Work Text:
The multiverse has a messy way of correcting itself.
One moment, she was reaching for a trick arrow in her Brooklyn apartment; the next, a ripple of purple light dumped her onto a freezing, slush-covered rooftop in the middle of a high-stakes showdown.
>
Prime Kate groaned, pushing herself up from the snow. She looked down at her hands—her suit was the upgraded, sleek version she’d worn for months. She looked up and froze.
Across the roof, a younger, scruffier version of herself was diving behind a chimney, clutching a much more basic bow. And standing in the center of the roof was Yelena Belova. But this Yelena looked colder, wearing a tactical suit Prime Kate hadn't seen in a year, and she was currently trying to put a bullet in Clint Barton.
"Clint, look out!" the younger Kate screamed.
Prime Kate’s heart plummeted. The red glowing eyes, the rooftop fight... this is the Rockefeller center night. She wasn't just in a different place; she was in a different reality, dropped right into the middle of a memory.
"Who are you?!" Alternate Kate yelled, spotting the intruder. She didn't hesitate, spinning and firing a flare arrow.
Prime Kate ducked, her instincts taking over. "Wait! I’m on your side!"
"Likely story, Skrull!" Alternate Kate charged.
The two Kates collided in a chaotic blur of purple. It was the most frustrating fight of Prime Kate’s life. She knew every move Alternate Kate was going to make because she had made them herself two years ago.
They tumbled through a skylight, crashing into a maintenance closet filled with heavy-duty rigging ropes. In the cramped space, their movements mirrored each other perfectly—when Prime Kate went for a shoulder throw, Alternate Kate countered with the exact same hip-toss. They became a frantic tangle of limbs and gear until they tripped over a coil of industrial cable.
As they fell, they instinctively tried to use the same restraining technique. The result was a disaster: they ended up back-to-back, literally lashed together by the very cables they were trying to use as weapons.
<<
"Stop... moving... you clone!" Alternate Kate hissed, struggling against the binds.
"I’m not a clone, you idiot, I’m you! From the future! Or a different timeline!" Prime Kate wheezed, her cheek pressed against a cold pipe. "Look at my bow! It’s Stark-tech. Look at the stitching on the suit. You haven't even met the tailor who makes this yet."
Alternate Kate stopped struggling, squinting at the high-end gear. "It is... very nice stitching. Wait, if you’re me, why are you here?"
"Accident. But more importantly," Prime Kate lowered her voice, "I know exactly what’s about to happen. That blonde assassin is about to walk through that door, and she is much faster than you think she is."
"I can handle her," Alternate Kate insisted.
"No, you can't. Not yet. And if she sees two of us, she’s going to stop holding back and start throwing lethals." Prime Kate took a breath. "In my world... she’s the person I trust most. Just trust me."
>>>
The door to the maintenance room kicked open. The heavy, rhythmic thud of combat boots echoed.
"Kate Bishop ~ I know you fell in here. It was a very loud, very clumsy fall," Yelena’s voice sang out, dripping with deadly sarcasm.
The two Kates shared a panicked look. Tied together as they were, they had to move as one. They performed a ridiculous, synchronized crab-walk, hiding behind a massive ventilation unit just as Yelena stepped into the room.
"I can hear you whispering to yourself," Yelena said, her shadow stretching across the floor. "It is pathetic, really. Are you talking to your bow? Giving it a pep talk?"
"Don't let her see me," Prime Kate whispered urgently. "If she sees a second Kate, she’ll think it’s a trap and blow the whole floor."
Alternate Kate took a deep breath. As Yelena rounded the corner, Alternate Kate leaned out just enough to block Yelena’s line of sight to the "back" half of their tied-up duo.
"I'm not talking to my bow! I'm... meditating!" Alternate Kate yelled, her voice cracking slightly. "It’s a hero thing. You wouldn't get it."
Yelena stopped, tilting her head. "You are very strange, Kate Bishop. Why are you sitting like a pretzel behind that box?"
"I’m stretching! My hamstrings are tight!"
Prime Kate sat perfectly still, heart pounding, inches away from the version of Yelena who didn't love her yet. She watched through a gap in the crates as the assassin smirked, looking moments away from investigating further.
"Just go away, Yelena!" Alternate Kate shouted. "Go chase Clint or something!"
Yelena rolled her eyes, seemingly bored by the "weirdness." "Fine. But next time, I will not wait for you to finish your stretches." She turned on her heel and vanished back into the hallway.
The two Kates slumped against each other in relief.
"Okay," Alternate Kate whispered. "She’s gone. Now, tell me more about this 'Stark-tech' suit and why you were looking at her like she’s a puppy."
<<<<
The setting shifted from the cold rooftop to the cramped, arrow-filled chaos of Alternate Kate’s apartment. Prime Kate sat at the kitchen table, her high-tech bow leaned against a stack of pizza boxes, while her younger self paced the floor, holding a piece of fried circuit board like it was a holy relic.
"Okay, walk me through it again," Alternate Kate said, waving a half-eaten slice of pepperoni. "You hit a temporal rift caused by a malfunctioning Stark-arrow, and now you’re stuck in my kitchen in 2021?"
"Exactly," Prime Kate sighed, adjusting a loose wire on her gauntlet. "And if I don't stabilize the frequency, I’m going to cause a localized reality collapse. Basically, New York becomes a giant purple puddle."
"Cool. No pressure. I’m barely passing pre-calc and I’m supposed to help a future version of myself fix a sub-quantum engine." Alternate Kate stopped, squinting at Prime Kate. "Wait, did you say we eventually get a dog that only eats pizza? Because that seems like a solid life choice."
"His name is Lucky, and yes, he’s a very good boy," Prime Kate smiled, but her face quickly fell. "But we have bigger problems. My tech is fried, and I need a very specific Widow-tech stabilizer to jump-start the bridge."
>>>>>
Creak.
Both Kates froze. The window leading to the fire escape had swung open.
"Kate Bishop? You really should invest in better locks. A child could break in here. Or a very bored assassin." Yelena stepped into the room, looking effortlessly dangerous in her tactical gear. She didn't look up immediately, instead focusing on a container of mac-and-cheese on the counter. "I was in the neighborhood, and I thought—"
She stopped dead.
Yelena blinked. Then she blinked again. She looked at Alternate Kate, standing by the fridge. Then she slowly turned her head to Prime Kate, sitting at the table.
"Oh," Yelena said, her voice dropping an octave. "This is getting out of hand. Now there are two of you?"
"Yelena! It's not what it looks like!" Alternate Kate shouted, immediately jumping in front of Prime Kate to hide her.
"It looks like you have cloned yourself so you can be twice as annoying," Yelena said, her hand drifting toward a combat knife. "Which version is the original? I need to know which one to tackle first."
"Wait, don't hurt her!" Prime Kate yelled, standing up.
Because they were in such a small space and both had the exact same instinct to protect the other, they collided. Prime Kate tried to shove Alternate Kate behind her, while Alternate Kate tried to tackle Prime Kate out of the line of fire.
They tripped over a stray quiver, tangled their arms together, and crashed into a pile of laundry and archery netting. In their frantic struggle to untie themselves while screaming "Don't shoot!" at the same time, they managed to wrap a length of high-tension bowstring around their own torsos.
They landed in a heap, back-to-back, perfectly tied together.
<<<<<<
Yelena stood over them, looking down at the pile of purple fabric and limbs with a look of pure exhaustion.
"I have traveled across the world. I have been brainwashed. I have fought Avengers," Yelena muttered, rubbing her temples. "But this... this is the most pathetic thing I have ever seen."
"Listen to me!" Prime Kate called out from the bottom of the pile, her eyes wide and full of that familiar, soft affection. "Yelena, I'm from the future. In my world, you’re an expert in the exact hardware I need to get home. Your knowledge of the Red Room's black-market tech is the only thing that can fix this."
Yelena paused, her knife halfway out of its sheath.
"You think I am... a tech expert?"
"I know you are," Prime Kate whispered, looking at her with total devotion. "You're the smartest person I know. And you look really, really good in that tactical vest. The many pockets? Perfection."
Yelena’s face twitched. She looked at Alternate Kate, who was making "gagging" noises while tied to her older self. Then she looked at Prime Kate, who looked like she wanted to give her a trophy and a hug.
"I do not know who I want to strangle more," Yelena hissed, her fingers twitching. "The one who is currently stuck in a net and yelling, or the one who is looking at me like I am a miracle of science."
"Please help us?" Alternate Kate pleaded. "If you don't, she’s going to keep talking about how 'brave' you are, and I can't take much more of it."
Yelena let out a long, dramatic sigh. "Fine. I will help. But if the tall one tries to touch my hair, I am putting both of you in a dumpster."
>>>>>>>
The small apartment was already pushing its occupancy limit with two Kates and one very confused, very lethal Yelena. The air was thick with the smell of burnt circuits and leftover pizza when the temperature in the room suddenly spiked.
A familiar orange spark ignited in the center of the kitchen, spinning rapidly into a wide, crackling ring of mystical energy.
Through the golden hoop stepped Doctor Strange, looking perpetually exhausted, followed closely by a woman in a high-tech, charcoal-grey tactical suit. She didn't look like an assassin on a mission; she looked like a woman who had spent the last three hours tearing a hole through reality to find her keys—or in this case, her girlfriend.
"Kate Bishop," Prime Yelena said, her voice sharp enough to cut glass. "I leave you alone for twenty minutes to buy milk, and you fall through a hole in the universe. Do you have any idea how much paperwork this is for the wizard?"
"It’s not paperwork, it’s a localized breach in the Santum's—" Strange started, but he stopped when he saw the room's current residents. "Oh. There are three of them now. Fantastic."
The silence that followed was absolute.
Alternate Yelena slowly stood up from the tech-table, her hand resting on a combat knife. She narrowed her eyes, scanning the woman who looked exactly like her, but wore a suit that screamed 'S.H.I.E.L.D. budget' and moved with a terrifying, seasoned grace.
The two Yelenas locked eyes.
Yelena looked at her future self with suspicion, her posture guarded and defensive—the look of someone who had spent her life being lied to by the Red Room.
Prime Yelena looked back with a mixture of pity and recognition, her hand resting casually on her hip, completely unfazed by the knife.
The room felt like it was under a vacuum. Even Alternate Kate stopped fidgeting with her bowstring. Prime Kate just stood there, looking back and forth between her "past" crush and her "current" partner, her heart visible in her eyes.
"You look... tired," Alternate Yelena finally said, her Russian accent slightly thicker than her older counterpart's.
"And you look like you are trying too hard to be scary," Prime Yelena countered, a small, knowing smirk playing on her lips. "Also, that vest? It is a bit much. The 2024 model has much better ventilation."
<<<<<<<<
Doctor Strange cleared his throat, the sound echoing like a gunshot in the quiet room. "As much as I’d love to watch a psychological evaluation of the Black Widow program, we have approximately four minutes before the multiversal tether snaps back and takes this entire apartment building with it."
Prime Kate rushed toward Prime Yelena, nearly tackling her. "You found me! I knew you'd find me!"
"Of course I found you, you are very loud even across dimensions," Prime Yelena muttered, though she didn't pull away, her hand coming up to instinctively check Prime Kate for injuries.
She then looked over at Alternate Kate, who was staring at the scene with her jaw hanging open. "And you. Little Kate Bishop. Stop staring. It is rude. And stop eating that pizza, it has been sitting out for three days. I can smell the bacteria from here."
"How did she—" Alternate Kate started, looking at the pizza box.
"I am you, but with a better skincare routine and a much more annoying Archer," Prime Yelena said to her younger self. She then turned to Strange. "Fix the hole, Wizard. I want to go home. We have dinner reservations and I am not missing them because of a 'glitch'."
Alternate Yelena didn't move, her gaze still fixed on the older version of herself. "You stayed with her? The archer girl?"
Prime Yelena paused, her expression softening just for a fraction of a second as she looked at her Kate. "She is very annoying. She breaks everything. She talks too much." She looked back at her younger self. "But yes. I stayed. You will see. It is... not so bad."
"Gross," Alternate Yelena whispered, though she finally took her hand off her knife. "But the vest in the future... does it really have more pockets?"
"So many more," Prime Yelena promised.