Chapter Text
Kate was still grinning after annihilating her secret identity in front of a crowd of reporters. She grinned as she scanned the crowd of people taking pictures of her, as she ignored their questions, and as she moved to pick up her scarf and her black multi-glasses from the floor.
And as she felt a searing pain from her abdomen when she bent over to reach them.
Damn. She'd forgotten that she wasn't supposed to bend over, yet. The stitches on the gash from some HYDRA mook's pocket knife were still setting in.
She stood back up, anyway, with a smile on her face.
Remembering her goal – to get the public to love her, love the Young Avengers – she draped her scarf around her neck. She did a little half-twirl on the spot, giving her the chance to nudge down the zipper of her already-loose hoodie without anyone noticing. When she was facing the crowd again, she waved – in a way that would conveniently open up her hoodie a bit more and give them all a glancing but clear glimpse at all the bandages underneath.
That was about as far as she got before Captain America appeared at her side. With a big, fake smile on his face and polite reminders that the press conference was over, he draped an arm around Kate's shoulders and steered her back through the doorway, and into the prep room.
The door had barely snicked shut when Director Coulson was yelling, "What the hell were you thinking?!"
Captain Rogers buried his face in his palm when Mr. Stark started laughing. He actually tipped out of his chair when Coulson rounded on him.
Coulson narrowed his eyes at Mr. Stark. "You're to blame for this," he accused.
"No," Kate said, stepping between them. "This was my ideaaa-" Her entreaty ended on a hiss as she felt her torn stitches again.
The exasperation, anger, and amusement fell off the men's faces in light of her pain.
"Bishop?" Mr. Stark asked. "What's wrong?"
"Ah, nothing," Kate said, waving him off. "Probably just need to re-up on whatever the hell it was you guys gave me before I got on the jet."
"Are you sure?" Rogers asked, looking at her side, through her open zipper.
She looked down and winced. Shit – blood on the bandages.
Was that there when she was on stage, on camera?
She took a deep breath, and plastered on her strongest magazine smile. "I'm sure it's nothing. I'll get Teddy to fix it, upstairs."
Coulson's eyes narrowed, but he didn't stop Mr. Stark and Captain Rogers from herding her towards the private, cloistered hallway. "Bishop," he said, following them. "You still haven't answered me."
The staffers Mr. Stark had dismissed earlier were there, eyes wide when they saw her. Mr. Stark shooed them away, but Kate was about 95% certain one of them managed to sneak a picture of her as they went.
Damnit.
Kate would deal with that later.
Right now, she turned her head to Coulson. "I don't trust you – we don't trust you. So I just bought us a little insurance."
She expected anger, or frustration, or just about anything other than what she actually saw.
Regret.
"…you still shouldn't have done that," he said. "You just opened up yourself to a world of legal and political vulnerability."
"I know," Kate said, as they approached the elevators. "But I also just got us a lot of protection." Her smile took on a sharp edge. "Such as making it much harder for you to stuff us into some top-secret research bunker somewhere without anybody noticing."
Coulson just sighed. "A, we weren't going to do that anyway. B, I can think of half a dozen ways we still could do that, anyway, if we wanted to."
Mr. Stark snorted, while Captain Rogers and Kate both glared at Coulson. Director Coulson sighed. "You just made life a lot harder for all of us, Bishop-"
"Good!"
"-yourself included."
Kate rolled her eyes as the elevator doors opened, and tried not to waver in her dizziness. Inside, she made sure to stand away from the other three – but also by the wall. There was walking under her own power, and there was falling under her own power, and she knew which one she wanted to be doing.
Upstairs, before the elevator doors had completely opened, her ears were assaulted by, "Katherine Eleanor Bishop!"
"Hi, Dad," Kate said, bracing herself against the elevator before stepping forward. The penthouse seemed to darken around the edges, and she knew she stumbled a bit, but at least she remained upright.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Dad screamed at her, stomping towards her. "Showing yourself like that in front of the whole damn world-"
Before Dad reached her, though, Rogers stepped in front of Kate, holding out a hand to stop him.
Even Dad halted in the face of a stern Captain America.
Rogers opened his mouth, but whatever he said was lost on Kate as she fought to blink an encroaching darkness away.
She scrubbed at her face, and for a moment the entire world seemed to tilt around her. Suddenly there were strong, slender arms around her shoulders.
Oh. Kate was the one tilting.
She looked up to see Tommy holding her upright. The look of concern that seemed so natural on Billy's face was alien on his.
Kate could put the pieces together, could figure out she started to fall, and could see that Tommy must've rushed to her side as soon as he noticed it.
Dad was quiet as Tommy led her to the couch, where everyone was waiting. Billy vacated his spot by Teddy so Kate could take it, and Tommy helped her sit down.
God, she hated this. She hated being the weakest person on the team, hated having no ability to heal. She hated that the only hits she could take were the social and legal and political ones – not the physical ones like everyone else. Even Cassie, the one with the least ability to heal, could compensate by using her size-changing to lessen the damage from the blows she took.
Everyone had gotten hurt over the long weekend. Kate was the only one who was still hurt, now.
Tommy stepped back, and Rikki sat on Kate's other side, helping her get her jacket off. Everyone winced in unison when they saw the blood on her bandages, and Kate hissed in pain.
"Here," a voice said from beside them. She looked up to see Dr. Banner handing Teddy a souped-up looking First Aid box. Or did that make it a Second Aid box? Looking to Kate, he added, "Take the painkillers, please."
Hands glowing red, Billy manipulated the jacket and scarf through the air to give them a modicum of privacy. Rikki helped peel her out of the remains of her shirt. She and Teddy worked together to get the bandages off, with Billy also moving those aside and folding them up loosely, furthering their illusion of privacy.
Rikki hissed at the popped stitches, and Kate laughed.
"Are you sure you know how to fix those?" Dr. Banner asked, expression dubious.
A week ago, Kate would've squirmed or screamed at the thought of a 40-something man or a teenage boy seeing her shirtless and vulnerable.
She couldn't care less, now.
She just glared at Dr. Banner, who threw his hands up in surrender and backed off.
When he did, she tried to soften her expression. "Thanks," she murmured. After all, he'd been the one who offered to do just two stitches to show Teddy how it's done, then let her own friends take over.
He seemed to know a thing or two about medical paranoia – even when it was unfounded.
She could hear Rogers murmuring something to Romanoff, Barton, and Thor over on the other couch, but she couldn't make out what he was saying. She couldn't see Mr. Stark anywhere, but before she could ask, a cotton swab of burning pain was dabbing at the gash on her side just as the scent of rubbing alcohol hit her nose.
Biting into the flesh of her free, uninjured hand, she keened in pain. Teddy murmured soothing words that went over her head, and then something cool and pasty was being rubbed over it. The throbbing died down after a few moments. She could feel the piercing and tugging as Teddy redid the two stitches, but it didn't hurt as much as before, and she would take what she could get.
As he started to finish, Kate heard a choked sound, and looked up towards it.
She wanted to laugh at the look on Dad's face as her wide scarf and open jacket just floated between them. He stared as her unwound bandages also started floating upwards, snaking around her and Teddy – and almost pointedly cutting her off from Dad.
Kate slowly nodded, because she still had limits. (She was working on them.) Eli got a glass of water from Stark's bar, and Rikki was opening the bottle of painkillers and shaking out two pills for Kate.
"This," Dad said, getting over his shock and waving his hand at her body. "Is why you can't keep doing this!"
"And what, exactly, are you going to do about it?" Kate taunted.
"Two words," Dad said, repeating himself from earlier. "Boarding school."
Kate snorted. "I just broke my friends out of military-complex imprisonment twice in one long weekend, and you think a boarding school can hold me?" She snorted in pointed disbelief. "I hate to break it to you, Daddy, but nothing short of prison is holding me down."
"And even that won't last for long, once we find out where you put her," Teddy chimed in.
Kate grinned at him, at her friends, at her team – all of whom were standing by her (literally!) and glaring at her dad.
Was this what having friends was like? A part of Kate knew they probably were only putting up with her because of the money she could help them out with, and because she was the one who broke them out of prison. It couldn't last and it wouldn't last, it never did. But for now, while she still had them, she was going to enjoy this.
"Face it," Kate challenged her father again. "It's not like you can just hide me away, now. No convenient vacations or 'educational opportunities' for you to shove me into until this blows over. This cat is never going back into the bag."
For a moment, there was an awkward silence, and Kate winced as she realized the implication of what she said.
Maybe it wasn't just SHIELD and HYDRA she'd been protecting the team from, by throwing her identity out into the open.
Taking a deep breath, she instead continued, "Dad, I don't need you to support me, and you don't want to, anyway. I just need you to not interfere – because if you do, then I'll pursue an emancipation."
Her dad's eyebrows went up. "That seems a bit extreme, don't you think?" he said.
"Maybe," she said. "But what would you rather be? The man whose kid helped a team of teen-aged superheroes escape from the clutches of a psychotic Nazi group and uncover multiple conspiracy plots? Or the father who drove his kid out of his home after she did all of that?"
"You talk as if you'll get emancipated," he said with a snort.
Kate clenched her jaw, and pushed herself up against Teddy's steady bulk.
(She smiled when she felt a slight, ethereal push along her spine, and made a mental note to thank Billy later.)
"New York requirements for me to be emancipated minor are for me to have my own home, my own source of income, and basically end up completely independent of you," Kate said. "Or, y'know, enter the military." She took as deep a breath as she could before her side started stinging again. "How much money do you think I could get by agreeing to media appearances? Or if I trademarked myself? Or if I worked as a – what's the word – private contractor? Security consultant? The world's smallest and sexiest bodyguard?"
Off to the side, Barton snorted, and Kate's smirk quirked a little at that. "I mean, I'm going to do at least some of those, now – and I only have to do those until I'm 21 and can access my trust fund from Mom. It won't be difficult for me to find a new place to live on my own. And if worst comes to worst, I think I've proven myself enough that getting into the military wouldn't be a problem for me, either."
She could swear she heard the sound of Barton choking, but she didn't turn around to check. "Honestly, Dad, cut me off now, I'll take me like a month to meet all the requirements, and two to get emancipation." Gesturing towards the switched-off TV, she said, "Think this will have blown over by then?"
Behind Kate, she heard the sound of badly suppressed snickers. In front of her, though, Dad was completely silent as he looked her up and down. He didn't seem to be sure if she was real or not.
"…you've thought of this before, haven't you?" Dad finally said. "Somehow, I doubt you researched this during your little fugitive phase over the weekend."
Kate shut her eyes and took a deep breath.
"I was raped," she said, spitting out the word and trying not to revel in her dad's flinch. "And your first and only response was to say that I shouldn't have been walking alone at night. Of course I fucking thought about it!"
"Language, young lady!" Dad snapped. "And who, exactly, was it that paid for your therapy?"
"After a school counselor told you I needed it!" Kate snapped. "Twice!"
Dad looked ready to keep fighting, but he looked past Kate – at everyone else behind her.
Kate turned to see that all of them were silently staring at Dad. Not quite glaring, just…judging.
Dad always was a pushover.
"…fine," he said. "You're not going to listen to a word I say, anyway." Crossing his arms, he said, "Do what you want, I'll sign off on it. But don't think this means I'm encouraging you or supporting your nonsense."
He pulled out his phone, and sighed at whatever the screen was showing him.
"Now, I'll have to go see if I can salvage something out of being a Young Avenger's father," he muttered. He pursed his lips, looked around, and then told Kate, "Call me when you come home."
There was dead silence throughout the penthouse as Dad turned on his heel and went for the elevator.
"This meeting went well," Kate concluded.
She smiled, pleased at the outcome of events, only to notice the way her team was staring at her. "What?" she asked.
"…you're not being sarcastic, are you?" Billy asked.
"No?" Kate said, confused. "He's not going to ship me off to boarding school and make me deal with breaking back out again. And he's not going to cut me off, money-wise. not yet, anyways, I'm sure he will eventually, but the buffer time will make a huge difference down the road. This meeting went well!"
"You call talks with your dad 'meetings'?" Eli asked incredulously.
Kate frowned, still confused. "Um, yeah? What else are they?"
"Talks with your dad!" Eli said.
"Your dad's kinda fucked up, Princess," Rikki said. "And I think I know a thing or two about fucked-up families. I mean – you're hurt, you've been through hell, and he still yells at you like you're some business partner instead of his daughter."
"I'm not his daughter, I'm a leech," Kate corrected. "Doesn't mean I'm not gonna make the most of it while I have it."
Eli muttered something about white nonsense under his breath. Tommy said, "Okay, I have really low standards after half a life-time of foster care, and even I think your dad's messed up."
Pursing her lips, Kate said, "And? It's what I've got, and I'm going to make the most of it while I still have it."
"Still," Cassie said, looking at the elevators in bewilderment. "He just – left you here?"
"I can get home," Kate started.
"That's not the point!" Cassie cried out. "I mean, my dad's spent a quarter of my childhood in prison and he was more of a father to me than…this!"
Kate shrugged, wondering what the big deal was. "That's great, Cassie, but that's not my dad. Besides, what I lack in loving support for him, I get in money with little to no strings or conditions attached. It's a fair trade-off."
Her team still looked so bewildered, which just made no sense to Kate.
She wasn't an idiot – she knew her allowance was probably bigger than all their families' wealth combined. It wasn't like she was suffering or anything. Rikki's grandpa was an asshole, Teddy's mom turned out to be HYDRA, and Billy and Tommy had run a gamut of foster families before getting adopted. So what if Kate's dad wasn't all lovey-dovey? Why did they look so sad? It's not like she was out on her ass with no one to go to.
Besides, it wasn't like Dad was her only family.
"Hey, Mr. Stark?" Kate asked. "Can I borrow a phone? I think mine is still with my car in Tennessee."
Mr. Stark raised an eyebrow, but rather than ordering one, he pulled out his own from his pocket. "Jay," he called out. "Guest mode, please."
"Of course, Sir," Jonas' dad said. The screen of his phone flashed. When he handed it to her, it looked like it was just bought from a store – despite the fact there was no way in hell this man would be using a regular, commercial phone, even if it was a commercial Stark phone.
"Thanks, Mr. Stark," she said. She looked at ceiling. "Mr. Jarvis? I'm assuming that your guys' creepy file on me includes my sister's phone number…?"
"Indeed it does," he said, sounding amused. A moment later, the phone app was on the screen of the phone, her sister's number waiting for her to hit the green 'Call' button. "I believe your sister is currently participating in a fashion show in Milan."
"Thank you," she said. Her team looked wary, but with a shrug, Kate hit the green button. She had no idea what time it was in Italy, though considering it was morning here in New York, it wasn't something unreasonable.
Kate hoped. Susan deserved to hear this from her. News traveled fast, but Kate doubted this revelation would jump that many time-zones, countries, and oceans in less than an hour.
Thankfully, she picked up.
"Hello, this is Susan Bishop," she started.
"Hey, Susie," Kate cut in. "Guess who?"
"Kate?" Susan asked, surprised. "What happened to your phone?"
"I'm borrowing one," Kate didn't answer. She smirked at her new friends. "Listen, did you hear about a bunch of teenage, Avenger wannabes breaking into an FBI building last night?"
"Yeah," Susan said. "I saw it on the news this morning, why?"
"Well," Kate said. "Guess who got to finally put a decade of martial arts and archery to good use?"
It took only a moment for her implication to sink in.
"WHAT?!"
With a grin, Kate launched into her – heavily edited – account of her new vigilante career.
Might as well practice her story now. She got the feeling she was going to be repeating this story many, many times in her near future.
She was looking forward to it.