ya_assemble | [AI] If there was a better way to go then it would find me

He looked young for his age, it was true, but fuck's sake, he's not that young.

Clint gets deposited at the same time, stumbling and coming up in a crouch with an arrow on the string and another pinched between his fingers so he can draw again in next to an instant.

He's not wearing his costume, just jeans and a (purple) t-shirt, but he's got his bow, at least.

"Who you callin' kid, kid?" he asks, slightly insulted. This girl is barely older than him, if at all.

She doesn't jerk her bow up again, though she's tempted to. Doubling the level of threat in this situation won't help... though she can't help that notice that he actually knows what he's doing, that his form is excellent and she has no doubt he can get that second arrow on the string in an instant.

So that's weird.

"Uh... you." She pauses, and then adds, trying to bring his hackles down a bit, "I'm Hawkeye."

Edited 2015-03-03 12:14 (UTC)

Clint immediately looks like the most insulted and put-upon person in the entire world. Hawkeye? Oh, he'll make her regret that choice. Probably.

"Well, that seems unlikely, since I'M Hawkeye."

She stares at him for a second, and then laughs. Pretty hard, actually. He's joking, right? That has to be a joke.

"Okay, who are you really? You're good, but you're not a Hawkeye yet."

What the hell is this girl going on about?

"Well, I've been Hawkeye for quite a while," he says, deeply insulted. "Never heard of another one, before. Carnie with a heart of gold, one of the Avengers serving under Captain America... I'm probably more legit than you, asshole."

...well that takes her aback a little. Mostly because that time, he actually sounded like Clint, and no one would be stupid enough to actually claim that history unless it were actually his.

She'd only seen Hawkeye in his mask when he first joined the Avengers, so she can't match this face up to his. If she tilts her head and squints a little, she can sort of see the Clint she knows in this guy... but he's so tiny, he has such a baby face, it's difficult.

"There's room for more than one Hawkeye in the world," she points out carefully, shifting her grip on her bow without putting the arrow away. She probably should, but she's actually not sure he's not going to attempt to shoot her, and if he does, she'd at least like the chance to kneecap him or something. "What's your name? Your actual name. I'm Kate."

It's not like anyone who cares couldn't find out her name pretty easily anyway. Secret identities don't mean much when you don't wear a mask anymore and you're a darling of the New York paparazzi.

If nothing else, he does lower his bow enough that he's not treating her as an immediate threat. That doesn't kill the suspicious look he's levelling at her, though.

"Clint," he says, because if she was gonna level with him, he could return the favor at least. "And, uh, no there's not, thank you very much. I'm Hawkeye, and while I'm totally appreciative of you as a fan of mine, that name is mine."

Well, at least he's not actively attempting to perforate her anymore, so maybe they can actually talk. She steps a little closer - slowly, so if he flips out and acts like he's going to shoot her again she can back off or talk him down.

"Ohhhkay, I was kind of worried about that." It's fine, she can deal with weird timeline shit. She dealt with freaking Nate-slash-Kang-slash-whoever and his bullshit, she can sort this out. "How old are you? 'Cause the Clint I know's thirty-something, and he gave me that name."

She pauses, lips pressed together, and adds with a sigh, "Or, actually, Captain America gave it to me. Clint just didn't argue when he came back. He's my friend. Or you are, when you're older."

"Why would I give some rich bitch my hard-earned stage name?" Clint drops his bow the rest of the way, looking and sounding legitimately baffled. "Why would Cap give away my name? I'm kind of using it."

He doesn't answer her question, though, because fuck that. Between her gear, her clothes, her hair, and her manicure, he can tell she hasn't done much in the way of "manual labor", even if she does hold the bow like a natural. Rich. Or at least, richer than he's ever been, even as a superhero.

"How old are you? Still in prep school, or already started at some fancy college?"

Kate sucks in a breath at that, drawing herself up, her whole body tensing and holding just on the edge of violence. She's heard it before - it stings of Eli, early on, the sneer in his voice that always made her want to knock his teeth in - but it feels worse coming from Clint. Even a young Clint who doesn't know her, who has no reason to think she's anything else...

The fingernails digging into the palm of her free hand drag her back to reality, and she decides not to punch him. Yet. But when she speaks, it's through clenched teeth, and she steps close enough to be a little threatening and say it into his face.

"No. I've been busy being an Avenger for the past five years." Well. Young Avenger, only technically a full Avenger and she's never officially served on the team... but her team's at least as experienced as the actual Avengers were when he was this young. She figures the technicalities don't matter much. "What about you? How long's it been since you were a wanted criminal? Or... are you not out of that phase yet?"

Clint takes half a step back when she gets in his face, honestly a little intimidated by the sudden ferocity of her approach. He's ready to just raise his hands and try to charm her into being less in-his-face, even if she's full of shit, but then she brings up... that.

And he gets angry.

"Well, at least I was never in a compulsive lying phase like you, lady," he all-but-shouts back, getting in her face right back. "The Avengers haven't even existed for five years, let alone employed some knock-off hack like you!"

Deep breaths, Kate. Deep breaths and self control and not breaking your mentor's nose just because he happens to be a tiny dumbass at the moment.

...on the other hand, his nose is weirdly straight-looking right now. It could use a few more breaks, just for familiarity's sake.

Instead, her hand snaps out to grab his collar - there's really no need to drag him any closer, but at least the threat of half-choking him gives her a little control over the situation.

"Listen, you little punk. You're an Avenger, which means that the weird time travel shit? Happens. All the time. Learn to suck it up and stop being offended by the future's existence. And second, I would love to prove how freaking wrong you are and teach you just who is the superior Hawkeye, but that's going to have to futzing wait."

She releases him and rocks back on her heels, sucking in a breath and trying to get herself to calm down. It's hard. It's really hard. God, she'd forgotten how easily Clint can get under her skin when they're not getting along - especially when he's this young and dumb, apparently.

"Because I feel like standing on the street screaming at each other when we don't know where we are or what weird time-slash-interdimensional travel nonsense is going on is a really bad idea. Don't you think, Hawkeye?"

She is so. So lucky. That Clint doesn't hit girls. Unless they're being evil, but that's a different thing. This is just annoying.

He wants to punch her. He wants to keep yelling and he wants to prove she's wrong. But he has grown as a person! He... is imagining the disapproving look of Steve's if he keeps yelling in the street and giving the Avengers a bad name.

Plus, knockoff rich bitch is right - having an argument in the middle of the street when he has no idea when or where he is, or when/where his team is? Not the brightest of ideas.

He doesn't like having to make that call himself, because he prefers to just plow ahead until Steve says "stop", but what can you do? He should be mature, and professional, and show Knockoff Lady that he's a better Avenger than she's deluded herself into thinking she is.

"Fine." He grits his teeth, takes a deep breath, and puts on his showman's smile. It's... both startlingly believable and likely to be unsettling to Kate, who's used to his more self-deprecating smiles when he's trying to pretend everything's fine. "What do you suggest we do?"

She eyes him for a moment, weirdly unsettled by the smile - it's so far from the one she knows, it grates as false, makes the hair stand up on the back of her neck because something's wrong. Of course it's wrong. Everything's wrong with this.

She composes herself, though, straightening her back and smiling right back. It's her sharp-edged camera smile, warm enough to fool most people with teeth behind it.

"This looks like it's still New York. Sort of. So I think the first step is finding someone who can tell us if there's an Avengers Tower, or an Avengers Mansion, or something, and working from there. We can't be the only heroes here. That's not how these things work."

He sees the teeth. Somehow that, along with her willingness to get in his face, is what makes him feel like she might be worth listening to.

That probably says something about him.

"So we ask someone which way to go to find wherever they are in this New York, and they can sort things out," Clint finishes, then adds under his breath, "and dispel your delusions of being Hawkeye..."

"Oh, will you let it go?" she growls as she turns to stalk off down the street in search of someone who looks like they might be helpful to them. "You don't see Cap complaining when someone else picks up the shield. But no, I have to pick this futzing jerk to name myself after..."

Most of the last part was more to herself than Clint, but it's loud enough that he can hear. She could have been Mockingbird. Don't make her regret her choices.

"As if Cap would let anyone else do that." Clint sounds so, so sure as he follows her as casually as he can muster under the circumstances. It's almost a shame to smack him upside the head with reality. Almost.

"And seriously, futzing? Wow, what, do you do children's parties or something? Fuckin' ridiculous."

"I picked it up from you, jackass. So I don't know, you futzing tell me. Now shut up and try to look like a dumb tourist. It shouldn't be hard for you."

There's a guy hanging outside a convenience store who looks like he might be useful. The bows are a little weird for a pair of lost tourists, but whatever, it's New York. Maybe. She hopes.

"Hi! So we're a little turned around..."

Five minutes later they have confirmation that Avengers Tower exists, and a set of directions Kate's pretty sure she can follow, though the geography's off from the city she knows. Mission accomplished - they'll have this sorted out in no time.

(You'd think her time in California would have taught her to be a little less cocky. You would be, in most cases, very wrong about that.)

It's not a very long walk. Okay, it's kind of a long walk, a good half hour, but it's an easy walk, and Clint mostly spends it ignoring Kate and pretending he's not sulking, and also trying to make sense of all this.

She's right, as much as he hates to admit it - she has more information than he does. She clearly knows who he is, and she's clearly comfortable in her role, which means that she can't be from anything other than his future, or a possible future, because he hasn't been a hero long enough for a copycat to feel that familiar.

It rankles, but it also makes him feel a little protective - doesn't help that she's gorgeous and confident and probably able to kick his ass with one hand behind her back, like Natasha was.

Even if he doesn't like her, Hawkeyes should probably stick together. Not that he'll tell her that, but as they come up to the building, he's come to the conclusion that he's going to give her shit for the name, but wait and see how she shoots and fights before he gives her shit for anything else.

"...Okay, I'll admit," he says, looking up at Avengers Tower, "This is a lot fancier than I was expecting."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject