Well, it's an extremely dubious expression that follows a grateful one. She might be fiercely independent, but she can be grateful for the slop of casserole that won't be on the floor for Springsteen soon.]
It's gonna get wordy. I get wordy. Yeah I think we should do it. I mean, not bar anybody from getting involved, but like...not relying on anybody older to get the ball rolling.
The mortal realm is filled with variations on it. [ which means, of course, that he thought he'd try a few. why not. ]
Layered chili chicken enchilada casserole, easy beefy cheesy enchilada casserole—ah! And my favorite—enchilada casser-olé! [ does he even have enough casserole dishes for this? oh well. ]
Simple to eat single-handedly, of course. Speaking of that, how's it working out?
[Point number two on "Kate Bishop is right." She doesn't like that she's right about this particular note. Actually, she hates it, because what can she do? She's not able to become Teddy.
That's always been the problem.]
I know. [Kate lowers her head.] Every month that he turns up, I'm a little ... angry at Lachesis, you know? [Billy needs him. He needs him because now he's palling around with someone like Mandrake who can't even be truthful about his relationship with someone else, so how can he be trusted around her best friend? Mandrake is a threat to every aspect of Kate's protective instincts, and it's also bad for Billy to be latching on to Mandrake because he misses Teddy.
It's really bad.]
But since I can't beat her up, is there anything I ... can do?
You know all those lengthy conversations you have over text that you're sometimes wondering why you're typing so much, but hey, our communicators and the internet can handle it, so why not? [She rattles this all off easily before grabbing a fork and shoveling some of it into her mouth. Hold, please. She's eating.
Greasy goodness. Kate is probably going to gain weight in the next month with her actually terrible eating habits.]
Well, I can't. I can't do much of anything. Fight, talk, even throw out theories. [She feels useless.
You're here, you're listening to me, and you're not telling me I'm a horrible person for wanting to makeout with a guy with questionable moral character and terrible taste in clothes.
[He frowns a little. But it's not an angry frown. It's more of an unhappy one, so finally he moves to sit next to Kate.]
I just can't figure out why he's not here. I can't-
You're not a horrible person because you're lonely. [If he had acted on it, she'd have a few more choice words. But he hasn't. That's the important part.]
And he's not here the same reason why anyone isn't. Doctor Doom isn't here to tell us he really brought Cassie back. And that's if he'd even remember it. [She gives a frustrated shrug and ... winces a beat later. Okay, no more shrugging. Life sucks.]
Though with our luck, it really would be Doctor Doom who showed up instead of Teddy. [How frustrating.]
[It's hard, when he's been so used to having someone. He almost doesn't know what to do with himself without Teddy around. But Kate saying that helps; it makes him realize that he was right to tell Mandrake to go after Kitty, to not try and use logic like Teddy wouldn't want me to be lonely.
Not that Billy would.]
If that happened, I might turn into a supervillain.
[He wouldn't but it would be infuriating all the same.]
I'm glad that you get that this isn't because I don't love Teddy, because I do. Man.
[Kate doesn't think Billy would ever turn into a supervillain. But she might approve of him powerfully whacking Doctor Doom once or twice. Not whacking in the sense of killing him, but pounding him into the ground like a mole in that stupid game.
It'd be nice. Even if he brought back Cassie, it was only with certain considerations.]
I know you do. [She knows how much she misses Clint doesn't seem to match.]
And, um, sorry for how I kind of went about ... suggesting all that before. [Even if she was right.
[ well, he could have brought carrots and hummus, but he vouched for casserole. greasy, cheesy, comforting casserole. if he was, Od forbid, stuck somewhere with a broken arm, there was at least good food to be had from it. ]
And wine doesn't go with Midgardian medicine's painkillers.
[ just a little positivity here. he knows you're a busy body, Kate. ]
Look on the bright side, occasionally a breather can leave you refreshed.
No, but I wasn't really talking from a place of ... moral high ground or anything. My last boyfriend was the Dorian Gray. [And Billy's been personally attacked by Noh, so her running tally of "guys she chooses to date" isn't exactly giving her a leg up here. No, Billy has Teddy, and Teddy's great.
Teddy trumps like everyone.]
But I really shouldn't have made you feel like you needed to be stubborn. We're best friends.
Sorry, broken arm. [It really highlights how annoying things can get when you have only one hand when you have only one hand to use. She purposely doesn't say "I only have one hand" though, because she's already felt self-conscious enough about it and now she's talking to Wally, who's a teenager.
So, surely, it'd be worse!]
We may need to rely on older folk for funding and the like, but you're right. And if we are taking the reigns, I can ask my boss to look into the legality of it all. [If he's involved, it'll mean they have another hero on their side.
Of course, she's not going to tell Wally that. So far, it seems that Matt's keeping the whole Daredevil thing underwraps.]
I miss my Netflix of home. I carefully crafted that watch list out of nothing! [And frankly, Kate is a bingewatcher. She has a lot left to watch because otherwise if she's not binging she's not watching.]
That your lawyer buddy you were talking about? Yeah, if he can tell us what we gotta do that'd be awesome. [Though Wally just kind of wants to do it all themselves, but...so long as the adults he knows aren't taking the reigns, he'll deal with it.] Hey, just curious, d'you know Robin at all?
That's the guy. [Kate has a feeling the follow up might take a while, but it's still better than them trying to snoop into the work of Narga. Plus, she might be able to convince Matt to do that anyway in conjunction, to see what ideas Narga has set up so they can ... steal some of them.
It's not like they're seeking absolute autonomy, but that guy's done his homework. He has to have.]
And I met him over the whole ... reflective thing. [She's careful about her choice of words.] I gave him some left over programming a friend of mine worked up.
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