Red was fucking pissed.
Some ballheaded, egg-shaped, brick wall looking ass motherfucker just threw hands, beat Kate's ass, and thinks he can get away in that cute little alleyway he got thrown into. Honestly? Red wouldn't let that slide if she was Kate.
So Red doesn't.
Kate's pupils dilate as Red takes over.
Now…now we can really play.
Red let Yelena and Maya have their fun. Kate wants to be a hero, fine, let her learn how to take the heat.
But fuck this guy in particular.
Her body screams at her to not get up, but she grabs a shard of glass and stumbles towards the newly made hole in the wall. She looks down into the alleyway and finds the man named Fisk walking away. Big guy took that explosion and fall pretty well for being simply human. That won't matter soon.
Death called for a soul and Red is answering.
She jumps down into the dumpster below, hops out, and whistles at Fisk.
"Hey big guy….I never said I was done."
Fisk slowly turns to face her
"You're still alive"
Red nods
"I'm gonna kill you too"
Fisk laughs
"You're not doing shit girlie"
His face scrunches up in anger as he charges at her.
But Red isn't Kate. Kate is a newbie, Red has a list, a ledger, proof that she's not just killed, not just murdered, but absolutely slaughtered anyone in her way.
Quickly she turns around to face the building and runs towards it, using the momentum she is able to jump around Fisk entirely….but on her way over she jabs the shard of glass into the back of his skull. Red lands perfectly on her feet.
Fisk stands facing the wall stunned as his hand reaches to his head and pathetically searches for the glass piece. Red pockets his gun, kicks the back of his knee in and shoots Fisk four times in the head.
No more Fisk, less problems. Now wasn't that easy?
*Twhip*
Who?
"Hey! Are you ok?!"
Red quickly turns to see Spiderman at the end of the alleyway calling out to her.
Fucking hell. Red carefully places Fisk's gun under one of her leg straps and turns pretending to be in shock.
Spiderman comes run-walking down the alleyway and stands besides Red as he notices who is on the floor in front of her. "Is-is that….is that Fisk?" He looks back and forth between Fisk's body and Red. Time to play pretend.
"I just…I don't know what happened. I-I-I was just trying to get home from the ski rink, and then…I mean and then next thing I know we were fighting and-and I just lost it. I just-I-"
Spiderman puts his hands on Red's shoulders and forces her to look at him….or well wherever his eyes are in that mask.
"Listen, Hawkeye right?" Red nods
"Listen Hawkeye, it's ok. I mean- I don't know how the cops will take it, probably best, but like….you're new to this is what I'm trying to say ok? I just….I just wish I was here to stop it. But I mean even I only recently learned that-that…" Spiderman pauses with what seems to be a sense of….sadness?
"With great power….comes great responsibility…ok? You wanna be a hero, right? Well, being a hero means more than looking cool on camera. Look-look…you've got two choices while you figure out if you can handle being a hero or not…you can either lay low by yourself or….or you can come with me?….I guess it's the most I can do to help out a fellow hero."
Red takes a deep breath and thinks. If Spiderman hadn't seen the body then this situation would be so much easier to handle, but with Spiderman here….maybe….
"I need….." she takes a few more deep breaths, pretending to have a panic attack
"Ok this sounds like really, really dumb but I need to go to my mom's business and see if like-like if it's gonna go to shit…cause she got arrested for being a bad guy, and I got like no money dude. I'm-I'm so, so broke right now, and probably homeless because I totally got kicked out of my old apartment thanks to the bros, and I need to pick up my dog and-"
Spiderman grabs Red's hands and holds them in his
"Hey, hey, hey…." He gives her hands a soft squeeze
"We got this dude….ok?"
Red shuffles back and forth while nodding at him
"I'll walk you to your mom's place, we can talk to them together and if they can't help figure something out for you, you can stay with me for now ok? But we got this"
She wipes away her forced tears
"Ok….we got this"
Spidey nods and guides her out of the alleyway and onto the sidewalk "Just lead the way"
- 8 minutes later -
"No way! Your mom runs Bishop Security? I've always thought their security system could use an upgrade to be honest, it's quite lacking in a few areas"
Spiderman rambles on and on about the security system and its flaws as the two walk to the back of the building and sneak past the guards and to Eleanor's floor.
"Hey Vick! I know this is way beyond your level of pay and responsibilities but could you do me a solid?"
Victor, one of her mother's security guard, looks at Red curious
"I mean sure, but shouldn't you be at home? Or at least with the police because of what happened with your mom?"
Red shakes her head
"Well I mean- yeah probably, but I'm not. Not until they find me. Until then, can you ask all of upper management to come here at once? I need to know what's going on internally with the company, what the stock is looking like, are any investors pulling out, and most importantly are we shutting down."
Victor nods and immediately walks down the hall to find everyone. It's gonna be one hell of a night.
Once in her mother's office Red steals a jacket that annoyingly smells like Eleanor and calls out to Spiderman.
"Hey Spidey"
Spidey stops gawking at the rich people stuff and jogs into the office
"Yeah?"
Red checks the drawers in hopes that neither the guards or the police have searched her office yet.
"Since you know so much about tech, did you want to work for Bishop Security? Ya know, assuming it doesn't all go to shit in thanks to Eleanor's arrest."
While she can't see under his mask it's clear that Spiderman is not only heavily confused but contemplating working for a company that JUST had their CEO arrested for doing illegal shit.
She needs to speed up this boy's thinking
"I'm asking because once the heads of Bishop Security come walking through those doors, I need to know, if you wanna work here…..it's gonna require you to hide your suit and reveal your identity to me so I can then "reveal" you as my second hand"
Spiderman motions in a 'go on' way
"While you were talking and we were walking, I was thinking….you seem to know a lot about tech, about Bishop Security, and you had great ideas on how to make the company operate better both internally and externally and honestly?"
She checks the last drawer and finds exactly what she was looking for in a hidden compartment, an SSD drive holding all of the information on Bishop Security's operation systems in replicable code, its bank information, off-shore accounts and more.
Red swiftly pockets it
"Honestly? Back in that alleyway you told me that I need to think about whether or not I still want to be a hero. I still want to be a hero."
She walks out from behind the desk and over to Spidey
"I have an idea"
"Ok?"
"What if we become partners? I know, I know you can probably cover all of NYC by yourself and you probably don't need a sidekick but….I don't wanna go anywhere else. NYC is my home and I wanna protect it too. Which means we are going to run into each other anyway so why not just team up?!"
Red motions for Spidey to follow her out of her mother's office and into a large meeting room
"If Bishop Security doesn't fall apart then we can rebuild it. Rebuild it better. You had great points but I'm gonna add another, what if?…..what if Bishop Security joins forces with Stark Industries and Wayne Enterprises to make one BIG partnered company, a company that will provide not only heroes, but civilians, with everything they need. Wayne Enterprises has an amazing medical system that could branch out of Gotham and potentially globally, Stark Industries has technology beyond our imaginations that could be used to help others all over the world, so long as regulated properly, and Bishop Security could completely dominate the security world as we know it, potentially dominating both Apple and Windows with the help of Stark Industries."
Spidey leans against the office doorway and holds his chin
"I mean….It could work? You're saying build Bishop Security to be the ultimate security system globally? Making let's say a Bishop OS that would be uploaded to all PCs, or-or all tech, and it would monitor everything and everyone. While dark I will admit that companies do that already and openly sell that information to other companies blah, blah….but how would heroes get anything from it?"
Red grabs a marker and starts writing on the whiteboard in the room
"The idea is to make a civilian OS and a Hero OS. Civilians will get a regular version, but if under the combined company as a hero, that hero will have access to the Hero OS. It will allow the hero to get information on anyone using the civilian OS. While that sounds dangerous….it's really only dangerous if we don't regulate who is, and isn't, a hero. So long as we do that, we're solid. Let's be real, most nerds out there will probably immediately switch to our system if we can get Stark Industries along for the ride, not only to help build the system but to market it. You can't tell me that if the company that Tony Stark created started selling an OS that even you wouldn't at LEAST try it out."
With that Spidey does shrug his shoulders in admission "I mean yeah…it's-it's from Mr. Stark, of course I'd try it and probably love it to be honest."
She points the marker at him
"Exactly. Also it's not like most heroes don't already have access to that information already anyway. Let's be real, do you really think the Justice League doesn't already have access to all public information and even private information? Do you really think they go to the police and ask for a warrant to look into people's files? No, they just break into them and get what they need under the simple fact that "if they are a bad guy, I gotta do my job" the real nugget here is the ability to have it all monitored under one hero system. The Avengers x Justice League x X-Men if you wish. Combining all three groups of heroes into one to protect all of earth as one group under one group, the combined group of Bishop Security, Stark Industries and Wayne Enterprises."
Spidey pushes himself off the doorway and walks into the room thinking
He turns to face her
"So we build Bishop Security to be better, walk up to both Stark and Wayne with these ideas and hope they say yes, and if they do we secretly rebuild not just a hero group…but also a massive global hero system. That system will provide civilians with healthcare, medical aide, financial aid as I think Wayne has some businesses in that area, new but limited technology as we really should regulate who can get their hands on what, a global security system for both civilians and heroes, a new OS that will aide primarily heroes, and all I gotta do is be your sidekick at work?"
Red pauses for a second "I mean…I offered to be your sidekick but….I mean yeah if you wanna be my teammate."
"What if they say no? What do we do then?"
Red sighs and puts the cap back on the marker
"We continue the plan without them. It won't be easy though. Bishop Security will stay with what it is and we'll likely have to start a whole new set of companies under the idea of giving all of the benefits you stated to both heroes and civilians. We'd have to potentially do it all ourselves. But so long as Bishop Security stays alive….we got money to set aside. Just might take a lot longer than we hoped for."
Spidey walks up to Red and places a hand on her shoulder
"I liked that optimism"
He extends his arm out to shake hands with her
"I want you to know that normally I'd say no to this kind of thing. It's got nothing to do with you but….I don't do teammates….not after the Avengers. I was really headset on doing this alone from here on out, but this…..feels….. different. I'm gonna go with my spidey senses on this one, they haven't let me down yet."
The two shake hands
"Thanks for trusting me Spidey. There should be clothes in Eleanor's office bathroom, right in the cabinet."
Spidey walks out of the room "You must really be mad at your mom to call her by her name by the way, gosh!"
As he walks away and into the bathroom...her smile slips away...
"She got arrested for many things…but most importantly she was working with Fisk….and hired an assassin to kill Clint Barton…and possibly me."
Spidey comes out of the bathroom in a suit, that is potentially too well fitted considering Eleanor is much smaller than the guy, and his hero suit over his right arm.
"That….that really sucks. I can see why you say her name like that"
He grabs a coat off the rack and puts it on
Red walks up to him and pulls on his mask
"Your…..your mask is still on"
"OH!"
He awkwardly takes it off and shoves the whole suit into one of the coats pockets.
"Names Peter Parker by the way, nice to meet you. Kate Bishop right?"
Red nods
"Kate Bishop yeah. Now let's get this meeting over with"
The two walk back into the office and await the arrival of the Bishop Security board.
"What was in that drive you pocketed by the way?"
Well shit...her training taught her better than to be caught. How did he know?
Kate would be shocked...so Red does just that
"How-How?"
Peter just softly smiles at her. Spidey senses are something she'd kill for then.
"It's a drive containing the code for Bishop Security's systems, bank information, probably any off-shore accounts too, now that I know my mom is a criminal" She really hated calling Eleanor her mother.
Red takes it out of her pocket and tries to hand it to Peter
"oh! no, no, I don't want it. I mean...if you want we can look at it later together but...shouldn't the cops have that if it has that information?"
Red puts the drive back in her coat pocket "no..."
Red grabs the marker again and twirls it in her hands "I need to know what my parents were up to. Not them. Me."
It's obvious Peter isn't happy with that answer "I...I don't want you going down a bad path Kate. This isn't about revenge is it?"
This is just the start of something bigger. She'll get her revenge at some point, but not with this...so technically "no...I just want answers. But I don't want the system in the way."
Red takes a deep breath "If it helps this drive is just the backup, the police will likely find the same information if not more on the computers here and at her apartment. She didn't have enough time to get rid of evidence in case of getting caught, at least I don't think so. She never planned for me to find out she was up to all of this anyway. I only found out thanks to the assassin she hired informing me...meaning everything is there for them to find. I just have my own piece of it now."
Peter lets out a relieved sigh "just don't go all Anakin Skywalker on me and we'll be good"
She looks at him with a small smile "was-was that a Star Wars reference?"
He immediately perks up again "yeah! You like star wars?"
She shakes her head "no, but I have seen it"
The elevator dings.