Chapter Text
Three months post Battle of New York.
If Kate were to sum it all up, it freaking sucked, but at least she got to be hero vigilantes with her best friends.
Kate Bishop was known as Archer to most of NYC, and was the best archer around, too, apart from Hawkeye maybe, but the Avengers stuck to their tower mostly.
Then there was Peter, who was the Amazing Spider-Man and got bitten by a radioactive spider to get his abilities when he was thirteen (how cool is that???). And he was super smart, much like their third member of the trio, Daisy Johnson.
Daisy was called Quake, and an inhuman with the ability to control vibrations. Plus, she was a super good hacker, which came in handy a lot.
The one thing they all had in common was that they were orphans. Both Kate’s parents died in the Battle of NYC, as did Peter’s aunt. His parents and uncle were already dead. Daisy was kidnapped by her parents at age twelve to become an inhuman, but then her dad killed her mom, so she left.
Kate was the brawns. She could fight pretty much from the day she was born, because she signed up for all the self-defense and fighting classes possible.
Peter was the brain. His ability with technology was like no other, and he operated under the name Spiderwave.
Daisy switched between the two. Peter’s skills with technology didn’t quite cover hacking as well as hers, but occasionally they’d team up. She used the name Skyewave, to match with Peter. And her quake abilities were like no other–and often helped in battle.
Together, the three of them fought crime over New York City and exposed corrupt people. It was a great system, really. Except for when the Avengers were after you.
***
Clint hadn’t had an awful day like this one in a while. Mid-mission to catch some guy dealing bad drugs, Maria Hill calls.
“Hey, Barton,” Hill said. “I need you to drop the case.”
“What,” Clint scoffed. “But I’m this close.”
“How close?”
“Stakeout. Central Park. I’m sure my guy is here.”
“We’ll send someone to replace you,” Hill decided.
“Why?” Clint asked.
“We have a new mission for you,” Hill said. “It’s important.”
Clint continued looking across the pathway in Central Park from his perch in a particularly high tree. It was almost midnight, so not many people were there, except for a teenager with a dog, and a group of guys playing some sort of game.
Suddenly, the boys began walking over to the girl in that young adult nothing-can-stop-me swagger.
“Hold up, something’s gonna go down,” Clint interrupted.
“With the target?”
“No.”
Clint turned off the call, at least temporarily, so he could focus on the situation at hand.
The girl seemed not notice the guys, and instead focused on her dog.
One of the guys reached for her, and Clint readied an arrow, preparing for a little fight. Instead, the girl let the dog’s leash go, and he went off to the side as if trained for this sort of thing. He just sat there, smiling, looking content watching the scene unfold. Her hand whipped out to the guy's face, and promptly punched his face. Hard. She then swept his feet out from under him, and he fell right onto the injured side of his face.
Then, she went to the other three guys, and roundhouse kicked one of them in the jaw, sending him flying to the ground.
Clint’s hands froze. Since when did teenage girls know how to fight like that?
Satisfied with two of the guys on the ground, she turned to the last two. She ran to the closer one–and used his body as if it was a ramp by running on his chest to the second guy and kicking his face. She landed back onto the ground with ease and saw the three guys on the ground. She turned to the last one, who was slightly bent over, and seemed to be saying something to her.
Clint saw the surprise fifth guy before the girl did, and then the man had his arms around her, pinning her body to his.
He took this as his cue to step in. He readied an arrow and shot it into the shoulder of the man holding the girl. He jumped down from the tree and hit the last man in the back of his head, knocking him out as well.
The girl went over to her dog.
“So where do teenage girls learn to fight like that?” Clint asked, slightly amused.
“You–you’re Hawkeye,” the girl said, her mouth agape.
Clint smiled a little. “Are you a fan?”
“Uh, yes?” the girl said with a grin.
“Can I get a name, then?” Clint asked, still smiling. It was the best way to hide his confusion, anyway.
“Uh, Kate,” the girl said. “I live nearby, but Lucky here had to go to the bathroom and he wanted to do it out here, of course because when do dogs ever try to be convenient.”
“So will you get home alright?” Clint said.
The girl, Kate, nodded hastily. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’ll be fine.”
Clint accepted this information easily. “You never answered my question.”
Kate seemed to just laugh it off. “Oh, yeah, I take self-defense lessons. My mom signed me up when I was like four and it just kinda stuck with me.”
“So do you need me to walk you to your place?” Clint offered.
Kate shook her head. “No, like I said, it’s nearby.”
Clint frowned. A million thoughts crossed his mind, but he chose not to voice them. He’d avoided Maria Hill for too long already and she’d be pissed to learn he helped out a girl who probably didn’t need him.
“Thanks, though,” Kate said before walking away, Lucky leading the way happily with a wagging tail.
Clint turned the call with Hill back on and moved back to his motorcycle. “Sorry, stopped some bad guys.”
“I have some guys going to Central Park to pick up your stakeout,” Hill said, ignoring his excuse. “I need you to head back to Avengers Tower.”
***
“Ok, Hill, what was so important you pulled me from the mission you assigned me to?” Clint asked as he entered the main living room of Avengers Tower. Tony, Natasha, Steve, and Bruce were there, seeing as all of them lived in the tower together, so it was easy to get all of them to the same spot at once.
“Sit down, Barton,” Hill ordered.
Clint sighed but took his usual spot on the couch right between Natasha and Steve.
“SHIELD has an important mission for the five of you,” Hill started. “Have any of you watched the news recently?”
No one raised their hands, which was expected. Tony was so caught up in his inventions, Natasha was always doing something, even if no one knew what it was, Bruce did a lot of research literally all the time, and apparently Steve had a social life.
Hill promptly turned on the TV and switched it from some stupid kids show to the news.
“These three new vigilantes, named Archer,”
A blurry image of a girl in some black pants, a black tank top, and a purple hoodie with the hood pulled up and a bandana around her mouth and nose showed up. She was holding a bow and arrow and looked to be aiming it at something off screen.
“Spider-Man,”
Another blurry image filled the screen. This time it was a boy in a blue and red sweatshirt and sweatpants. Some sort of web-like substance was coming out of his wrist as it looked like he was swinging from building to building.
“And Quake,”
A third image showed another girl in black pants, and a purple, gray, and black sweatshirt with the hood pulled up and a bandana around her face like the first girl. She wore some sort of gauntlet around her wrists, and some sort of vibration was expelled from them.
“That’s one hell of a weapon,” Tony commented.
“The three of them seem to be working together to fight crime, with disastrous results,”
A video appeared on the screen of a fire in what looked to be downtown Harlem. People were running around, as men with guns shot around at anyone they saw. Archer, Spiderman, and Quake were all there together, fighting the men.
Archer mostly stuck to shooting people from far off–and she was good, Clint would give her that.
Spiderman was webbing people up left and right and swinging around.
Meanwhile, Quake engaged them in fist-to-fist combat.
The screen cut back to the reporter. “Here I am at the scene of the event, just a few short hours since it happened. As you can see, there are still webs, arrows, and mass destruction from these new vigilantes, and the shooters they attempted to stop.”
Maria Hill turned off the tv. “SHIELD needs you to find them.”
Tony laughed out loud. “Come on, these guys can’t be giving you so much trouble that you need the Avengers.”
Hill’s eyebrows narrowed. “Archer’s skills with a bow rival Bartons. Spiderman’s webs are made from an unknown substance that not even our best scientists have been able to figure out. And Quake– don’t get me started on Quake. There are theories going around of her being an enhanced individual. So yes, we are calling you in to work together to find them and bring them in.”
“Well shit,” Tony said.
“Language.”
***
Kate ran back home after mother freaking Hawkeye saved her from those guys. She, Peter, and Daisy lived in her penthouse, seeing as after her parents died, they left it to her. And she was supposedly living there with her aunt being homeschooled, who unbeknownst to the government was in Florida for an unspecified amount of time.
Daisy was already considered dead by the government, and Peter was presumed dead after the Battle of New York.
So, all in all she was doing pretty good. Peter had a side job at a pizza place, and Kate’s parents also left her a shit ton of money, which paid the bills.
“Guys, you’ll never believe what happened,” Kate said as she burst out of the elevator.
Daisy was on the couch, on her laptop, probably hacking, and Peter in the kitchen getting some snacks.
“What?” Peter asked.
Kate put her bags on the nearby table and took off Lucky’s leash. “Ok so I was walking Lucky through Central Park, right, and these guys attacked me.”
“Dude, then why are you grinning?” Daisy laughed.
“Because I valiantly fought them off,” Kate made dramatic arm movements as she went along. “But then, suddenly, a guy got me from behind.”
“Still no reason to be smiling like a fucking maniac,” Daisy pointed out.
“Shut up, I’m getting there.” Kate cleared her throat. “AND THEN MOTHERFUCKING HAWKEYE SHOWED UP.”
Peter’s head shot up and his face lit up. “HOLY CRAP THAT’S SO COOL.”
“I KNOW,” Kate screamed. “AND HE WAS ALL CONFUSED BECAUSE HE SAID I FOUGHT WELL AND ASKED FOR MY NAME AND OFFERED TO WALK ME HOME BUT I SAID NO BECAUSE WELL WE’RE LIKE SUPER COOL VIGILANTE HEROES BUT I DIDN’T TELL HIM THAT PART AND I AM LITERALLY DYING.”
She finished her sentence gasping for breath.
“Woah, chill out, we don’t want the neighbors to hear,” Daisy reminded her with an amused grin.
“Man, that’s so cool,” Peter looked at her in awe. He walked over to Daisy and handed her some water and a bowl of vegetables. “Remember to eat.”
Daisy half nodded, and continued hacking.
Peter beckoned for Kate to follow him into one of the nearby rooms. It was just another family room.
“She woke up about thirty minutes ago,” Peter explained in a hushed tone. “Another nightmare about her you-know-what.”
“I thought the pills helped with that?” Kate said.
“They stopped working,” Peter said.
“Shit,” Kate said. “You remember what happened two months ago. We can’t let her go back to that.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?” Peter asked.
“Maybe find new pills?” Kate suggested. “Or find another inhuman to help.”
“There’s no inhumans just lying around New York City,” Pete reminded her. “It’s gonna be hard.”
“Well, it’s what Daisy needs,” Kate said.
“I’ll do some looking,” Peter decided. “But first I’m gonna take her on patrol. She can’t sit on her laptop all day.”
Kate nodded. “Good idea. And be careful.”
***
Tony started doing his search for the vigilantes by looking at some news articles, and had Jarvis filter a bunch out using keywords and stuff out. Still, there was still more than 1000 to get through, so he had Jarvis limit it down again to only about 600, and he put Bruce on this task as well, so it’d go faster.
“Hey, I think I found one,” Bruce announced. “It’s a guy–about thirty-nine years old. He used to work at Oscorp, until that big explosion happened, and he was caught in the blast. He supposedly got super injured by the blast and is now living with his parents who are taking care of him. The doctors say he can’t see, but if you have spider senses, then you don’t need to see. He fits the criteria. They’re about the same height, same size, same everything. At least, of what we know about Spider-Man.”
“Good work, Angry,” Tony said. “What’s this guy’s name?”
“Uh, Michael Wellman,” Bruce replied. “Address is on 14 E 64th Street. Right above a private art studio. Lots of expensive things in there.”
“Ok, let’s suit up,” Tony decided.
“Just for the record though, I don’t have a suit, it’s just my skin.”
“Anything you say, Angry.”
***
The patrol was going fine for a while. It was mostly just muggings and other petty crimes, until they reached an art studio being robbed with no alarms going off. That should’ve been the first sign of something being off–the art studio that was being robbed got new security systems a week ago, and it cost them a fortune. And people had already tried and failed to rob the art studio just the day before, to no avail.
Peter knew it was time to turn back. Or at least, he should’ve. Instead, he and Daisy charged right on in, no hesitation, no thoughts, just another crime waiting to be stopped.
There were two guys in there. Both were a little tall, but closer on the average side. They were wearing ski masks (robbers always were). They wore sweatshirts, too, and…jeans? No robber would ever wear jeans.
But Daisy didn’t seem to notice. She ran at the first one–the one wearing the green sweatshirt and went in to punch his face. He dodged, and grabbed her arm, throwing her to the ground.
She caught herself midway through and landed on her feet before lunging again.
Peter focused on the other guy, wearing a red sweatshirt. He shot some webs at him, which the man promptly dodged.
Which was weird because with your everyday criminal, it typically worked.
Peter jumped and hit the man in the chest with his feet, sending him crashing into the wall, causing deep cracks in the wall and floor.
The man got up quickly-quicker than most, and shot some sort of fiery blast at Peter, sending him flying backwards through the window.
“Spider-Man!” Daisy yelled and quaked the man. He hit his head against the metal wall and fell unconscious. Then, she turned to the next guy and quaked him. Not as hard as before, but it would take him a minute or two to be able to stand back up.
Daisy ran up to Peter and looked to be scanning him for injuries.
“Quake, I’m fine,” Peter reassured her. He looked back at the robbers. “Let’s go. You’ve taught these guys a good enough lesson.”
Daisy looked back at them, and the temptation to beat them up more was clear, but her gaze went back to Peter, and she helped lift him up.
Peter felt her wrap her arm under his, and she used her powers to send them flying up into the air.
The feeling was familiar–between the web swinging and the other times he’s gotten hurt, but it still made his breath catch in his throat. They quickly landed on top of a building, and they were both sent rolling.
Peter’s chest screamed upon impact, as that took the brunt from whatever he was it with. His arms cried out in small voices begging to be heard, but he refused to give in.
Quake was by his side within moments, pressing him back to the ground so he wouldn’t upset his injuries anymore.
“Daisy, I’m fine,” Peter said. “It’ll heal.”
“Peter, your enhanced healing can’t help everything,” Quake whispered. “And that weapon, too. We don’t know what it does. It just came out of his fucking hand…”
“Let’s just get home,” Peter insisted. “Please.”
Whether it was his tired voice, or begging eyes that convinced Daisy to agree, Peter didn’t know. But at least she said yes.
***
“Holy crap, what happened?” Kate jumped out of her seat in the kitchen and rushed over to Daisy hauling in a half-unconscious Peter.
“Grab the first aid kid!” Daisy shouted.
“What the hell happened?”
“Grab the kit!”
“Tell me what happened!”
“Grab the motherfucking kit!”
Kate glanced from Peter to Daisy before rushing to the cabinet in the kitchen that held all their medical supplies. “What do you need?”
“Uh, icepack,” Daisy started after she’d already laid Peter on their dining room table. “Painkillers, antibiotics, and bandages.”
Kate nodded and hastily grabbed everything and practically flung it towards Daisy.
“Give him the ibuprofen,” Daisy ordered.
Kate grabbed the bottle and opened it too quickly and messily, causing most of them to fly out. “Shit.”
“Hold Peter’s mouth open,” Kate said.
Daisy grabbed Peter’s jaw and face and used small vibrations to keep him in place as he screamed and thrashed against.
Kate carelessly threw the pills into Peter’s mouth as far as she could to make them go down. “Swallow them goddamnit !”
Daisy closed Peter’s mouth and kept it that way so he couldn’t spit out the pills.
When he finally swallowed, they both relaxed.
Until the knock on the door.
Daisy and Kate both froze, and Kate’s eyes widened and the hair on her arms stuck up.
“I’ll get it,” Kate said, looking at Daisy, who was in her suit that most definitely had blood all over it.
Kate wiped her hands on her clothes before grabbing a butter knife as she crept to the door before looking through the peephole. It was David, one of her downstairs neighbors. She opened the door slowly and made sure he could only see her through the door frame.
David was much taller than Kate, which wasn’t saying much because most people were, but David was balding and perpetually in formalwear, so there was a certain vibe that followed him wherever he went that was very intimidating to people like Kate.
“Hey, Dave,” Kate smiled awkwardly and hid the butter knife behind her back.
“David,” David corrected.
“Right, of course,” Kate chuckled. “David. What do you want at this fine hour of…” she checked the clock behind her. “Four o’seven in the morning?”
“You’re being awfully loud,” David said in his typical gruff voice. “For four o’seven in the morning.”
“Oh, yes,” Kate nodded awkwardly. She looked back at Daisy, who was covering Peter’s mouth so he wouldn’t yell out. “Well, me and my buddies are–uh, we’re watching…porn.”
She internally cringed. “Yes, porn. Lots of it. It’s very…graphic and uh, interesting. We’re watching all kinds, too, sorry about that so uh, yep.”
Kate laughed nervously, but David looked incredibly uncomfortable.
“Well, uh,” David looked to be at a loss for words. “Have—er, fun.”
Kate smiled, slammed the door, and dropped the butterknife to the ground. “What the fuck why’d you let me do that!”
“Porn, really?” Daisy said with a raised eyebrow.
“What else was I supposed to say?” Kate asked in a hushed voice as she grabbed the antibiotics.
“Whatever just–I’ll hold him down while you get that stuff on his wounds,” Daisy decided and quickly turned Peter onto his back. “I think I got most of the glass out but be careful just in case.”
“Glass?” Kate questioned. “What the hell happened?”
“Later,” Daisy said.
“Right,” Kate nodded. She began applying the antibiotics onto Peter’s wounds, which were mostly on his back and sides.
Peter let out almost animalistic shouts of pain, but Daisy put a rag in his mouth to mute it.
“Just a little more, Pete,” Daisy said as she ran her fingers through his hair.
Just a little more.