Chapter Text
Kate Bishop hated public relations.
Which was unfortunate, because she was currently trapped in a conference room at Avengers Tower with six Avengers staring at her.
"No."
"Kate—"
"No."
"Just hear us out."
"No."
Across the table, Sam Wilson sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"We haven't even explained it yet."
"I know exactly what you're going to say."
Kate pointed accusingly around the room.
"The Avengers need positive media coverage after the disaster in Singapore. The public is angry. Governments are angry. Half the internet thinks we're secretly running a shadow government. So now someone has decided the solution is to parade the Young Avengers around like a marketing campaign."
Silence.
Then Scott Lang slowly raised a finger.
"Okay, that's... weirdly accurate."
Kate groaned.
Three weeks earlier a battle against an interdimensional threat had leveled several city blocks. Nobody had died.
Which, by superhero standards, counted as a victory.
Unfortunately, most normal people didn't judge success on a curve that included alien invasions.
The public wanted answers.
The Avengers wanted goodwill.
The media wanted a story.
And somehow all three had landed on Kate.
"No," she repeated.
Sam leaned forward.
"Kate."
"No."
"You are literally proving why we need this."
"I'm proving I have common sense."
Carol Danvers laughed.
"She's got a point."
"Thank you."
"But you're still doing it."
Kate glared.
Traitor.
Sam slid a folder across the table.
"The magazine already has interviews scheduled."
Kate didn't touch it.
"Great."
"Kamala did hers yesterday."
Kate blinked.
"Wait. Kamala agreed?"
"Immediately."
"Of course she did."
"America did hers."
"Seriously?"
"Five minutes."
"That sounds more like America."
"Cassie did hers."
Kate looked genuinely horrified.
"Cassie voluntarily talked to reporters?"
"Apparently she likes attention."
From the far corner Scott raised both hands.
"I have no idea where she gets that."
Everyone ignored him.
Sam continued.
"Wiccan and Teddy already finished."
Kate stared.
"So literally everyone said yes."
"They were told it was important."
Kate narrowed her eyes.
"So they were manipulated."
"They were persuaded."
"Manipulated."
"Persuaded."
"Manipulated."
Sam sighed.
"Kate."
She folded her arms.
"No."
There was a brief pause.
Then Bucky Barnes spoke for the first time.
"You already know you're going to do it."
Kate turned.
"What?"
"You wouldn't still be arguing if you weren't going to do it."
The room immediately became interested in literally anything else.
Because Bucky had a terrible habit of being right.
Kate hated when he did that.
After several seconds she groaned.
"Oh my God."
Nobody said anything.
Kate pointed at them.
"I hate all of you."
"Noted," Sam said.
"Especially you."
Bucky shrugged.
The journalist arrived the following Monday.
His name was Daniel Cross.
Award-winning.
Pulitzer winner.
Known for long-form profiles that dug deep beneath public personas.
Which immediately made Kate suspicious.
The magazine wanted a feel-good story about the next generation of heroes.
Daniel apparently wanted something else.
The first week was easy enough.
Because he wasn't following Kate.
He was interviewing everyone else.
Kamala gave him enthusiastic tours of community outreach programs.
Cassie talked about balancing college and hero work.
America discussed protecting people across dimensions.
Billy and Teddy somehow turned their interview into a discussion about hope and responsibility.
The resulting material was exactly what the Avengers wanted.
Bright.
Optimistic.
Inspiring.
The future looked safe in their hands.
Then Daniel started following Kate.
And everything immediately became more complicated.
The first day was mostly observation.
Kate expected questions.
Instead Daniel watched.
Training sessions.
Patrols.
Meetings.
Paperwork.
A ridiculous amount of paperwork.
By lunch she was annoyed enough to finally ask.
"Are you planning to interview me?"
Daniel looked up from his notebook.
"I am."
"Then why haven't you asked anything?"
"I'm waiting."
"For what?"
"The point where you stop performing."
Kate nearly choked on her coffee.
"I'm not performing."
"Everyone performs."
"I'm not."
"You know I'm writing about you."
"Unfortunately."
"So you're giving me the version of Kate Bishop you think should be in a magazine."
Kate frowned.
Daniel smiled slightly.
"I'd rather meet the real one."
Kate decided she hated him.
The interview itself didn't happen until the tenth day.
It started in one of the quieter lounges in Avengers Tower.
Just two chairs.
A recorder.
A notebook.
And far too much eye contact.
Daniel switched on the recorder.
"Let's start simple."
Kate groaned.
"Those are always the dangerous questions."
"What motivates you?"
See?
Dangerous.
Kate leaned back.
"Helping people."
Daniel waited.
She frowned.
"What?"
"That's the answer every hero gives."
"Because it's true."
"I know."
He tilted his head.
"But why is it true for you?"
Kate stared.
He stared back.
The silence stretched.
Finally she sighed.
"I was thirteen."
Daniel didn't interrupt.
"During the Chitauri invasion."
His expression softened slightly.
Kate looked toward the window.
Toward New York.
Toward memories she could still see when she closed her eyes.
"I remember the sky opening."
Her voice had become quieter.
"I remember people screaming."
Images flashed through her mind.
Buildings collapsing.
Smoke.
Fire.
Aliens.
The end of the world.
"And then I saw Hawkeye."
Daniel's pen paused.
Kate laughed softly.
"Sounds stupid when I say it out loud."
"It doesn't."
"He wasn't the strongest Avenger."
"No."
"He wasn't a god."
"No."
"He couldn't fly."
Daniel smiled.
"No."
"He wasn't a super soldier."
Kate looked down.
"He was just a guy."
A small smile appeared.
"A guy standing between aliens and innocent people with a bow."
Daniel said nothing.
Kate continued.
"I remember watching him and thinking..."
She hesitated.
"...if he can stand there, maybe normal people matter too."
The room had gone quiet.
"He was surrounded by gods."
She laughed softly.
"And somehow he still belonged."
Daniel scribbled something.
Kate immediately regretted talking.
Then he asked another question.
"What happened three months later?"
The smile vanished.
Instantly.
Kate stared at him.
Daniel didn't look away.
The question hung between them.
Eventually she sighed.
"You did your research."
"I did."
Kate rubbed the back of her neck.
For a long moment she considered refusing to answer.
Then she remembered she'd already come this far.
"I was attacked."
Daniel remained silent.
"In Central Park."
Her voice sounded strangely distant.
"One minute everything was normal."
She swallowed.
"The next..."
Memories she hated surfaced.
Fear.
Panic.
Helplessness.
"I couldn't do anything."
The words came out quietly.
"I hated that."
Daniel waited.
Kate stared at the floor.
"You grow up hearing heroes save people."
She laughed bitterly.
"They do."
Another pause.
"But sometimes they're not there."
The room felt smaller now.
"Sometimes nobody comes."
Daniel wrote something down.
Kate continued before she could stop herself.
"I remember feeling helpless."
Her hands tightened.
"I remember realizing nobody was going to save me."
The confession felt uncomfortable.
Raw.
Honest.
"And afterward I decided I never wanted to feel that way again."
Daniel finally spoke.
"So you started training."
Kate nodded.
"Archery."
A small smile.
"Then martial arts."
Another.
"Then sword fighting."
Another.
"Then basically everything else."
"To protect yourself?"
Kate considered it.
"At first."
She looked out the window again.
"But eventually it became something else."
"What?"
Kate's voice softened.
"I figured if I felt that helpless..."
She hesitated.
"...other people probably did too."
Daniel stopped writing.
"And I couldn't save everyone."
A humorless laugh escaped her.
"Still can't."
She looked down.
"But maybe I could save somebody."
The room went quiet again.
Daniel glanced at his notes.
Then asked the question Kate had been dreading.
"Do you think you're living up to Clint Barton's legacy?"
Kate immediately laughed.
A short, incredulous sound.
"No."
The answer came too quickly.
Too honestly.
Daniel noticed.
"So that's a concern."
"A concern?"
Kate shook her head.
"It's a nightmare."
He raised an eyebrow.
Kate groaned.
"Great."
"You can elaborate."
"I really don't want to."
"That's usually when people say the important things."
Kate glared.
Daniel smiled.
She hated that smile.
Finally she sighed.
"Clint Barton saved the world."
"Several times."
"Exactly."
She pointed at him.
"Exactly."
Her voice grew more frustrated.
"He fought gods."
She counted on her fingers.
"Aliens."
Another finger.
"Robots."
Another.
"World-ending disasters."
Another.
"And somehow people expect me to replace him."
Daniel watched carefully.
Kate looked away.
"I'm just..."
She stopped.
The words felt embarrassing.
"I'm just me."
Silence.
"That's all."
Daniel waited.
Kate laughed bitterly.
"Every time I walk into a room people see Hawkeye."
Her voice had become quieter.
"They see Clint's successor."
She looked down.
"I see someone pretending."
The confession surprised even her.
Daniel didn't say anything.
So she kept talking.
"Half the team can punch through concrete."
A humorless smile.
"America can literally tear holes through reality."
Another.
"Billy rewrites the laws of physics on weekends."
Another.
"And I'm standing there with arrows."
Daniel finally spoke.
"And yet you're the leader."
Kate groaned.
"Please don't remind me."
"Why does that bother you?"
"Because they deserve someone better."
The answer came instantly.
Without thought.
Without hesitation.
And once it was out, Kate couldn't take it back.
The room became silent.
Daniel looked at her carefully.
Kate suddenly wished she could disappear.
"I'm going to regret saying all of this."
"You probably are."
"Great."
"But it's honest."
Kate laughed.
"That's not actually making me feel better."
Daniel clicked his pen.
"No?"
"No."
He smiled slightly.
"I think people will understand."
Kate shook her head.
"That's what I'm afraid of."
The recorder continued running.
Capturing every insecurity.
Every doubt.
Every fear.
Neither of them knew it yet.
But the article that emerged from this interview would be nothing like the puff piece the Avengers had commissioned.
And when it was published, it would change Kate Bishop's life forever