The Benatar flew through the cloudy night sky as it and the passengers inside neared Japan.

***The Benatar***

"We're about ten minutes out!" Rocket called out to the other passengers aboard the ship.

Having left the Barton Farmhouse in Missouri, they had gained a new destination: Tokyo, Japan. The objective: finding Frankie, an old friend of theirs, and bring him home.

Kate was nervous out of all of them. She hadn't seen Frankie in years and was genuinely worried about him. And also yes, there was the undeniable crush she had on him that kept coming back and mentally poking her nonstop, and she didn't even know how to feel about that.

"You alright?" Blinking and returning to reality, Kate looked up and saw Jamie stand above where she sat with a concerned look.

"Yeah, just...a bit nervous, that's all." She replied, rubbing her hands together and exhaling a nervous air.

"That's all?" Jamie repeated, taking a seat next to her. A smirk was on his face. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was the look of a girl who is about to see her long-distance crush."

"What?!" The brunette exclaimed, a cape of denial coming over her, "Nah! No way, you're-" but she was cut off by a knowing look from Jamie. His smirk signifies he'd seen right through her façade and to the truth. Letting out a sigh, knowing she could no longer hid or from him, she nodded. "How did you know?"

"My mom was Black Widow. She could read a person before they even said a word. I guess I kinda inherited it from her."

"Huh, no s**t."

"So, you like Frankie, huh?"

It was more of a statement than a question, but the effect it had on Kate was all the same. Choked up with a hard blush. Apparently it was obvious, at least to Jamie, so she couldn't deny it any longer. "Yeah...yeah, I do." she replied with a nod.

"When was the last time you saw him?" Jamie asked.

"About four years ago...He didn't even say goodbye, he just came by my house, left a small package with a note saying that he was going away and didn't know when or if he was coming back...that was the second worse day of my life..."

Hearing that, Jamie became empathetic towards her as he knew exactly what she meant. And he could only imagine what her version of the the same pain was like, but he could also probably relate.

"Well, now there's a chance to change all of that." He said optimistically, a reassuring smile on his face. This made Kate look up at him with worry in her eyes. "If this works, we'll be able to reverse all of the pain and loss. And also, we'll all be together."

The worry in Kate's turned into that of comfort at hearing Jamie's words. She really admired that about him. "You really have a way with words, Jamie." She stared with a new smile.

Jamie smiles back at that. "Well, that I probably get from my dad," he replied, lightly shrugging his shoulders.

The two shared a laugh as that until they heard the call of the "raccoon" up above. "We're here!"

When they found a landing spot, the steps were opened and Jamie, Brian cue and Kate walked down the steps to the ground below. As they did however, the heard the sounds of gunfire going off in the distance.

Instantly knowing who the cause of it was, Jamie stated, "That's him...that's Frankie."

Kate replied with a silent nod as they all looked in the direction of the sounds. Somehow, she knew it was true. She just did.

Jamie took another step down but was stopped by a hand from Kate. "Let me go," she said.

A look of hesitancy and worry came to Jamie and Bruce as they shared a look before looking back to Kate. "Kate, are you sure?" Bruce asked.

With a light shrug, Kate exhaled and nodded as she mentally prepared herself. "It has to be me."

Not wanting to argue, Jamie handed Kate an umbrella, hoping she would be ok. The two shared a mutual nod, and off she went, running towards the danger as lightning struck above.

***Tokyo Streets***

Thunder clapped in the sky as rain began to pour. The sounds of gunshots and grunts were filled the streets outside of a club. Not something you'd usually hear at a club, but that was because this one had a special kind of visitor.

"Aitsu da, Rōnin! Akihiko-san wo!"(It's him, the Ronin! He's after Akihiko!) they cried out, continuing their firing. Bot not for long as their target had stopped them with shurikens.

This target, the "he" they were referring to, was a vigilante. Not just any vigilante though, this one had created quite a name for himself: Ronin. He had been tracking them and hunting them all down, one by one, working his way to the leader. Didn't take long him long t found him, and now, he was here to exact judgment.

Bursting through a window on the second floor was the one they called Akihiko, a Yakuza leader and the current target of this vigilante. This...Ronin. As he jumped, he landed on his feet on the ground below, his katana in hand.

But the sound of another landing on the street behind him made his spine stiffen. Standing upright and pulling out his katana, he turned to his pursuer and spoke, "Temē naze konna koto wo suru? Oretachi temē ni nani mo shitenē daro!" (Why are you doing this? We never did anything to you!)

Through the eyes of his mask, his pursuer glared at him with the look of a hunter in them. Unsheathing his own katana, one of unique design, the Ronin stood firm and replied, "Chikyū no hanbun sanosu ni yarareta... Omae wa naze buji nano." (You survived, half of the planet didn't. They got Thanos...you get me.)

Akihiko struck first, much ferocity in his swift movements, to which the Ronin retaliated and blocked his strike. Another blow came, and then another before he looped his opponent's sword around, elbowing his head, and kicking him away, but not before delivering a swipe to the abdomen. The cut leaving Akihiko to grab his stomach with gritted teeth. The cut wasn't deep, but still hurt nonetheless.

"Omae mo jūbun korshita daro." (You're done hurting people.) the Ronin stated.

"Orera ga dato?!" Akihiko exclaimed, he then gestured to all the scattered bodies of his henchmen around them and let out a sinister chuckle. "Ki demo kurutta ka!(WEhurt people?!You're crazy!)

He then stuck again, but was met with an equally hard strike that clashed his and Ronin's katanas as the two pushed behind their weapons. One that Ronin was winning until Akihiko used his other hand to smack down Ronin's, but he stopped by a punch to the chest and his opponent's sword pointed directly at his head. An act that made him step back a bit with hands out, almost surrender-like...almost.

Striking again, Akihiko wacked away Ronin's blade once again before bringing his own down. It was met with his oppenents again, and again, and AGAIN until the Ronin swiftly backhanded Akihiko's face, using the moment to deliver another cut, this time to the right love handle.

Stepping back a bit, the Ronin waited for his opponents to come again. To which, he did. But the Ronin was ready. As Akihiko charged at him, the Ronin waited for the right moment to move before swiftly delivering one final cut, this time to the neck.

The swift injury made Akihiko drop to his knees and reach to his throat. In desperation, he reached out to the Ronin and begged. "Mate! Tasukete kure! Omae ni nan demo yaru! Nani ga hosī?" (Wait! Help me! I'll give you anything! What do you want?)

But his plea fell upon uncaring ears, ones that were intent on finishing the job. "What I want... You can't give me." he stated before raising his katana and vanquishing his foe with one final swipe of his blade. He retracted it and wiped it on his gauntlet, relieving it of its new red stains.

As he did, he began to feel a presence, the feeling of being watched. Slowly turning his head, he saw someone, a girl, standing a few feet away under an umbrella.

At first, he thought it was a passerby, shocked by the actions just displayed. But he was surprised by her beginning to step towards him. As she did, he began to see her face more clearer from the streetlight until finally she stopped. Gazing at her intently, it clicked off in his head as he suddenly recognized her. "Kate?"

The brunette's heart halfway leaped for joy at the sound of her estranged childhood best friend saying her name and recognizing her as well. "Frankie..." she replied, a bit relieved.

Though he was genuinely happy to see her, Frankie's walls came up as he turned away and hung his heavy head.

"You shouldn't be here." he stated.

"Neither should you." she calmly retorted, "You should be home with-" she cut herself. She had almost 'with your family', but remembered the cold sad reality of that. Another part of her wanted to say 'with me', but caught it before she did. She really did want him back at the house where she was now living, to be with her. But her beating heart held her from opening up at the risk of the pain of rejection. "-you should be home."

With walls of his own, Frankie shook his head and looked away from the girl. "I'm working."

"Is that what you call this? Killing all of these people, it won't bring your family back."

Frankie knew that, but still didn't care. It slightly helped with his rage, slightly. And besides, they were bad people. "It's something," he retorted, "besides, there's nothing for me back home."

Hearing that made Kate think back to the why she was there, why her and those she came with were there. "What if there was?"

That made Frankie look back to her. "Some friends of yours came by the house, they said they'd found something. It might be a way to bring your family back...to bring everyone back."

The more he heard her talk, the more Frankie's heart ached. He did miss his family dearly, but he never really took the time to stop and grieve. He had bottled those emotions up and pushed them down so deep, never a once touching them. But now, those new words of hope from Kate were playing on the strings of his heart. "Don't..." he pleaded.

"Don't what?" Kate asked, slowly walking the rest of the way to him.

"Don't give me hope...please..." His tears mixed with the rain as his emotions began to break free.

With tears of her own coming up, the brunette put a caring hand on her best friend's shoulder. "I'm sorry I couldn't give it to you sooner." And with that, she dropped the umbrella and pulled Frankie into a tight hug, one that he didn't take long to reciprocate. The two began to get soaked as they stood there, embracing in the rain. But that didn't matter a bit to them. "Will you come back...please?"

"...okay."

The moment he said that, Kate's heart lifted and beat even faster, and she let out a chestful of air, feeling a load of weight leaving her immediately and her heart racing from the relief that her crush...that her childhood best friend, was coming home. As she held Frankie in her arms and he held her in his, she couldn't help but let out her next words. "I missed you, Frankie."

Like floodgates opening, the blonde's tears came out and down and mixed with the rain coming down on them. "...I missed you too, Kate..."

And they held each other in the rain, each a both a source of comfort for the other.

Having successfully acquired her best friend, Kate headed back to the ship with Frankie, hand in hand.

As they walked up to it, Frankie's confusion was coming up.

"Wait a minute," he said, halting their steps just before they reached the jet. "that's...that's a spaceship!"

"Yep."

"Wait, what friends were you talking about again?"

Kate never really got to explain the nature of the idea, they had just began to walk and not another word was exchanged between the two. But as soon as she was about to answer, the ramp of the ship began to lower to the ground before them and became steps to walk on.

A person with red hair came walking down the steps to meet them. Walking up to them, this guy had a smile on his face as he looked to Frankie. But the blonde warrior almost immediately recognized the kid thanks to the red hair. "...Jamie?"

The Rogers boy smiled even more at hearing his "cousin" again, even more so that he recognized him. "Hey Frankie, long time, no see."

He went in for a hug and embraced the blonde, to which Frankie soon returned.

"Well well, look who grew up!" They heard behind them. Breaking the hug, the two looked to a green giant behind them. Yet, the green skin, the voice and the face all together helped Frankie realize who it was. "Uncle Bruce?!"

"Heheh, yeah. That's me."

"But...but how?"

"Eh, it's a long story." Bruce shrugged,
scratching the back of his neck, "we'll explain it to you on the way back home."

Hearing that word made Frankie's eyes go wide and his heart beat as he thought of it. "Home..." a small smile came to him as he said it out loud.

And with that, they all walked up the ramp of the ship and the ship's engine turned over and they began for their next destination.

"Alright, hang on, guys!" Rocket called out, steering the ship upwards back into the night sky to their next destination. "Alright Jamie, which way to Wakanda?"

"Wakanda?" Frankie repeated, "where's that?"

"Africa," Jamie's replied before giving Rocket the coordinates, "Yeah, trust me, you're gonna love it. It's great."

Unsure but still curious, Frankie shrugged and sat back, settling into his seat. As he did, he felt a hand on his. Looking to his side, he saw Kate seated next to him, her soft hand on his gloved one. A smile coming to him once again, he lifted his hands, which worried Kate at first, but she was calmed by the sight of Frankie taking off his gloves and retaking her hand.

Safe to say, the ride was a really peaceful and enjoyable one for Kate and Frankie, the Ronin.

And now we've got a Ronin, our new Hawkeye! This one was something, seeing Kate and Frankie interact and acknowledgement of her crush on him, but not TO HIM actually. I'm gonna have fun working with these two more in the future. I hope y'all liked this chapter and the interaction within.

LMK what y'all thought, please! 🙏 🙏 🙏

The next chapter will be along soon, and I'm looking forward to that one. 😁😁 I hope y'all are doing ok and that you're all staying safe. 👍 Laters!