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Kate’s been an official resident of Hell’s Kitchen for…twelve hours? And already her sources are telling her that there’s weird shit going down.
Vigilante weird.
Okay, so her sources are her neighbor ladies, Mrs. Orlov—downstairs--and Mrs. Liu--across the hall. She’s not a magician, she hasn’t even unpacked yet and she can’t really talk. She will gladly take information from whoever’s willing to give it to her right now, particularly when it literally lands on her doorstep. Never let it be said that Hawkeyes can't take hints from the universe.
This is what she knows:
Ana Orlov--Mrs. O’s daughter-- was saved from being stuffed into a shipping container and sold to who the hell knows earlier tonight. She’d gone to the cops and, as Kate makes the three women chamomile tea, tells them about a man who’d beaten the shit out of the guys who grabbed her and a few other women.
"He was fast,” Ana says, eyes wide. “I’ve never seen anything like it, not in person. On TV, maybe. He dodged bullets. He—he broke a man’s leg with his hands, that's not--not normal, is it?" she goes a bit green at that. “He rescued us, but he was—he was scary. He yelled at us,” she looks ready to cry.
Kate sympathizes with Ana, she does, but she also knows that sometimes you can’t be nice to people when you’re trying to get them out of danger, so she’s not going to condemn the man for that alone.
“He was dressed all in black,” Ana continues. “He wore a mask, only it covered his eyes. Doesn’t that seem odd? That he would cover his eyes?” She swallows hard, blinking back tears. "Do you think they'll try and find me again?"
Kate puts her hands over Ana’s shaky grip, curling the other woman’s hands more tightly around the warm mug. “You’re safe here. I doubt they’ll try to find you, but even if they do, they’re not going to get you. I promise.”
The three women look at her like she’s just said she’s thinking about hanging Cap’s shield in place of the moon. It’s a look she associates with the phrase so is skinny white girl an Avenger now? --not a rousing vote of confidence, but she can work with it.
“Lock your doors, make sure your windows are locked. I’ll see if I can get someone to install new locks for everyone.” She pauses, massages her jaw. “Yeah, I’ve got this.”
She strings her bow as the women stare.
“Are you…” Mrs. Liu pauses, like she’s trying to find the word. “Avenger?”
“Sometimes,” Kate shrugs. “It depends on who you ask. Go home. Sleep.”
She ushers her neighbors out of her apartment, waits until she hears the scrape of Mrs. Liu’s deadbolt, before escorting the Orlovs to their apartment, once again reminding them to lock everything.
At least it’s a nice enough night for sitting on your stoop and guarding your building against human traffickers and masked madmen--there's a gentle breeze buffeting crumpled-up newspapers across the street, the moon is almost full, and the street is almost quiet.
As she settles in for a night of off-brand Avengering, Kate shoots her currently second-favorite and occasionally favorite Avenger a text.
KB: hey can you come help me soon I bought an apartment building and it needs a security overhaul
Tasha: once upon a time I thought you were the reasonable hawkeye
Tasha: silly me
Tasha: unless you need to be there I can do a rough plan tomorrow morning and have it to you tomorrow night I have some free time.
KB: whenever. I’m gonna go chase some leads when the suns up. Just chillin on my stoop
Tasha: plz don’t tell me why
Tasha: see you tom. Will bring coffee.
KB: my hero :)
Tasha: stow it nerd
Tasha: ;)