Chapter 21 ━━ I'm A Hawker, Bro

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Heather is currently standing in front of Kate's apartment. He knocks on the door, waiting for her to open it. "Yoohoo! Anybody home? Your friendly Barton out here! Katy Perry, I brought your bow!"

It takes a few seconds for Kate to respond to the door, but when she does, he flashes her a wide smile.

"Hey, ya. That old stag wanted me to go home. And guess what? Me being me, didn't listen to him like I always do-" He notices her tensed body and pauses with a raised eyebrow. "What is it?"

Without answering, Kate opens the door wide to find Yelena standing in the middle of the living room with a sweet smile on her face.

She waves at him. "It's great to see you, uh... Heather, isn't it?"

Heather snarls angrily, his body moving to face her as he stands in front of Kate. "I know you're obsessed with me. But I assume you understand that if you lay a finger upon Katy Perry here, it'll be the last thing you do on this earth."

Yelena pouts. "Is that a threat?"

"If you want it to be." Heather says casually as he hands over the bow to Kate.

"I just want to talk with Kate Bishop."

"No. No. Did I mention no?"

"I'm not the villain. You shouldn't treat me like one." Yelena states as he places a pot with cooked macaroni on the table. "I made macaroni if you want some. It's really tasty. Really tasty."

"Sure." Heather shrugs, taking off his jacket and taking a seat. He then catches Kate giving him an 'are you serious?' look. "What? I'm starving."

Shaking her head slightly, Kate sits down next to him as both Heather and Yelena digs into the food.

"So you don't remember anything about us?" Yelena asks and Heather shakes his head without giving a verbal answer.

"What is going on?" Kate asks, looking between the two former assassins of the red room. "I am completely confused here."

He hesitates to rub a hand through his messy black hair, an action that makes all girls around him swooning. "She's Natasha's sister and my ex fiancée."

"Wow. I did not see that coming. Thank God, I didn't kill you up there." Kate sighs in relief.

"You kill me?" Yelena laughs boisterously. "Again, oh, Kate Bishop, you are so funny. That's hilarious. That one is the funniest."

Heather rolls his eyes, not finding anything amused and bites into his macaroni, greedily.

"So that is why Natasha didn't let me take your body with me. She knew you still had time." Yelena wonders out loud and looks back at him. "How was your trip to Tahiti?"

"It was a magical place." Heather answers and scrunches his eyebrows in confusion, a side effect of the memory alteration is that, when someone asks him about Tahiti, his answer is always going to be the same.

"Exactly I was going to say. Isn't it ironic?"

They eat a few minutes in silence before Heather's eyes shoot up to meet hers, burning intensely.

"Yelena. This is me, noticing you staring. You're gonna hawk me about this until I say yes, aren't you?"

"I'm a hawker."

"What do you want?"

"Three things." She replies as a smirk is beginning to form on her lips. "You, you and you."

"That's hilarious. I don't even remember you." He says as he watches her smirk falter.

"That's rude. Even for you."

"Do I look like I care?" He folds his arms across his chest and stares at her, straight into her eyes.

"You're stronger, meaner, sexy." Yelena remarks with a ghost smile, her eyes are straight on Heather. "Now you know how I feel. Don't fight it, Hedeon. You might not remember me. But you loved me once. You can love me again."

Before Heather opens his mouth to give a sarcastic response, Kate coughs, announcing her existence.

"So what do you want?"

"Well, it's my first time in New York. Mmm-hmm. It's a business trip, so time is limited. But I want to see some things." Yelena replies, pouring hot sauce onto her plate. "I want to see, uh, the Empire State Building, the new and improved Statue of Liberty, and the Rockefeller Center."

"Very funny." Kate chuckles.

"What, it's not good?"

"Oh. No, they're-they're great. Yeah, you... I mean, you've gotta see the tree."

Yelena gasps, throwing her hands in the air. "Exactly. See? I love American Christmases. The tree, the presents, the super-powered reindeer, Rudolph. He is so weird. Have you ever eaten reindeer?"

"Cannot say I've had the pleasure. No."

"No, it is not a pleasure." Yelena chuckles. "No, it's, um, it's really tough. It's chewy. Mm, you have to braise it for a really long time."

Heather makes a disgusted face. The thought itself of reindeer meat brings the feeling of nausea. His appetite vanishes as he places the fork on the plate.

This goes unnoticed by Yelena and she smiles softly. "You still hate it don't you?"

Heather narrows his eyebrows as he watches carefully. "What?"

"You know, Kate Bishop? When Hedeon and I were really small, the place we grew up, they once gave us cooked reindeer meat for dinner. He accidentally ate one piece and threw up like ten times." Yelena laughs heartily at the nostalgia. "Later, when he got to know what it was, he thought they killed Santa's reindeers for food and he cried rivers for days. That was really cute of him."

"He's vegetarian?" Kate asks her with a surprised look.

"I'm not-"

Yelena cuts off Heather with a smile. "He only eats seafood, chicken and poultry."

"Pollo-vegetarian." Kate realises.

"Oh god." He rolls his eyes and mumbles a few inappropriate words under his breath.

"Kate Bishop, you grew up here, right? You must have some recommendations for me." Yelena tells.

Kate chuckles. "Yeah, I-I have. Let's see. The High Line. High Line is great. Um... There's a Christmas market in Union Square. Um... I'm not quite sure those are the right fit for the blood-thirsty vigilante type."

The blonde laughs, finding it humorous. "Blood-thirsty vigilante. You're funny, Kate Bishop."

"Do you say my whole name to point out that you know it?" Kate asks.

"He gets to call you Katy Perry." Yelena points at Heather. "And I don't get to call you by your actual name?"

"He's calling me Katy Perry just to annoy me. Beside, he's my friend. What is it about you?"

"I know a lot about you. Mother, Eleanor. Lives on Park and 41st. Father, Derek, deceased. Very sad. And you recently walked into traffic to save a dog, which I'll admit is pretty cool, and you got a few points from me on that. Um... University GPA 3.8. Senior, double major, and..."

"Right, okay. We get it." Kate let out a sigh as she nervously shifts on her chair. "Are you in New York to talk to Clint? Is that why you're here?"

"I'm here to kill him." Yelena corrects her and Heather's expression darkens immediately and he glowers down at her. "Why do you risk your life for him, Clint Barton? How has everybody forgiven him for his past?"

"He saved the world."

"No. My sister saved the world. Natasha Romanoff. She saved the world." Yelena states and Kate cowers at the cold tone.

An arm slumping against Kate's shoulder, Heather assures her that he's there to keep her safe if anything goes wrong. Yelena frowns as a feeling of envy hits her.

"Natasha and Clint were friends. Why are you after him?" Kate questions.

"You are so fond of him." Yelena chuckles dryly. "It tells me you don't really know who he is."

"He came out here to protect me." Kate defends the Avenger.

"No. He came here to protect his reputation. Do you know how many people he killed? The trail of blood that follows him, it could wrap around the entire world." Yelena tells.

"Okay. Wow. That was very Russian."

"Hmm."

"He's still an Avenger."

The blonde scoffs in disbelief. "What does that word even mean? Huh? That it holds so much power. You call him a hero no matter what he does?"

"It means that when you choose to spend your life trying to help people, there are going to be things that you lose. When you face the kind of threats that he has, there's going to be collateral damage." Heather speaks.

Yelena turns to him. "My sister is gone because of him. Is she collateral damage?"

Kate shakes her head in disapproval. "No, look, there is no way that that is true. He would not let that happen."

"How long have you known Clint Barton?"

"About a week."

"It will not be difficult for me to complete this assignment." Yelena mutters.

"Wait a minute, somebody hired you to kill him?" He presses and Yelena peers over at him.

"All I'll say is that if there is someone out there that is telling you Clint is a bad guy, then maybe you should ask yourself what kind of person hired you." Kate points out. "He is not perfect. Nobody's perfect. But he is good."

"However he convinced you about who he is or how many people think or call him a hero, truth is it doesn't matter. We are defined by what we do. Not by nice words. Like it or not, there is no escaping this." Yelena says, standing up from her chair and moving to the broken window.

"Oh. And, Kate Bishop, do not get in my way." She adds sternly before she tosses the cable device which swishes as it makes contact with the floor before she jumps out.

Heather scoffs, shaking his head. "Show off."

Kate is pacing back and forth across the room with a stressed expression. "She's going to kill him. That is bad. Who kills an Avenger?"

Heather grabs her arm to stop her and cups her face to make her focus on him. "Hey, calm down. No one's going to kill Clint. He knows how to face this kind of threat."

"Honestly, you kind of make me nervous." Kate confesses suddenly.

A grin breaks out on his handsome features. "I do?"

"Yeah. Like really nervous." Kate chuckles nervously, gazing at his lips.

"Wonder why?" Heather chuckles and leans down, locking their lips. The kiss is simple and innocent. But it feels wrong. He feels like he belongs to someone else. And deep down he knows who this someone else is. Yelena Belova.

He never felt a thing around any female or a male before. It's all about sex. But now, there's this tingling sensation takes in place of him at the thought of Yelena. It's like there's a part of him slowly awakening within the small time he spent with her.

Heather pulls away, like she's toxic to him. He even takes a few steps away from her. He rakes his hand through hair, now feeling nervous and clears his throat. "It was a mistake."

"Yeah. It was." Kate nods, breathlessly.

He nervously scratches the back of his head as his eyes start darting around the room as if it is the only thing in view. "I'm going to the club. You wanna join? As friends, you know?"

"I wish I could. But I have to be home before 8. Grounding rules." Kate replies.

"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun."

"You're damn right."

"So, you're in?"

She denies with a shake of her head. "No. I'm not. If I won't be at home before 8, my mom will unleash hell. It's not really a good idea."

"I understand."

"Later?" Kate asks.

"Later." Heather flashes a smile and makes his way towards the door. When he's out of the apartment, he takes his phone out and dials Clint. But his phone is switched off. So he decides to leave a voice message.

"Hey, old man. It's Barney. I'm gonna head to the club. You can tag along if you want to. It's fun watching you get drunk since I can't get drunk." Heather says and lets out a deep sigh. "Dude, I'm worried about you, okay? I might not be your blood brother. But I can't just leave you like this. I was a psychotic killer. But you took me in. You made me a part of your family. And now you expect me to leave you alone? Not happening, bro. Not happening. I know you can't do this alone. If you want me, just drop a text. I'll be on my way. I'm not leaving New York. Not without you. See you soon."

He stuffs his phone in his pocket before his mind goes back to the blonde. Then realisation hits him hard.

Yelena Belova has her sharp claws deep inside his brain. But if she wants to play Catwoman, he'll be her batman.