Kate called the assassin’s contact, bringing the phone to her ear. The dial ringing into her ear, uncomfortably loud. Please pick up.. The vigilante let her head hit the wall behind her, holding her up. A voice filtered in.
“The number you’ve called is unavailable at this moment, please leave a message after the beep.”
The woman groaned, What the hell was she going to do..? Kate felt tears stinging the corner of her eyes. No, she’s not dead yet. The archer pushed herself to continue, she was using the wall as a lifeline.
The walk to her apartment was dreadful, Kate only remembers snippets, having blacked out every so often. The archer had to cover her mouth, to restrain her painful groans and heavy breathing from waking up up the whole neighbourhood. Her shuffling in the night had slowed, her pace becoming hard to maintain. The vigilante noticed, under the warm white of the lamp lights, that she’d grown two shades paler.
She’d wished she’d stayed home with Lucky that night because god was the pain was unbearable. The pain became numbing, so constant it was hard to keep up with her own thoughts.
Kate fiddled with her keys, once arrived in front of her loft. Soft scuttling of paws could be heard on the other side of the door.
The door crashed open, Kate had leaned on it while attempting to unlock it. The lights flickered on and the archer took a minute for adjust to the light.
Lucky got closer to her before smelling the scent of iron on her, and recoiling away. At least he won’t get in the way, Kate grimaced at that thought.
Right, bathroom, emergency kit, and a fuck load of pain killers.
Kate hobbled over to the bathroom, crouching down to grab the med kit, She’ll have to buy some new med packs, if she even makes it. Kate swallowed the forming lump in her throat, if she starts crying she won’t be able to fix the gaping wound in her abdomen.
Kate sat down on the floor, her back against the bathtub. The cold floor soothed the pain, her head swirling with, emotions and delirious thoughts. The air felt stuffy and hot, despite it being the middle of winter.
Her carelessness had put her into this mess, and now she was going to bleed out on her bathroom floor, and no one will know she’d died.
Kate tried to thread the sutures into the needle, but her hands were shaking too much and her head was pounding. How could she ever think that she’d survive?
Kate abandoned the needle back into the med pack. She grabbed a nearby towel and held it to the gash.
She doesn’t know how much time passed before she felt the black pit enveloping her, clouding her vision in darkness.