Kate Bishop is practically an Avenger. (hawkeyetoo) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-08-25 12:27:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !partner thread, kate bishop (hawkeye), presto |
Who: Kate and Presto
When: Late August
Where: A random street and then a diner
What: Two heroes foil a crime, and then get some noms; partner thread
Rating/Warnings: PG-13-ish for comic book violence?
Status: Complete!
Presto was out walking, just stretching his legs. He enjoyed getting in some walking whenever he could. Sometimes, he felt he spent his whole life in a computer hub, and he had no problem with that, but he also wanted to be fit, and so he walked. Today was a cool day and he was passing a gym and then crossing past a small store when he heard shouting, and a shot. He ducked down and spotted two men coming out of the store, masks on and guns aggressively thrust out.
Presto swore and looked past them, seeing a small man down and bleeding, and something inside Presto felt like it snapped. He wasn’t sure how it happened, but the next second he was on his feet, and charging and then lunging into the middle of one of the men, head first, and the both of them were on the ground as Presto tried to hit the man.
***
Kate was on her way to her car from the liquor store, and heard the gunshot. So, there were two dudes with guns running away from a crime scene, and a third running toward it? Shit. She threw her purchases into the back of her car and grabbed her bow and quiver.
Two steps from her car and she had an arrow notched. Another step, and it flew.
The second man with a gun had it pointed straight at the interloper. But the arrow was on target. In a flash it struck the man’s hand, and stuck between the bones there, forcing the gun to fall to the ground in the alley.
Kate had a second arrow notched before the metal killing device hit the ground, and was aiming for the first gunman.
***
Presto rolled away from the man he had downed and then looked up in time to see the arrow take the first man’s gun away. “Holy shit.” And then he was staring at the second man and sure he was going to die.
Which was when he remembered one thing he had, a relic of stage magic, his lucky pellet. God knew it would likely not work, but… out of his pocket the black pellet flew, and to the ground in front of him. And he and the man on the ground were enveloped in black smoke, obscuring him from the view of the other man. Grabbing a rock as he ran the opposite direction, he threw it back in the direction he thought the last man was, praying his unknown ally was a better shot than him.
***
Kate was a much better shot, even with dark smoke in the way. Another arrow flew into the dark smoke, and both men were unarmed with bleeding hands. Whatever it was the dudes stole fell to the ground with a clatter. Kate notched another, watching the interloper come staggering out of the alley.
“Get down!” She cried out to him. The plan was to down these two fuckers, wait for the cops, and GTFO before they could get arrested themselves.
The sound of sirens in the distance made Kate’s heart thunder. She really didn’t want to get arrested today.
***
“Okay!” Presto dove out of the way, and crawled toward where he thought she was, the long way around the mess where the people were. Please, god, let her be nice. That had been a female voice, right?
Right. Maybe.
Wow.
He kept crawling, really hoping this crazy adventure was soon about to end. Hearing the police, he crawled faster.
When he spotted someone in the darkness, he stilled and hoped things would be over soon.
***
Kate didn’t like the cloud of angry, black smoke. It was hard to see shit through it, but she aimed and let loose three more arrows. That was a total of five. Hopefully this whole thing would be worth it. Then she saw the interloper crawling toward her. She bent down and grabbed his arm, then pulled him up to his feet and back with her toward her car.
“Get in,” she said, sounding grumpy, and tossed her equipment into the back seat.
***
He didn’t like being grabbed, but one look at her face made him stop even trying to argue. Man…
“Yes, ma’am. Thanks.” Presto slid in and tried to slump down, not wanting anyone to see, and not wanting to piss her off anymore than he apparently already had.
He wasn’t sure he had ever been more frightened in his life, and he wasn’t sure he had done the right thing, getting involved. He had no idea what he had done.
***
Kate turned on the car and pulled quickly out of the parking lot. She drove like a smuggler, keeping to the speed limit and using her turn signal. They passed three police cars on the way away from the scene of the crime.
After a few more blocks were under their belts, Kate calmed down. But she kept checking the rearview.
“What’s your name?” She asked, finally.
***
As she slowed and they got farther away, he slowly sat up normally. “Wow.”
He nodded to her, glancing around, feeling nervous still. “Presto. Completely not a hero, utterly confused, and so very lost. You?”
He really hoped she felt better than him, because, well… “You were awesome back there.”
***
“Presto, huh? Sounds like a superhero name from my crazy Dreams.” Kate said, relaxing even more as they moved away from the scene of the crime. She pulled into a parking lot at a Starbucks.
“I know I was. What on Earth were you thinking?” She asked, turning to the kid once they were safely in the parking space. “You could have been killed.” As if Kate was one to talk. She did all kinds of crazy things herself.
***
“My parents were weird like that. They wanted me to have a unique name, but something easy to remember.” He’d heard the rationale many times as a kid. It didn’t change how he felt somewhat put out at first by it. Later, and now, he liked it.
He scrunched down in his seat more, ducking his head. “I… don’t know.” he flailed a hand, thinking and realized what he had felt. “I just… I got so mad. Here I was, minding my own business, and walking along and those bastards came along and were hurting people and fucking with someone’s livelihood, right out in the open. Like it was nothing at all! I was pissed, and before I knew it, I was running toward them like an idiot.”
It was probably the biggest idiot move he had ever done.
***
“Uh huh.” Kate said, eyes still wide and searching for any sign of trouble. She was slowly calming down, though.
“If you’re really interested in helping people, we can make that happen. But you have to be better prepared for that.” Some kids, man. Unprepared for their chance at being superheroes. It reminded her of her Dreams, and Billy and Teddy. Man, she missed those guys.
“You can’t just run in all willy nilly.” Said the girl who did the same thing all the time.
***
Presto blinked at her, staring. “Me? I dunno. But… how do you be prepared for that?” He flailed a little, unsure, and staring in completely wonder at her.
“Your dreams were about stuff like this?” How did people even deal with that?
“I didn’t mean to.”
***
“Self-Defense Classes to start,” Kate turned off the car and climbed out. They were in front of a gas station, so Kate started into the store. “Yeah, my Dreams are full of this stuff. And… I have no idea, I’m just struggling to get by.”
She held the door open for him and then wandered inside. “You’re fine, kid, you just have to… y’know… take it easy. Be better prepared for it.” She grabbed some Peanut butter M&Ms and moved to the register.
***
“Huhn. I’ve been looking into those, yeah.” He cocked his head to the side, and he followed her, falling in at her side as he listened, and commented. She was way more knowledgeable about this than he could imagine being.
“Huhn. I wonder if I’ll ever be ready.” He loaded up on a dozen things, and then brought out a single black card and handed it to the attendant. He glanced at Kate and nodded. “Least I can do for my hero.” And he said it without teasing, or doubt. She had kicked ass out there, and he would probably be dead if she had not been there.
FIN.