There should have been a universal signal for “Don’t do the thing you’re about to do” without actually having to draw attention to the Thing Someone Was About to Do.
Clint tried his best to come up with something, even though he was pretty sure he’d get spotted anyway, because he could just see the question on the reporter’s lips before it was even fully formed.
Because the thing was, Kate ate reporters like this guy for breakfast. She’d been in the public eye since before she was even a superhero, and this guy looked, seriously, like he had just graduated from whatever Online School of Privilege spit him back out.
Just… no. Why. Why would you do something like that? Why.
Kate turned, and for real, Clint had seen that look before, and it was the kind of look that she gave people right before she stuck them full of arrows. But by the time her expression was in view of the cameras, it was a picture-perfect smile. “Hawkeye,” she said simply, but firmly, to the idiot.
He seemed completely oblivious to the fact that he was going to die.
“Teen Magazine just put out their Hottest Young Heroes List, and you’ve fallen from the top to seventh place,” the reporter said. (WHY.) “Do you think the change in costume had anything to do with your rankings?”
Kate’s smile was still somehow firmly in place. “Excuse me?”
“I mean,” the reporter continued, “the new jumpsuit look is so conservative. Some of us miss the midriff.”
Clint had been about to step in, but it was the leer the reporter gave Kate that made him step back as Kate gathered herself for what was sure to be an epic takedown.
“How dare…” He saw her lips form the words, but she didn’t say them out loud. Instead, she twisted up a smile that was somehow more terrifying than the look she’d given him earlier as she said, careful and controlled, “Well, I’ll give that the thought it deserves. In the meantime, here’s something else for you to miss: employment.”
“I don’t…” Yeah, this guy still didn’t understand that he was dead.
Kate hardly even paused. She pressed the cell phone to her ear and, as she walked away, said, “Yes, Daily Bugle? I’d like to give an exclusive interview. The topic? Oh, I was thinking about announcing a heroes’ boycott of certain elements of the press. Just make sure to mention that…” She glanced at the reporter’s badge. “…the Avenging Circuit isn’t going to get any interviews from any Young Avengers until they blacklist a certain reporter.”
Clint grinned at the expression on the guy’s face.
Kate pocketed her phone and slipped her arm through Clint’s. “C’mon, He-Hawkeye. Let’s go give a press conference about sexism.”
“We should call Nat. I think she’ll want in.”
“D’you think we could get Carol, too?” Kate laughed. Like she didn’t know Carol was probably flying there right that minute.