I DARE YOU (Kate Bishop)

twelve

Wednesday swung Kate's hand in her own as they stepped into their apartment. Wednesday winced as water dripped from the ceiling and the entire apartment stunk heavily of smoke.

"Oh, man," Kate mumbled.

"It's fine. I have money. We can fix it," Wednesday said.

Kate closed the door and they walked through the apartment. Wednesday headed towards the stairs, stopping when she noticed a window was wide open.

"Katie, what-" Wednesday started.

"Kate Bishop, Wednesday Elliot," a voice said.

Wednesday turned quickly, pulling a knife from her jacket. Kate lobbed a bottle of hot sauce off the table at the blonde woman, the same blonde woman from the fight but now in casual clothes.

The woman caught it easily and smiled at them.

"Hi," she sang. "I made macaroni if you want some," she added, holding up a pan.

Kate and Wednesday looked at each other for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry. What?" Kate asked.

"Well, I was starving and you two took forever. So I wanted to make food," she said.

"What do you want?" Wednesday asked.

"Relax, Wednesday Elliot. I just want to talk, okay? Are you really not hungry? That fight was so long. It's really tasty. Really tasty," the woman said, putting the pan on the table as she walked towards the kitchen.

"We know what boxed mac and cheese tastes like. We know it's... It's delicious," Kate muttered.

"Forks. Forks," the woman mumbled, rummaging through the drawers. "No. You have one fork?" she said. "There's two of you," she looked over her shoulder at them.

"I eat late, Kate eats early," Wednesday mumbled. "We only need one," she said.

"That's so weird," the woman said. She groaned and held up one set of chopsticks. "Ladies, this is not cutlery. This is not cutlery," she said.

"We are not gonna have dinner with you after you tried to kill me and then broke into our house," Kate said.

"I did not try to kill you. A, I put you on a wire to remove an obstacle. And B, I did not break anything. I am way too talented than that," the woman scoffed.

"Okay, A, that was a dick move. You scared the shit out of me. That's my girlfriend, you dick! I thought she was dead!" Wednesday said.

"Well, she's not, so stop shouting at me, okay? I wouldn't kill either of you. Jesus. You know what C is? It's to stop being so defensive. Okay? You're so hostile. I'm not going to hurt you. I promise. I don't have any weapons on me," the woman said. She faltered slightly. "Okay, I take that back. I don't have any weapons currently in my hands," she said.

Wednesday stared pointedly at the electric shock tech around her wrist as a bracelet. The woman nodded when she caught Wednesday's gaze.

"That's a lie also. Come on, take the fork. Eat. Eat. Please, my daddy says it's good for you," she said, flopping on one of the chairs.

Kate and Wednesday shared a look. Wednesday's fingers twirled the knife through her hands unsurely. The woman sighed.

"You're probably thinking, What? This is crazy. I'm going to have dinner with the enemy? And she made some really good smelling macaroni. But in all honesty, if I wanted to kill you two..." she trailed off.

"You would have already," Kate said.

"Right as you open the door," the woman agreed.

"I probably wouldn't have even had time to shut it," Wednesday said.