Chapter 10: The Kate Bishop Connection
Pepper intercepted Ben at breakfast with news that made his adult mind spin. "You have a visitor today—another child your age. Her mother thought you two might enjoy meeting."
"Bishop. The surveillance photos. Kate Bishop." Ben's thoughts raced as he connected the dots. "His future Hawkeye partner is coming here, and I'm about to meet her as actual children."
The meta-knowledge made his head dizzy. In the original timeline, Kate and Ben would never meet until they were both adults, both heroes. Now they were going to be actual friends, actual children together. The implications were staggering.
"What's her name?" Ben asked, trying to sound casually curious.
"Kate. Kate Bishop. Her mother Eleanor runs Bishop Security—they've been very helpful with some of our... security consultations."
"Helpful with surveillance, more like." Ben remembered the photographs, the telephoto lenses, the reports forwarded to Pepper. The Bishop family had been watching him since the soup kitchen incident.
An hour later, a sleek black car pulled up to the mansion's entrance. Ben watched from his bedroom window as a small figure emerged—Kate Bishop, eight years old, dressed in expensive clothes that couldn't hide the dirt on her knees or the way she moved with athletic confidence.
She was also carrying a small compound bow slung over her shoulder, despite what had clearly been parental instructions to leave it in the car.
"She snuck it out anyway. That's definitely Kate."
Ben made his way downstairs to find Pepper and a tall, elegant woman in conversation by the front entrance. Eleanor Bishop had the kind of sharp beauty that came with money and calculation, her eyes missing nothing as they swept over the mansion's interior.
"Ben, I'd like you to meet Kate," Pepper said with maternal warmth. "Kate, this is Ben."
Kate took one look at him and immediately threw down a challenge. "Mom says you can do cool stuff. Bet I can do cooler stuff."
Ben's adult mind recognized the lonely rich kid overcompensating with bravado, while his child body responded to genuine peer interaction for the first time in this world. The combination created an unexpected surge of genuine excitement.
"I can hit that vase from here with a pebble," he said, pointing across the patio at a decorative pot twenty feet away.
Kate's eyes lit up with competitive fire. "No way. Prove it."
Ben used Hawkeye's Aim at Level 18, the ability guiding his throw with supernatural precision. The pebble struck the vase dead center with a satisfying clink.
Kate's jaw dropped, then her expression shifted to pure delight. "Okay, you're cool. Teach me!"
Eleanor and Pepper watched this exchange with amusement—whatever investigation Eleanor had planned was rapidly becoming two children bonding over showing off.
"Why don't you show Kate around the grounds?" Pepper suggested. "I'll be watching from the patio."
Ben led Kate around the mansion's exterior, showing her the parkour routes he'd been secretly developing. His Parkour ability at Level 18 made the mansion's architecture feel like a three-dimensional playground, and Kate's natural athleticism let her follow moves that would challenge most adults.
They raced across low roofs, climbed garden trellises, and found themselves genuinely having fun—not the adult pretending to be a kid, but actually enjoying child friendship in a way Ben hadn't experienced since his original world.
"I'm gonna be the best archer ever," Kate announced as they sat on a balcony, legs swinging over the edge. "Like Hawkeye!"
Ben nearly choked. "She doesn't know Hawkeye exists yet in this timeline. She just loves the concept."
"That's a cool dream," he managed.
"Mom got me lessons with this guy who teaches Olympic archers. He says I have 'natural talent' and 'exceptional focus.' But mostly I just like hitting things really precisely."
They made a pact: they'd both train together, get better together, push each other to improve. Kate produced a friendship bracelet she'd clearly made in advance—Eleanor's planning showing through her daughter's genuine gesture.
"You're my first real friend who isn't scared of me being weird," Kate said as she tied it on Ben's wrist.
Ben touched the bracelet, genuinely moved despite his adult cynicism. "Same."
[SOCIAL INTERACTION UNLOCKS NEW QUEST: MAINTAIN KATE BISHOP FRIENDSHIP]
[ONGOING QUEST - REWARDS: UNLOCK FUTURE TEAM SYNERGIES]
[HAWKEYE'S AIM GAINS BONUS EXP FROM TEACHING: +15%]
[LEVEL 20 ACHIEVED]
[RESONANCE DETECTED: YOUR HAWKEYE'S AIM + KATE'S NATURAL TALENT]
[FUTURE 'ARCHER DUO' SYNERGY AVAILABLE]
While the children played, Eleanor and Pepper had their own conversation over wine on the patio. Eleanor probed with professional skill, her questions seeming casual while gathering intelligence.
"Your Mr. Stark took in a boy with... unique talents. Generous, but unusual."
Pepper's protective instincts activated immediately. "Ben's been through trauma. He deserves stability."
"Of course. It's just..." Eleanor sipped her wine carefully. "My security team flagged him weeks ago. Those abilities aren't normal, Pepper. Have you considered what that means?"
Pepper's voice cooled noticeably. "He's a child, Eleanor. Not a threat."
Eleanor backed off smoothly, but Ben's Enhanced Hearing caught her making a phone call from her car later: "The boy's real. Enhanced, but controlled. The Stark connection changes things—inform the Network we're watching, but hands-off for now."
Ben's paranoia spiked at the mention of "the Network," but Kate's laughter pulled him back to the moment. Whatever conspiracy surrounded him, this friendship felt worth protecting.
Kate left with a wave and a promise to visit again soon, her bow clutched proudly despite Eleanor's disapproving look. Ben watched the car disappear, his child heart happy about making a real friend while his adult mind calculated the implications.
He was changing relationships, building connections that didn't exist in canon. Kate Bishop was supposed to be a lonely rich kid who became Hawkeye through tragedy and determination. Now she was his friend, his training partner, someone who might follow a completely different path because of his influence.
[WARNING: TIMELINE DIVERGENCE DETECTED]
[MONITORING STABILITY...]
[CURRENT STATUS: ACCEPTABLE VARIANCE]
The System's notification was both reassuring and ominous. He was walking a tightrope between helpful changes and catastrophic alterations, but for now, he was keeping his balance.
And having a friend his apparent age—even if he was decades older inside—felt worth the risk. The Marvel universe was a dangerous place, but maybe it didn't have to be as lonely as he'd feared.
That night, Ben fell asleep with Kate's friendship bracelet on his wrist and the satisfaction of knowing he'd found an ally for the challenges ahead. Tomorrow would bring new training, new growth, and new opportunities to prepare for the threats he knew were coming.
But tonight, he was just a kid who'd made a friend, and that felt like its own kind of victory.
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