* AIM TO PLEASE !

“hey,” she began, forcing out a smile. “i’m kate. otherwise known as hawkeye.” she held out her free hand to shake. “i guess we should get this show on the road, right?” she hummed, pursing her lips as her gaze moved ahead. she pulled out an arrow -- acid --, lining it up in her bow. ready to fire, though at the same time she wasn’t certain how effective her arrows would be against these creatures. 

taking a few steps into gough, she looked back at thor. “you coming?” she raised a brow, flashing him a grin.

“What the fuck?” Rocket screeched.

One moment he’d been sleeping, the Milano on course back towards Earth, and the next moment –

He was here, and he was..

a fucking humie.

Standing, he promptly smashed his head against an overhanging beam and stumbled blindly around before he managed to find his balance. That was when he realised that he was also naked. And that, since he didn’t have fur… “Huh,” he said, checking out his anatomy, before shrugging. He still had all his gear, and a spare pair of Quill’s pants that he had been using as a bedsheet, so he pulled those on. “Hey!” he yelled out at the nearest person. “Any idea where the hell this is?”

kate was out walking lucky through the park when something caught her eye. her brows knitting together, curiosity got the better of her as she moved to approach the man.

upon walking up to him, kate’s arms folded over her chest. she stares over at the half-naked dude with a rather unamused look on her face, raising a brow. giving him a once over, her head tilts to the side slightly before she speaks. “where’s your shirt, man?” 

"but i guess i can answer your question,” she began with a shrug of her shoulders. “we’re on an island called genosha. run by a guy named magneto. does that ring a bell at all?” she asked while lucky moved towards the other, wanting to say hello. noticing this, kate spoke up again. “he doesn’t bite, in case you’re wondering.”

to say carol was not amused would be an understatement. she had been beyond frustrated to the fact that she was now stuck on some random island with no means of escape instead of being back in space. it had taken her a little bit of time to adapt to the fact that this was her life for the time being.

which found the woman lying on the grass in the middle of nina park with her leather jacket bunched up underneath of her head. the view from being her aviator sunglasses became darker as she realised that it wasn’t just from the sun, “do you mind moving?” her words with no bite but no amusement in it either. “or is there something i can help you with before i blast you?” 

“blast me?” kate repeated, folding her arms over her chest as she narrowed her brows at the woman. “i saw you laying on the ground. came over to see if you were okay or something.” she supposed, in a way, it could be considered her job to worry about whether people -- regardless of whether she knew them or not -- as a young avenger.

pushing down heart-shaped purple sunglasses, kate spoke again. “i was wondering if you were alright.  not everyday that i see someone laying on the ground. plus, in the last few months, we’ve had to deal with a lot of bad. guess it’s kind of instinct now to think something might be wrong at first. sorry,” she shrugged her shoulders, rolling her eyes as she stepped out of the woman’s view.

The familiar voice pricked at his ears, causing his head to slowly lift up and see Kate in front of him. A smile spread across his face as he stood up and welcome her embrace. “Kate!” He managed out of surprise. “A few months?” He hadn’t spoken to her for a while but he hadn’t know she had gone missing for a few months. Then again, for some reason, her embrace didn’t just quiet feel the same. Many questions filled his head but he kept them inside for now. He still had no idea what was going on but at least he had finally found someone that recognised him and that’s a start.

“I…” He started answering the question if anyone else was here with him. “I was with Teddy, but… but I don’t know if he’s ended up here with me.” 

“yeah -- maybe even longer. it’s kinda weird. i woke up here without any of you guys and the world was like... basically a mess. like this thanos dude wiped out half the population. and then what was left of this planet’s heroes went into this stone thing to save everyone else and i, ah, sorta followed ‘em? it’s a long story. they saved everyone, and here we are. that was a few months ago now, i think. like i said, long story. really long.” kate rambled. “well, if he did, we’ll find him. i’m pretty sure all of us are stuck here now, so...” she shrugged. “which is an equally long story to the first one, but i can try to explain if you want me to.” she pursed her lips. “want to wander around and try to find him? i’m sure he’s ended up around here somewhere. hopefully.”

@dontfutzitup​

It seemed like Teddy was stuck on the island for a while. Given the opportunity, he was exploring the city and trying to familiarize his surroundings. The monument of Magneto still got a roll of the eyes every time he passed by it but, he had yet to actually come across the man anyways. 

Bumping into someone on the sidewalk, his eyes lit up at the realization of who it was. “Kate?” In the next instant, he mentally face palmed himself and the smile faded away. Knowing everyone and having them not know him was a hard adjustment he had to make. 

“I mean, you’re Kate Bishop right? I’m Teddy Altman. I’ve heard about you.” He played it off as smoothly as he could.

kate’s brows knit together as she listens to teddy speak, confused by how he chose to introduce himself to her -- as if they didn’t know each other. “just heard about me, huh?” she teased, raising a brow as she folded her arms over her chest. 

“i ran into billy, teddy. i know who you are -- i’m not like everyone else in this weird timeline. reality. whatever you call it. i was brought here by that reality stone, i think. i’m not really sure why, and i’ve been stuck here for months. i’m so glad to see you!” she practically squealed as she moved to wrap her arms around teddy, hugging him tightly. 

“seriously, it’s been so boring without my friends around. that and no one knows who the young avengers are here -- it’s like we don’t exist yet. it’s... so weird. i don’t even know where to begin with it.” she sighed as she pulled apart to face him again. “but i guess we kind of just have to make do with it all. not like we have much more of a choice, right?”

The dull ache in Clint’s head bothered him to no end, even after that nightmare fiasco he can’t be bothered to think about if he didn’t want his headache worsening. He’d still see flashes of it when he closed his eyes, which was why he was living on caffeine his first morning in Genosha.

It was a dark rainy night, he was stuck between Tony and Steve, on one knee bleeding from the side. ‘Give up Barton! This isn’t who you are!’

Even without knowing each other personally, Steve would still try to see the good in him. That was the man he looked up to going into SHIELD. Then he hears Tony speak.

‘We don’t want to hurt you but you never gave us a choice. You’ve killed too many.’

Killed. He killed for a living, he killed for sport. It was the life he didn’t want to live, the path he never wanted to take. Apparently there’s a part of him that would, still. But that part was gone, that part had been blasted by Tony when he tried to run. He died and woke up to the reality of things but it shakes Clint to his core. He tries not to show it. Seeing Tony and Steve upon reuniting in the city and he had turned away, not ready to speak to anyone from the team. Not even Nat.

Because of this he was particularly jumpy, and in that morning, with no sleep, running on three cups of coffee in a span of two hours, he was sitting down, looking out at the hustle and bustle of the town when he jumps up from feeling like someone had been behind him. “Jesus you can show your face the next time and not sneak up on a deaf man.”

the nightmare realm seemed to have thrown everyone through the ringer. kate, of course, had been no exception. she’d seen her parents and her sister saying hurtful things, to the young avengers dying, to having to face the mother all over again. she felt as if her head had been put through a blender. deep down, part of her craved peace. a moment to rest. genosha seemed like it could be that, at least for a little while.

she wasn’t sure how long she’d laid around her apartment doing nothing but staring at the ceiling before she felt lucky nudging her. “bud, i already fed you,” she said as she patted his head, chuckling while he moved to lick her face. “okay, okay, i’m getting up. wanna go for a walk?” she tilted her head to the side, grinning at the dog as he ran to the door at the mention of the world ‘walk’.

a few minutes later she steps out the door, beginning to wander genosha with lucky. she’d slipped her phone in her purse but hadn’t bothered to consistently check it to see what time it was, letting her mind slip away from her as the pair wandered aimlessly. “hey!” she exclaimed when she felt a tug on the leash, jogging after lucky as he ran off towards someone in the distance, only coming to a screeching halt when they reach the person. “it wasn’t my intent,” kate replies, her hand on her hip as she looks over at the other man -- the original hawkeye -- though she wasn’t sure if he was aware of her just yet, even though she’d been running around in this time for quite a while now. 

“lucky wanted to say hi.” she gestured to the one-eyed dog as he happily sniffed clint. “practically dragged me over here for it. so... blame the dog, not me.” she shrugged. “though i wouldn’t blame him if i were you. look at his cute face.” kate said with a grin as she patted lucky’s head. “you’re hawkeye, right?”

Billy had managed to calm himself from a panic to being highly concerned and confused. He had figured out that he was currently on an Island called Genosha and that he was indeed on Earth. However, things were weird. He had seen people who he knew had known him yet they seemed to not recognise him at all, and so many of them seemed younger. He was now sitting under a tree in a park, trying to figure out his next plan of action. He needed to find Teddy, if Teddy had even ended up here with him. He also needed to find or contact someone who would recognise him. It was as if he had been wiped from everyone’s memories or as if he hadn’t even been born. Had he changed reality in his attempt to save his and Teddy’s life? Had he accidentally made it so that they were never born. 

His head was in his hands as he tried to think but approaching footsteps distracted him. “Unless you can help me figure things out, I’m not in the mood to talk.” 

kate had been stuck in this time for quite a while now. by now, she’d accepted and got used to the fact that she didn’t belong here. that no one knew who she was, let alone who the young avengers were. as hard as that was, it was the only option she really had. she was stuck here, and she had no way of getting back to where she was supposed to be. back to her friends. that was the hardest thing for her to live with.

she was on one of her daily walks with lucky when she came across the familiar person. she wasn’t certain it was billy at first, but had a gut feeling that it had to be. approaching him, she couldn’t help but smile. “i mean, i can certainly try,” she replied, her smile widening into a grin as she moved to wrap her friend up in a hug once she saw that it was indeed him.

“i can’t even begin to explain how happy i am to see you,” she beamed, pulling away to get a better look at him. “i’ve been here for like... months. i had to have tried calling you guys at least a million times but whenever i called, i always got that automated message that said that the numbers weren’t in service. is anyone else here too? like, teddy, america or tommy?”

“I am an agent of SHIELD, yes,” Peggy conceded, a confused sort of smile tipping her mouth. Kate was so young, her familiarity with organization was befuddling, to say the least. “Have you crossed paths with other agents? Professionally?”

Peggy understood about every third word Kate was saying, but she maintained a polite smile through it all. At another time Peggy might wonder if the bumbling innocence was an act, but there was something so genuine about the excitement in Kate’s voice. Peggy’s gut told her she was trustworthy, and she trusted her gut above all else. “Sounds like you’ve had quite the journey. I think I’m most interested in the bit about the alternate timelines - how exactly did you manage to find yourself here?”

At the mention of Steve, Peggy’s pulse jumped a beat and a light flush bloomed across her cheeks. It took her a noticeably long time to respond, and when she did, her voice came out fainter than she’d meant it to. “I’m familiar with Captain America, yes. He’s… is he…” Peggy briefly glanced at the building behind Kate, gaze once again snagging on the A. “Is he here, right now?”

“the only agent that i remember the name of is daisy johnson. she’s pretty cool. don’t know if i’d really say professional -- maybe casual. or a mix of the two.” kate hummed and shrugged her shoulders. it was likely she’d possibly ran into other shield agents back in her timeline, but she only recalled daisy.

“oh, well, one moment i’m at home with my friends. i think we were just hanging out. and then the next, poof. we all wake up in this timeline. not long after that we managed to get into the soul stone, hoping we could help save everyone who’d died when that purple idiot killed half the population. but then i woke up in the soul stone alone and i haven’t been able to find my friends since.” kate’s face fell ever so slightly. she missed them daily. she glances down at the sketch in her book of them before quickly shutting it. the last thing she needed was to get overly emotional.

kate observes peggy’s reaction to hearing steve’s name, a brow raised curiously as she waits for a response. “he might be,” kate looks at the compound and shrugs her shoulders. “i could take you inside, if you want? we could try to find him.” she offered peggy a small smile before her gaze moves off in the distance for a split second, stifling a smile as she spots lucky. she whistles and he comes running, sniffling peggy’s feet before moving to stand next to kate. “i hope you don’t mind dogs. this is lucky.”

Steve let out a soft snort, smirking at the girl before shaking his head. “Yes, really, I mean it.” If he didn’t mean it, he would have never asked, but he realized she didn’t know him so well and quite frankly, he didn’t know her all that well either. “Whoa, hold on-” Steve held up a hand to try to stop her but only quickly realized that she was well on her way to just blurting out everything and he had to step back. “Kate, listen.” He asked, calmly raising both brows and looking her over.

“You’ll have your own room, the Compound is huge, but even if you did take my room, I wouldn’t have you sleeping on the floor or the couch, you’d take the bed.“ He paused, “I’d take the floor or the couch. I’ve been a soldier, I know what it’s like to sleep on hard surfaces that aren’t that great for your back – plus, I grew up poor in the thirties, anything is comfortable as long as my surroundings are safe.“

Which was true, Steve never had much of a luxury of sleeping on nice beds until he woke back up in the new century and found that even the cheapest of beds were still pretty damn comfortable. “So yeah, rooms are available for you and your friend if you want them, the Compound has an indoor pool, a gym, a track, pretty much anything you’d want or need – Tony went all out for us and well, in his memory…” He drifted off for a moment and glanced away before shaking his head at himself.

“We should use the Compound as how he wanted it;“ he paused and raised a brow, “together.“ Though Steve wasn’t completely certain Tony would have wanted him there, he was still going to go through with it – after all, Tony was still a considered friend to him, even with the events of what happened in Siberia.

kate couldn’t help but smile as steve spoke. she was glad to know that someone wanted to help her. that he was happy to help her. it was refreshing to be greeted so warmly when she’d felt so... out of place. for the first time since she’d arrived, she felt like she might actually be able to be happy here. to have a life. steve rogers was nothing but kind. she hadn’t exactly spoken much with the steve from her time, but had very vivid memories of him and tony stark attempting, and failing, to shut down the young avengers. concerns for their safety, they’d told them. concerns the young avengers had obviously ignored.

kate came from a life of luxury. she’d had things handed to her because her father believed he could buy his children’s love. because her father was on the side of the bad guys and was way too busy to actually be with his children. it left kate unable to relate to things like the struggles that came with lack of money, but kate did her best to stay humble despite it. “yeah, sure,” she smiled. it wasn’t like she had anywhere else to stay, plus... she didn’t know where her friends were. that was probably the hardest part of it all. but she’d get through it. yeah, she’d get through it. “and i’m sorry about that stuff. sounds like it must’ve sucked. i know it’s probably not my place to apologize in the first place, but...” she shrugged her shoulders. 

“anyway, i’d love to. wait... does this make me an avenger?” a small grin forms on her face. “i mean, i know i’m technically a young avenger, but... the rest of the team isn’t exactly here. never been an official avenger before.” the thought alone was exciting, of course, she couldn’t deny that.  she looked up to these people. clint barton had been her hero since she was a little girl. “thank you. for everything.”

At the realization that the person who’d approached her was a child, Peggy instantly lowered her weapon. Though she’d seen girls this age trained as operatives in the past, her instinct was to trust them, at least as much as she was capable of trusting a stranger.

As unmoored as Peggy felt, the presence of someone so young made a sudden sense of responsibility straighten her spine.

“Agent Carter,” she said, unable to keep from returning the smile. Motor-mouths like Kate always reminded Peggy a bit of Angie. “Sorry about the gun, I draw it on instinct in situations like these.”

Kate had said… a lot of words that made very little sense to Peggy, though her attention noticeably snagged on the term ‘Avenger’. She silently made the link between the label and the A emblazoned on the side of the building. The name seemed a touch theatrical, but Peggy resolved not to judge until she discerned the nature of the organization.

“I’m– I’m not familiar with the alias Hawkeye, I’m afraid,” she admitted, an apologetic smile touching her lips. “Are you affiliated with the… avengers?”

“fair enough. i can’t exactly sit here and say i haven’t done the same, just... not with a gun. i usually go for the bow and arrow.” kate shrugged her shoulders, giving the other a small smile. “can i ask what kind of agent?” she raises a brow curiously. “like, the first thing that comes to mind is shield, but i also know there’s tons of other agents of other things.” 

when agent carter says she’s not familiar with the alias, kate would be lying if she said she weren’t a little taken back. she hadn’t met anyone who hadn’t at least known of the other hawkeye -- clint barton. 

“oh, really? most people i meet usually know of clint, at the very least. he’s the other hawkeye. the first. as for the avengers, i guess i kinda am? it’s... a long story. i’m not exactly from this timeline. and i know how crazy that sounds, but it’s the truth. where i come from i’m apart of this group called the young avengers, but we don’t exist here. not yet, anyway. confusing, i know.”

she laughs softly, running her fingers through her hair. “anyway, since i’m kinda stuck here, i’ve been staying here -- at the avengers compound. this guy named steve’s been really helpful. maybe you’ve heard of his code name thing? it’s captain america. i feel like most people know who he is nowadays. i guess he’s sorta taken me under his wing. he’s pretty nice. wait -- do you not know who the avengers are?”

There were people that would call her power passive. To become intangible, walk through walls, it wasn’t as if she had super strength or could set things on fire, after all. That, paired with her naturally smaller stature, often led to her being greatly underestimated. This assumption is where Kitty often found her edge – she could use her abilities unexpectedly in confrontation and her physical training to fight was vast. The element of surprise was often used to her advantage.

This time though, it was Kitty that was caught by surprise as the man that had just been attacking was caught up in a net. There were more coming though and she wasted no time in regaining composure to ready for a fight. Dark eyes landed on the other woman that had dropped next to her, the source of the net. Kitty blinked a moment, trying to assess her. Arrows, not as likely to be a mutant, but a friend. “Isn’t that name taken?” She couldn’t help the curious question, familiar with the name of Hawkeye with the Avengers. Still, this girl was here to help and Kitty appreciated it. “Not important, thanks for being here. I’m Kitty Pryde, Shadowcat – with the X-Men.”

As more men approached, Kitty let her body go intangible, falling into the road to seemingly disappear. It was only a moment later she rose back up, now behind one of the men to phase an arm through him, grab his gun and phase it back out of his grasp. “Come on now, you don’t really need this, do you?” And with that, she used the body of the gun to hit him over the head, unloading the weapon of it’s bullets before tossing it aside. The screeching tires of more vehicles approaching caught her attention quickly and she looked to her new ally. “Heads up, we’re about to have a lot more company.”

“uh, technically, i guess? where i come from there’s two hawkeye’s. me and barton. and yes, i said ‘where i come from’. it’s a long story.” kate shrugs her shoulders as she lines another arrow up in her bow, raising it, ready for the next wave of anti-mutant activists when they would come. which, she assumed would be fairly quickly. she was pretty sure they’d called out for backup, but at least she felt confident that she and her new-found partner, kitty, could take them. they’d faced worse, hadn’t they?

“nice to meet you, kitty. i’m apart of a team called the young avengers, but we don’t exactly exist in this time yet. and we’re missing like 70% of the team. i guess it’s probably not really important, though,” kate hums, not meaning to ramble, but sometimes she couldn’t help it. seeing more men approaching, kate fires her arrow, watching as two men get stuck together, and to the ground, by putty as she lines up the next arrow.

“hey!” she calls out to one of the men, drawing his attention away from kitty and onto herself. approaching her, he attempts to swing at her, which she quickly dodges. “that all you got?” she says with a teasing laugh as she kicks him in the stomach, pushing him backwards before she shoots him with an electric arrow, watching him fall to the ground and be rendered incapacitated because of the volts. non-lethal, of course. lining an explosive arrow and aiming at the base of a nearby telephone pole. she fires and watches as the arrow explodes and the pole falls down, blocking the path they’d been using to get to them. not completely, though. it makes it slightly more of a challenge to get to them, but it obviously doesn’t stop them as they find a way to get over, around or under the fallen pole.

“Heroes.” The Demiurge scoffed at the word. “We’re not heroes, Bishop. We fuck everything up- I fuck everything up only for us to fix it. Nate put us together because he knew that Kang the Conqueror was right behind him. He was the reason why we had a team to begin with. Then the entire M-Day fiasco with the Scarlet Witch because she thought she lost me and Tommy. Oh and last time I checked, I was the one who brought Mother to us. Not you. Not any of the other Young Avengers. Me. I royally fucked up and we saved the world from my actions.” He practically shouted at his teammate. The words that left his lips weren’t Moridun’s. No. They were Billy’s. All the dark thoughts stirred up by the wizard that controlled his mind space. 

“We’re not heroes if we’re only cleaning up our messes- my messes.” His voice cracked at the statement, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall. He scoffed and shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe I’m the reason we’re not back home, back where we belong.” He ran a hand through his hair, huffing out the frustration. Billy had full control once again, only to feel the pain, to force the ‘hero’ to burn down his own bridges without Moridun’s help. “Maybe the world would’ve been a whole lot safer if I wasn’t in it.” He stated in a soft tone, darker thoughts filling his head.

 A hand slammed into the wall at the mention of his boyfriend. Angry eyes turned to Kate, his voice raised up even more. “Well, Teddy isn’t here! Kate, he’s not here!” And that was it. Tears fell from his eyes, streaming down his cheeks. “As much as I want him to be here, try to cast the same goddamn spell of wanting him to be here, it never works.” He exhaled deeply. “And waking these assholes up from the coma isn’t going to bring him here.”

kate frowned as billy said they weren’t heroes. obviously, she couldn’t disagree with him more. she was dumbfounded. she listened to him speak and was left, speechless for a moment, racking her brain for how she could possibly respond to this. “that’s bullshit, billy. we are heroes.” she crossed her arms over her chest. “you know what else is bullshit? us - you - futzing everything up. and even if it was true - which, by the way, it isn’t - are you gonna sit there and tell me other heroes have never futzed up? the avengers haven’t futzed up? the x-men? people make mistakes. it happens. we’re not futzing perfect, billy, and anyone who expects us to be can kiss my ass.”

her features soften as billy’s voice cracked. “don’t talk like that.” she said softly, her tone completely different from how it was a mere few minutes ago. she took a hesitant step towards her friend, her arms unfolding and falling to her sides. “i’m pretty sure it was one of those stones that brought us here, billy. not you. you wouldn’t do that, i know you.” she forces out a smile, but she does mean it. it’s small and it doesn’t linger for long, but it was there. “stop it. you hear me? stop it. the world wouldn’t be the same without billy kaplan. the world would be worse. not better. and you know what? i don’t want to live in a world without one of my best friends. the young avengers would suck without you, but i don’t even care about that part - because you’re my teammate, sure, but you’re my friend first. one of my best friends, by the way. and i’ll keep saying it til you get that.” another step towards him.

she tries not to jump when his hand slams into the wall. she can’t blame him. that was a low blow, even for her. a dick move, she thinks to herself. she knows teddy is a touchy subject, mostly considering he wasn’t here, and she understood. “and i’m sorry for saying that,” she sighs, her eyes falling to the ground for a moment. “maybe he’s already here. i dunno. we’ll find him and we’ll find the other young avengers and we’ll find a way home.” she takes another few steps closer to him, her heart aching at seeing her friend cry. “that wasn’t what i meant... i just... meant it wasn’t right to let them die, because we’re good guys. i know they’re bad, but we’re not much better if we kill them. and if there’s a voice in your head telling you otherwise, ignore it. i know how that is, i’ve dealt with the same stupid little voice trying to pull me down.” the voice she still dealt with. the nightmares. everything seemed to come back to that night in the park, but all kate could do was try to stay afloat in stormy seas. without another word, she closed the gap between herself and billy, pulling him into a tight hug.