New Chapter. It's taking so much longer to get through this story than any of the others. I know where I want to go but I'm having trouble with motivation to write it. Let me know if you guys even want me to continue it. I'm seriously thinking about just taking all my stories down.
Anyways, as always, please review :)
Kate scanned the area through the windshield, looking through the soft snowflakes falling around the car. For the City that Never Sleeps, New York was oddly quiet tonight. The snowstorm had shut down so much, but it wasn't hard for Kate to spot the business that were still dealing in the shadows.
~ "Ned." Kate shook her friend awake, trying not to sound too out of control. "Please, wake up."
Ned blinked sleepily at her. "Kate, what's wrong?" He asked.
"I need you to lock the door behind me." Kate whispered. "I have to go find Peter."
That woke Ned up a little more as he looked past her for his best friend. "Where's Peter at?" He asked in concern now seeing her uniform instead of her street clothes.
Kate cringed. "We had a fight. I promise I'll explain it all later, but I have to go Ned." She said urgently.
"I'll go with you." Ned said sitting up. "I can help."
"No." Kate whispered firmly. "The city isn't safe right now. I'll bring him back I promise, but please, just lock the door when I leave." ~
Her phone rang for the thousandth time, she answered, placing it on the center console on speaker. "Not now." She replied.
"Yes now." Clint sounded pissed. Well good, so was she.
"No." She spoke clearly. "Not now." She could imagine the looks of shock. "I am going to attempt to fix this. I told you what would happen if we did it this way! I just can't believe I went along with it." She smacked the steering wheel with her palm. "I fucking told you!"
"You we're right." Steve spoke next in a placating tone that she immediately resented. "But let us find him Kate, you don't know what kind of state he's in right now."
Kate paused in disbelief at the implication. "He's not a threat Steve." She replied sharply.
"Your interaction on the roof says otherwise." Clint replied.
Tony started to say something (probably in Peter's defense) but Kate cut him off. "Are you hearing yourself?!" She cried in outrage. "This is Peter you're talking about! He wouldn't hurt me."
"Maybe not intentionally." Bucky's words were quiet, but it gave her a brief pause. "But if he truly loses it and goes after Fisk, there's no guarantee you'll escape the crossfire."
Kate contemplated it for a long moment as she pulled the car over and parked. "I'm willing to take that chance." She replied as she removed her Widow's Bites. It took her seconds to disable the tracker she knew was there.
"Kate!" She heard the alarm in Clint's voice as the tracker went dead.
"We did it your way." Kate replied calmly. "Now we do it mine." She disconnected the line before activating her own program to scramble her location.
She left the car, walking into the shadows.
…
Kate sighed as she walked across the snow-covered gravel pathway. Flexing her shoulders, to ward off the ache, she could feel the bruise forming over her side and could still feel the sting of the split above her eye.
Fucking Tracksuits. She thought scathingly.
~ "Boss would like a word."
Kate looked at the brainless thugs as they attempted to surround her. "Your boss is currently behind bars." She replied.
"Not for long." The biggest goon replied.
Not a braincell in the bunch. She thought in annoyance. "Well, when he's actually out I'll put something in the calendar." She replied. They showed no sign of budging, one actually had the audacity to crack his knuckles like he was going to hurt her. Her tone was carefully controlled but hinted at her anger. "Listen carefully boys, today is not the day and I am not the one."
Did they accept that warning? Of course not. ~
The only thing bringing her joy right now was the pile of broken bodies she had left in the street. That would take them a while to recover from.
Walking through the trees in the softly falling snow, it didn't take long of following the familiar path to find the lone figure she was looking for. While the team was watching the locations, they figured he would go to, Kate knew there was really only one place he would have ended up.
"How did you know I would be here?" Peter asked without looking up from May's grave.
Kate shrugged though he didn't see it. "I know you better than you think." She replied.
Peter didn't reply but continued to stare at the headstone. He didn't tell her to leave though.
Taking a deep breath, Kate let it out slowly. "Whether you believe me or not Peter I did fight to tell you the truth." She spoke quietly, not wanting to disturb the silence too much. "I won't lie and say a part of me hoped that he had died in the RAFT, and you wouldn't have ever had to know."
"But he didn't die." Peter said matter-of-factly.
"No." Kate acknowledged. "We almost have enough to legally tie him to Fisk, but we aren't there yet and we're running out of time."
"How long until Fisk gets out?" Peter asked.
"24 hours, maybe." Kate replied.
"Unless we stop him." Peter said quietly.
Kate looked at the back of his head. "And how do you mean by stop?" She asked. She had detached, she was staring at him not with panic thinking about what he'll choose but knowing regardless of the choice she would help.
…
Her heart was beating in a steady rhythm as she asked for clarification. It was different than hearing the way her heart had hammered against her ribs in fear not that long ago. Truthfully, Peter wasn't sure what he had meant as he just focused on the sound of her heart and her breathing; he felt numb at the moment.
"He's the one behind May's death?" Peter felt like his throat was raw though he had barely spoken.
There was a brief pause. "Yes, he is." Kate's heart continued its steady pace.
"He should suffer." Peter spoke through gritted teeth as his hands clenched. "He should pay for what he did."
The silence that followed was deafening, but he could still hear her heart.
Eventually, Kate sighed. "Peter, you have to make a choice and end this one way or another. If you choose that you want to end it by ending Fisk, I'll get you through Ryker's security and take you to his cell myself." Numb or not, he couldn't help the shiver that went up his spine at the cold way she said the words. "However," His ears pricked at the slight change in her tone, something a bit more…hopeful? "I don't think that is going to be your choice."
"What makes you say that?" Peter asked.
"The same way I knew to look for you hear rather than the prison to begin with." Kate replied. "Everyone else is looking at the prison, looking at crime central, even looking at where they know Fisk's wife and son are. They're looking there because that's what they would do." Peter tilted his head slightly, listening intently. "You aren't them; you aren't me; you're you. You don't become the hero that this city admires by taking revenge. But more then that, you know what she would say." Peter looked at the tombstone, the inscriptions carved in as the only marker for who was there. "No matter how mad you are, you are constantly striving to make her proud."
Peter felt his eyes burn with tears, obscuring his vision. He sunk down onto the ground, hanging his head as he squeezed his eyes shut, letting the tears fall. He did feel deeply ashamed for having the thought of killing Fisk, but sitting here, he could hear May telling him to be good, and that revenge wasn't the way. The guilt of nearly letting May down was crushing his lungs.
He could hear her boots crunch softly in the snow as she approached, kneeling next to him but not touching him. When her arms tentatively wrapped around him, he leaned to the side, his head resting against her chest, the sound of her heart now directly under his ear. Between that, and her fingers gently carding through his hair, he eventually felt like he could breathe again.
After what could have been hours, but was probably no more than ten minutes, Peter sat up slightly and her arms slipped from around his shoulders as she sat back on her heels.
He finally looked up at her. Kate's eyes were over-bright, though she didn't shed a tear. However, his eyes were drawn to the no longer bleeding split in skin just beneath her eyebrow. He felt a new panic set in. "What happened?" He asked reaching for her face, but she caught his hand.
"I'm fine." She replied. "The others look much worse."
Others. She had been attacked because she was looking for him. Remembering her on the ground because he pushed her, his guilt began to chew up his insides all over again.
Suddenly, he felt a poke right to the forehead. Looking up at her in surprise, she leveled him with a single look.
…
She saw it, the moment he began to spiral again, but for an entirely different reason. Without hesitation, she jabbed him in the forehead with a finger, making him look at her in shock. "Stop that." She demanded. "You aren't responsible for these. As for the roof, I've fallen harder just ice skating." She reached up and cupped his face in her hands. "You could never hurt me."
…
Deep down, he knew she was wrong. He was capable of hurting people, but the idea of hurting her made him lock up to the point he couldn't breathe.
His hand cupped her non-injured jaw gently, like glass. "Your lips are turning blue." He said quietly. "We should get inside."
Before they left the cemetery, both teens laid a hand on May's tombstone, saying goodbye for now. They walked out together, and Peter held up an arm in a silent offer, half expecting her to refuse. She stepped up to him without hesitation, her arms wrapping around him and his arm squeezing her tightly before he pointed his web shooter up. Kate simply pressed her face into his neck to avoid the cold wind.
It was late, they couldn't return to Ned's apartment tonight, so Peter settled on the next best thing. Landing on the fire escape, he eased the window to his old bedroom open and helped Kate climb in first before following.
Kate shivered, crossing her arms across her chest.
Peter quickly grabbed them each some warm clothes from his dresser. He didn't have much left here, but at least there was something. "This should be big enough to sleep in…and it's dry." He said offering her an old science sweater and a pair of shorts.
She took it with a smile. She went to the bathroom to change while he used his room.
…
Kate took a few moments to clean the cut on her face and examen the bruise blossoming over her ribs. She had been out in the cold long enough there was little swelling, but definitely discolored. She stripped out of the uniform and pulled on the dry sweater, twisting her hair up on top of her head. The sweater was big enough, it came down almost to her knees. The shorts she couldn't cinch up enough to stay on, so she left them off.
Walking out of the bathroom, she looked at Peter who was wearing sweats and a white t-shirt. He was fiddling with the thermostat, so she walked over to the sofa and pulled the blanket on the back of the sofa over her legs. Pulling out her phone, she sent a text message to Clint telling him they were safe, and she would call him in the morning. She turned her phone off without waiting for the reply.
Peter came over and sat on the opposite end of the sofa and just leaned his head back with a sigh, closing his eyes.
"Probably a stupid question, but I'm gonna ask anyways." Kate said resting her head against her fist, elbow on the back of the sofa. "Are you okay?"
He took a long moment before he replied. "Yeah…I think so." He replied. "I'm not 100% sure." She watched him quietly while he tried to put his feelings into words. "I'm angry—yes about May—but I'm also angry at myself for even considering doing something like…that."
"To be angry is to be human Peter." Kate replied quietly. "There isn't a single person out there that would blame you for wanting revenge on Fisk. The other people that were injured or the family of those that died that day are still screaming for justice, it's normal."
"But for what we do…" Peter looked at her. "We have to be different."
A cold sadness gripped her chest tightly. "You are different." Kate replied softly.
…
You are different. The phrasing wasn't lost on Peter as he listened to her. He was aware of how she thought of herself in comparison. Red in the ledger. He had tried really hard to convince her she was as good as she believed everyone else was. He believed her when she said she would take him to Fisk's cell if he asked, but also knew it would only be if he asked. She had been shot too and she never reacted because of that.
"You are too." Peter told her gently but firmly.
She rolled her eyes fondly at him, but she didn't argue. She winced slightly and touched the cut above her eye without thinking.
"We should have a first aid kit by the fridge." Peter said moving to stand. Her hand touching his shoulder stayed the movement and he turned his eyes to her.
"I'm fine." She told him for probably the thousandth time, though his brain buzzed with worry.
Peter looked at her for a long moment as she rested her head against the back of the sofa. She seemed perfectly content, eyes closed though she wasn't sleeping. "Kate…" He spoke quietly into the silence.
"Hmm?" Her eyebrows raised a bit as she hummed back, not opening her eyes yet.
"Are we okay?" He asked carefully, afraid of the answer.
Her eyes opened and she sat up, looking at him with a furrowed brow. "I feel like I should be asking you that." She replied.
He had already forgiven her, though he had felt uneasy about where he might have stood with her, she was looking at him with the same trust she had for a while. He smiled faintly. "Yeah, I think we are." He replied.
Kate's smile caused a warmth to spread in his chest. She scooted closer, sharing the blanket with him as he wrapped her up in his arms. She curled so easily into him, like the last 4 hours hadn't happened.
It's not gonna be smooth sailing by any means, but the strain in their relationship is gonna be important for the plot that I'm working towards.