Bullseye ➢Kate Bishop

2.1

"And who the hell are you?"

"I'm Kate Bishop," the girl says gasping.

I stifle a laugh at how starstruck she seems and how annoyed my dad is which causes them both to look over in my direction. Kate looks over at me confused because she apparently hadn't seen me yet and I'm shocked by how beautiful she is. I mean, I already saw part of her face, but it was mostly covered in shadows so this is the first time I'm actually seeing her. "I'm Alexandra Barton. Alex for short," I say introducing myself, knowing that she has no idea who I am. My dad still looks frustrated with me, which I specifically chose to ignore.

"You're a kid," Dad says to Kate, "My god. How did you get this suit?"

She looks overwhelmed so I quickly step in saying, "Dad!" Then I turn to Kate and ask, "Are you okay?"

Still gasping, she says, "I..."

I hear sirens getting nearer and my dad hears them too. He says, "Look kid. We gotta get you out of here. Okay? It's not safe for you to be in this. Do you live near here?"

"Yeah. I live just..."

"Okay. Here, take this. Are you okay?" he asks her.

"I'm really fine. I... I saw a dead body."

"Cone on. Let's go," he tells her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders to guide her away.

"That was a first," she finishes, still talking about the dead body.

"We'll talk about it when we get there."

I chuckle to myself and bring up the rear, frequently checking behind us to make sure we aren't being followed.

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We start heading towards her apartment with me and my dad on either side of Kate. Luckily she seems to be less in shock now then she was earlier.

"So, where'd you learn to fight like that," Dad asks Kate, breaking the silence.

"I, uh, started taking martial arts when I was five," she answers.

"Impressive," I say.

"Wow," Dad says, "So, like, a year ago?"

I chuckle to myself as a person passes us and I quickly asses him to see if he's a threat. "Are... Are you assessing threats? Is that what you're doing" she asks, seemingly noticing what I was doing.

"Something like that," I answer.

"So that's, that's how you operate? You're just constantly looking for things that are suspicious or weird?"

"Basically."

"Look, just so you know, I'm not some total noob, right? Um.. I know I was a little overwhelmed, but I held my own with those douchebags."

"You were hiding in a car," I deadpan.

"Well yeah, but, uh... We're right here," she tells us, "You know, um, some people have called me the world's greatest archer."

"Yeah?" Dad asks, "Are you one of those people?"

"Well- well- one of- one of them is. Yes," she stutters.

"That's wonderful. Yeah. Open the door."

I make a mental reminder to teach my dad some people skills later as Kate unlocks the door. Once she gets it unlocked I follow her inside but turn around when I hear a thud only to see my dad bang his head against the door. "Come on, old man," I call to him.

"Yeah, yeah," he says, walking to catch up.

➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵

Kate opens up the door to her apartment and I hear a dog whining. I run up to the dog and start petting him as he kisses my face. "You have an adorable dog," I say to Kate.