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A Place to Call Home | Chapter 35

Rating: T+

Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe

Genre/Warnings: action/adventure/family | kidnapping, violence, strong language.

Story summary: It’s been a few months since the Battle of New York. Steve Rogers is acclimating to life when he crosses paths with teenager Katelyn Sanders, a SHIELD recruit and highly valued asset with a dark past. Follow Kate’s adventure from SHIELD asset to Avenger to wanted fugitive over the course of her youth and into adulthood with her Avenging family. Follows Infinity Saga and beyond.

Words: 12,444

Disclaimer: Majority of properties within this fanfic are owned by Marvel/Disney. My OC Katelyn Sanders, as well as a few other unaffiliated things within this fanfic are of my own creation.

Author Note: If you’re still here, thanks for checking this out! If anyone wants to be tagged in current chapter reform and/or updates lmk! :) Gif not mine.

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The ride back from the Delaware SHIELD base is quiet. It’s around midafternoon, and rush hour is drawing closer. The various stops at intersections are almost unbearably silent and Kate focuses on her passenger window, looking for things to distract herself with.

When the car pulls into the Stark Tower garage, Kate’s eyes shift from the door window to the front windshield, gaze snapping along at parked cars within the space before they head to the back of the garage near the elevator.

Steve parks the vehicle and proceeds to get out of the car, and Kate follows close behind. Walking into the elevator, Kate goes to one side and Steve to the other where the panel was with floor buttons.

“Captain Rogers,” Jarvis greets.

“Jarvis,” Steve responds. “Communal floor, please.”

The doors close and the lift jolts before it begins to rise.

Kate keeps her eyes focused on the lower half of the doors, hands in her jacket pockets, keeping the material taunt against her back. The material of her shirt was stuck to her skin, soaked in blood. The bulletproof vest was helping to keep the injury discrete. Unfortunately the knife just missed the vest, not doing much to help other than hide her blood-stained shirt.

Steve had been pretty quiet on the car ride back to the Tower. She didn’t want to appear closed off, but at the same time she needed to process everything for herself before she could reassure him.

The sharp edges of the folded files in her cargo pants pocket are prominent in her mind as the elevator begins to slow and her eyes snap to the break between the two lift doors. The chime of the elevator coming to its destination was becoming a familiar sound.

Kate waits for Steve to exit the lift first before she follows him into the large communal area. The room was empty.

As Steve heads into the kitchen, Kate loosely follows. She’d need to get some kind of dismissal from him. For her own peace of mind but also because it was something hardwired into her. She’d at least ask him if he needed anything from her before she retired to her room for a while.

“I’m gonna get a bottled water, Kate. Would you like one?”

The question causes Kate’s head to snap up, her eyes meeting the Captain’s momentarily before she gives a small nod.

“Sure,” Walking up to the kitchen island, Kate keeps her hands in her pockets, jacket taunt across her back.

Steve walks to the opposite side, tossing the keys onto the counter before he opens the fridge and grabs two bottled waters. Steve hands it across the island, and Kate grasps it and mumbles a small “thank you” before setting it down in front of her, the hand returning to her pocket.

Steve opens his bottle and greedily drinks a good portion of the refrigerated beverage before suddenly stopping.

Kate’s eyes shift to his pocket where his phone is vibrating. She could hear it clearly.

Steve caps the bottle and sets it down before snatching his phone from his pocket. Evaluating the screen for several seconds Steve closes his eyes momentarily before breathing out a small sigh.

He hadn’t returned to the New York SHIELD base to conclude the mission. He needed to be debriefed as well as get started on a report. Clint and Natasha had taken the jet back to base after dropping the two of them off at the Delaware installation.

Dismissing the call, Steve shoves the phone back into his pocket and looks up to meet Kate’s eyes, an understanding expression.

“I’ll be fine for a few hours,” Kate gives him a small smile, leaning forward against the counter, hands still in her pockets.

Reluctant and longing, Steve’s expression doesn’t change as he looks down for a moment before nodding quietly. He didn’t feel comfortable leaving her here. That was obvious and maybe understandable. As of now- all Steve knew was that she fought a few guys er- killed a few guys - and fell down an elevator shaft. He didn’t know the other details…

“You sure you’re alright?”

Hearing the question, Kate feels the urge to smile and roll her eyes but she keeps her expression relaxed and warmer than she usually did.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Kate let’s a small chuckle slip. “That mission was- nothing compared to some of the things I’ve experienced so… Don’t worry.” Kate nods, an eyebrow twitching up as she waits for Steve to accept her response.

He clenches his jaw momentarily before pulling together a tiny smile and a nod.

“Alright,” He snatches the keys from the counter before walking around the obstacle.

Kate turns to face him as he comes to a stop in front of her.

“I’ll be back before dinner, if you get hungry-”

“Leftovers in the fridge, and I know how to make oatmeal,” Kate gives up and rolls her eyes, a smirk on her face.

Steve’s concerned expressions breaks, lips tightening, a hidden smile slipping before his expression returns to one of more concern than anything.

He seems to hesitate the action momentarily, but brings his spare hand to her shoulder and grips it semi-tightly.

Kate clenches her jaw, eyes turning to meet his gaze, one hand clenched tightly in her pocket.

Ow.

“I’m- really proud of you.” He finally says.

Kate’s brow twitches, pain diminishing in favor of her brain searching for the meaning behind his words.

“You’ve- been through things I could scarcely imagine, and- I know SHIELD has been a blessing and a curse for you the past several years. I hope you know that I- um,” He swallows, seemingly racking his brain for the right words. “You did what you had to today, and-”

“Thanks,” Kate whispers, nodding gently.

His expression leaked with anxiety and uncertainty. He dreaded serious conversations with her. Kate found it funny at times, how Steve rigorously planned serious conversations with her and for some reason- saw those moments as incredibly daunting.

At her response, Steve’s worry fades and he gives her a small smile before gripping her shoulder a bit tighter.

Kate pulls together a small smile in return.

Ouch. Damn it Steve, at least you mean well.

“Few hours tops.” He repeats before beginning his walk towards the elevator.

Kate watches as he leaves, and as the sound of the elevator descending into the lower levels grows quieter and quieter, her eyes eventually turn out around the room.

It was only 1532. This day was going on forever.

While a voice in the back of her head hinted that she was exhausted, at the forefront of her mind was a sort of thrill. Leftover adrenaline was still running through her body; senses were on alert and she felt comfortably aware of her surroundings. She felt awake and oddly alive. She hadn’t seen such action in a while. She shouldn’t feel that way… She’d just killed three people. Bad people yes, but…. Kate could tell with someone like Steve, he’d never openigly judge her. Not yet at least. It was a matter of survival, and this time, she had no other choice.

The silence of her surroundings brings with it a growing pain imiting from her shoulder and Kate briefly clenches her jaw before lightly rolling her injured shoulder. She had to clean it up best she could.

The walk up to her quarters is quiet, and as she enters her room and closes the door behind her, her eyes trace the space silently.

She had a room. Her own room. Not letting the thought get to her was easy, she constantly thought in temporary terms. Appreciate it while its here, but don’t get attached to the comfort and pleasures. Living with this team, under Steve’s legal guardianship, had a certain ring of finality to it, enough for her to remain cautiously optimistic, but that only took her so far. Anything could happen at any moment. If she lost her cool and did something to either this team, or just- did something in general. SHIELD may take her back in no matter what “papers” Steve had.

For some reason that wasn’t as daunting as she originally saw it. With these new developments at the forefront of her mind, Kate was finding herself less… cautious of the illusive organization. If her parents had worked for them, then maybe there was a reason for the difficulty surrounding her training. Maybe there was something she didn’t know.

Turning the light on in the bathroom, Kate quickly lets her eyes graze the space before she kneels down and begins rummaging through the cabinet under the sink. Pepper mentioned a small first aid box.

Finding the white plastic container, Kate snatches it and brings it up to the countertop. Eyes briefly meeting in the mirror, Kate quickly draws her gaze away before she begins carefully removing layers of clothing. First the jacket; a loose, rain and windproof material. Turning the fabric about, Kate sees the blood staining on the inside back of the jacket which thankfully couldn’t leak through the waterproof coating.

Tossing the article over the glass shower wall, Kate returns to the sink and eyes the bulletproof vest in the mirror. No doubt SHIELD had vests both bullet and stab proof. Steve just grabbed your average vest for her. Either way, the knife hit just above the vest, so it probably wouldn’t matter either way.

Slowly taking the material off, the release of pressure around her body made her feel almost vulnerable as the material fell away. Tossing it over the shower door, she eyes the shirt currently still on her body. She could see blood staining just over her shoulder, and no more than ever, the cool wet feeling of the shirt sticking to her back was prominent.

Sighing quietly, Kate grabs a hold of the edges of the shirt and begins slowly inching out of the material. Face contorting, she grumbles lightly before forcefully slinking out of the material, tossing it towards the shower door with annoyance. Some first aid scissors in the kit would’ve made things easier.

Leaving the sports bra and her black cargo pants on, Kate leans her side against the counter and turns away from the mirror, craning to look over her shoulder at the clean rupture in the skin of her shoulder a little more than an inch in length.

Blowing some loose strands of hair out of her eyes, Kate clenches her jaw and breathes out before grabbing an alcohol-free wipe from the small package. Reaching over her shoulder, Kate begins cleaning the area surrounding the injury before experimentally swiping over it.

Clenching her jaw tightly she repeats the process a few times. She hadn’t had to clean and tend to injuries herself in years. Those days were different. To the point where she wasn’t sure where to begin describing how different they really were.

While she wouldn’t be able to clean the tried blood smeared on her back, she’d need a couple stitches, and would need someone to tend to it. Bruce would understand discretion. He was very considerate to her boundaries.

Turning her attention back to the kit, she begins shuffling through, only to find a lot of bandaids but no gauze pads.

“Oh come on,” Kate mutters, dumping the small kit over only to see only some small bandages and some neosporin along with other minimal supplies. Gritting her teeth, Kate leans forward onto the counter.

This complicates things.

Collecting her old clothes, Kate begins putting them all back on. She’d just hop down to Bruce’s lab. He has everything she’d need.

Heading out of her room, Kate makes her way to the elevator and enters the small space.

“Hello Kate,”

“Jarvis,” Kate speaks up. “Doctor Banner’s lab please?”

“Of course,”

The doors close and the elevator jolts before it begins traveling down.

Bruce would respect her wishes to keep this quiet… right? She’ll just explain the bump on the head she got and that she just didn’t want to worry Steve further. It would just complicate things even further.

Heading out of the elevator, Kate makes her way down the short hall before entering the open area in front of the lab/medical area. She’d spent a while in that room.

The wall of windows tinted, as well as the doors, Kate walks over and knocks lightly. The doors were usually open.

Wait- what am I doing.

Ears twitching lightly, Kate leans forward only to realize there was no vital output coming from the room. Bruce wasn’t in the lab.

“Okay,” Kate breathes, looking around momentarily.

Maybe Tony knew where he was.

Taking the stairs this time, Kate heads to Tony’s workshop, and finds him working on what looked like an arm of one of his suits.

“Mr. Stark?” Kate calls over.

Tony scrambles about momentarily, seemingly startled at her words before he turns, back to what he was working on.

“Scared me kid,” Tony mutters, meeting her eyes with an expression that matched his words. “What’s going on? You need somethin?”

“I uh, was just wondering what Doctor Banner was,” Kate responds, arms crossing, pulling the jacket taunt.

“Oh he’s out on an errand- should be back in a couple hours.” Tony uses his thumb to gesture out towards the wall of windows before his gaze locks on her clothing.

“You see some action on that mission? You don’t look so hot,” He chuckles.

“It’s just dust,” Kate shrugs, taking a few steps closer. “Building was what you might call structurally unsound.”

“I see,” Tony chuckles before turning back momentarily to his work, leaning against the adjacent counter seconds later. “So you’re looking for Banner. What’d you need? Anything I can help with in his absence?”

Kate eyes him for a brief time before looking away momentarily, shaking her head in the seconds following.

“No… No, it’s not important.” She ultimately responds before giving a curt nod. “Thank you, sir.”

“Hold on just a second young lady,” Tony calls after her, causing her to slow her pace towards the door before she slowly turns.

Tony takes a few steps closer, leaning over one of the counters now between them.

“What’s the rush?”

This is exactly where I don’t want to be.

“No rush, sir.” Kate answers, careful to keep her expression relaxed, if not slightly confused.

“Don’t sir, me, miss. What’d you need?”

Kate silently eyes the man, contemplating her next move. Tony struck her as someone who could be discrete. Without giving it much thought, he was easy to talk to. Easier than Steve or even Bruce, actually.

“Need some first aid supplies,” She mumbles, eyes locked on the Stark’s. “Only have small band aids in my bathroom,” She nods over her shoulder before holding up her hands, revealing the cuts and scrapes from the scuffle she’d been in.

“Well why didn’t you just say so.” Tony mutters before chuckling. “Jarvis unlock the lab for Miss Sanders here,”

“Will do, sir.”

“Just ask Jarvis next time, he doesn’t mind.” Tony shrugs before turning back to the repulsor. “Need help with anything other than that?”

I need you to not be nosy.

“No… No, sir. Thank you.” Kate nods and pulls together a small smile before turning to leave.

“Just-... make sure to let someone know if you need help with- something like that. Don’t hide it,”

Throwing a small nod over her shoulder, Kate begins making her way back to the lab.

After entering the now unlocked space, Kate goes to the right drawers and begins collecting some supplies. After first arriving at the Tower when she was injured, she got used to seeing where Bruce would grab certain items and where others were stored.

After bringing all the necessary items back to her room, Kate returns to her own bathroom and sets everything onto the counter.

“Let’s try this again,” She breathes before beginning to strip off the top layers of clothing once more, leaving her in a sports bra.

Cleaning the surface area of the wound again with an alcohol-free wipe, Kate gnaws on her bottom lip quietly. The pain was sharp, and it stung. Nothing she wasn’t used to. But that didn’t make it any less annoying.

Snatching a gauze pad from the kit, Kate presses it against the wound before using her free hand to grab the gauze tape. Gripping the edge with her teeth she pulls the roll out before maneuvering to rip the tape. After a minute or two, she finally has the gauze pad taped correctly, and sighs before turning to face the mirror upfront.

There’s another scar to add to the roster.

Experimentally rolling her shoulder, the tape pulls slightly on her skin, and she frowns before heading out into the bedroom to grab fresh clothes.

It wouldn’t stay put for long, she’d need to just ask Bruce for assistance.

Grabbing a darker colored t-shirt, Kate dresses carefully before cleaning up in the bathroom. Putting everything away, she makes her way to the communal floor.

Empty. Perfect.

Heading to the fridge, Kate begins looking for a light meal. She was a bit nauseous. Now that she really acknowledged it.

That was something she hadn’t experienced in- well not a while but- a few months. That is until a few hours ago. Turning into animals that can fight off hostiles can be helpful. Unfortunately that also means most of those animals use their teeth as their main weapon…. Fending off assailants in that manner can get- well… messy.

Grabbing some leftovers from the fridge, Kate brings the containers to the kitchen island and begins putting together a small meal.

It was such a foriegn thing for her. Grabbing some leftovers from the fridge, putting together her own meal before sitting around for a bit. It didn’t exactly bother her- the lack of freedoms prior. If anything, all this freedom she was given was nerve wracking.

Placing the plate of food in the microwave, Kate returns to the kitchen island and leans over the cool surface while the food begins heating. Eyes tracing the room, her gaze stumbles over a foreign object on the couch and after a couple seconds, recognizes the object.

Clint’s laptop. The one he used for SHIELD business.

Eyebrows twitching, Kate lets her eyes fall to the counter, the folded files in her now fresh pair of cargo pants rub against her leg as she shifts. Gaze lifting, she eyes the device momentarily as the microwave beeps.

Maybe just a quick look.

SHIELD base in New York

“There’s no reason for why you’d send us on that mission, Nick, unless the objective was that important that you only saw fit for us to go in.” Steve counters.

“Contrary to what you believe, Rogers, there isn’t some grand conspiracy behind every action regarding the missions I send you all on. Sometimes we have high risk missions, other times things are slow and I want to make sure more low risk missions are done correctly.” Fury retorts. “Now back to the reason I called you in here. You took a civilian on a highly-”

“A civilian - that’s rich, Nick.” Steve scolds before shaking his head, almost chuckling. “As soon as intelligence showed up, they immediately pushed us out the door. So whatever information it was that you wanted so badly, it wasn’t for us to see.”

“Well despite what you may think, Captain, you don’t need to know everything about this organization.” Fury responds with a small nod.

Agent Hill and Doctor Gordon sat quietly on one side of the table, Natasha and Clint next to Steve on the opposite side.

Clint was leaning on a fist, face scrunched under it as he blinked slowly. Natasha on the other hand had her brow gently knit as she listened to the conversation.

“Now you brought Sanders on this assignment, for what reasons I don’t wish to know, and- you say there was an incident but she’s fine?” Fury questions hesitantly.

“She took out multiple hostiles.” Natasha affirms, nodding lightly before glancing at Steve.

“Before falling three stories down an elevator shaft.” Clint mumbles over his fist.

“These men, who are they with?” Steve questions.

Fury sighs quietly before turning towards Hill and Gordon momentarily.

“We’re not yet sure, Rogers. But going forward, please enlighten me if you plan on taking Sanders along on your little adventures.”

The door suddenly opens and an agent quietly makes his way around the table to agent Hill.

“You could get charged with child endangerment if you’re not careful.” Fury adds.

“Funny, Nick.” Steve nods, hand landing on the edge of the table as before he clenches his jaw.

“Are you sure?” Hill questions before taking the tablet from the agent.

“Yes, ma’am. I checked multiple times.” He responds, looking over her shoulder as she tapped about on the screen, brow knit tightly.

Attention turns to the Deputy Director of SHIELD and the room falls quiet.

“Problem, Hill?” Fury lifts his chin, eyes on his second in command.

Remaining quiet for several seconds, Hill looks up, eyes on Clint.

“We’ve got a security breach on one of our systems. ID reads from your laptop, Barton.”

“What?” Clint lowers the hand from his face, rubbing his eyes quickly before sitting up. He’d been about ready to fall asleep during the debrief. “We- that’s- are you sure?”

“What’d you leave it?” Steve asks, gaining Clint’s attention as the archer turns.

“I uh- It-it’s on the couch. Communal floor,” Clint throws a hand out, ultimately confused. “There’s gotta be a mistake, no one can get to it aside from Stark. But he doesn’t need my laptop to hack into the system.”

Silence falls and Steve struggles to swallow the sudden lump in his throat.

“Kate,”

Swiping her fingers along the touchpad, Kate’s eyes dart across the laptop screen before she begins quickly typing in the search bar. She’d breached the firewall, but also activated the security breach as well. While she quickly overrode it, chances were high that SHIELD now knew.

Typing her name into the search bar, Kate sits forward on the edge of the couch cushion, plate of food forgotten on the cushion next to her turning cold.

Seeing no results come up makes Kate’s brow knit tightly.

“Come on,” She mutters before making her way to Oriah’s database, putting the same information in only to get the same results.

Nothing.

Maybe Clint didn’t have access, and therefore no information would even come up for temptation reasons. Maybe that’s just how the SHIELD classification worked.

Erasing the search bar, Kate begins typing two names in, names she had almost forgotten until that morning.

Michael and Miranda Sanders. Her parents.

Not a second after she pushes enter, the search results come back negative.

“What,” Kate’s brow knits tightly before she begins pulling the folded files from her cargo pants pocket. Kate opens them and traces the information present on the paper.

Maybe it was just a matter of clearance.

She knew they were dead. At least, its what she was told when SHIELD first brought her in. The warehouse had killed them while trying to take her. Maybe they’d been moved to a different database.

Looking over the files, Kate’s eyes catch a department name. Lifting her gaze to the laptop, she begins typing in the name before entering the pages on the department.

Repeating the same process, she types the names in.

Michael Sanders + Mira-

A flashing red box interrupts her actions and she curses once she reads the message.

Security Breach.

She’d been locked out.

Cursing louder, Kate closes the laptop and lightly throws it onto the adjacent couch cushion. Picking up the files once more, Kate eyes the images of her parents. Despite feeling a certain odd wave of- perhaps guilt, she needed to really stare at those profile images.

She’d almost forgotten what they looked like.

Meanwhile…

Reaching for a tool on the opposite counter, Tony rolls back to the adjacent counter to where he was working. The arm repulsor was complete, now he was just doing some cosmetic changes.

“May I inquire as to why you’re going forward with this project, sir?” Jarvis speaks up.

“Wanna see what the kid’s made of.” Tony offers. “She’s living here now, so… Thinking of it as a housewarming gift.”

A ringing echoes around the workshop and Tony cranes to look over his shoulder, hands preoccupied holding certain metal workings in place as he sees the profile image of Captain Rogers pop up on the hologram.

“Captain Rogers is calling, sir.”

“No shit, Jarvis. Put him through,” Tony looks ahead and continues working. “Hello,”

“Tony? Tony, where is Kate?”

“Nice to hear from you too, Cap. She’s upstairs watching a little TV last I heard from Jarvis.” The Stark responds. “Kid looked pretty beat, you put her to work on that mission?” He chuckles.

“Tony I don’t have time- I need you to go check on her.”

“Relax Cap, she’s fine. You’re turning into a helicopter parent already, we’re going to have to have a talk about the consequences of such actions on adolescents.”

“Tony, Clint’s laptop was hacked. It’s on the communal floor, I need you to go seee what she’s doing.”

“And the plot thickens,” Tony hums before tossing the tool on the counter.

“Alright, I’ll go check on your kid. How was the mission?”

“We’re almost back to the Tower, I’ll explain later.” Steve sighs.

“Roger that, Cap’n. I’ll go see what she’s up to.” Tony responds before gesturing for Jarvis to hang up the call.

Sighing quietly, Tony gets up from his wheeled stool and heads for the elevator.

“Shall I access video recordings of Miss Sanders, sir?”

“No thanks Jarvis,” Tony mumbles. “I’ll go see for myself.”

Making his way to the elevator, Tony finds his mind wandering a bit.

This whole situation was amusing. The grander situation- not this current one. Steve was in way over his head taking this kid on. Now that didn’t stop him, and it didn’t stop Tony from encouraging the Captain to do so either. Regardless of capability from this team, there was the moral issue concerning the teen, which Tony hadn’t failed to acknowledge. The only thing that made him second guess Steve’s decision was what the kid was capable of.

Aside from what SHIELD training they all knew she had received over the past few years, training aside she was capable of much on her own. That much was evident by what information SHIELD have given them in the packet Steve was given.

Exiting the elevator, Tony walks onto the communal floor and his eyes quickly find Kate sitting on the couch watching the television, an empty plate sitting on the coffee table.

Stopping behind the adjacent couch, Tony leans over the cushioned furniture and notices Barton’s laptop a few feet from her on the opposite end of the couch she was seated on, a few closed files next to her as well.

“So… How’re you doing?” Tony questions, looking to the television momentarily before turning to look towards her.

Kate is quiet, however her expression reveals a certain tiredness and mild frustration.

“You’re pops called; said there was a problem with the laptop.” He treads carefully, tone playful.

There is minimal reaction from the teen, however she briefly clenches her jaw before grabbing a water bottle from the table, taking a large swig of it.

“SHIELD firewalls are a pain in the ass.”

Tony can’t help but chuckle, nodding lightly before crossing his arms over the back of the couch cushion, leaning forward more onto the furniture piece.

“I’d have to agree with you on that one.”

She doesn’t exactly seem fazed that they know…

“You’ve got quite a few tricks up your sleeve,” Tony tries, turning towards her once again. His eyes flicker over her expression quietly, looking for any micro reactions to his words. She didn’t seem the least bit nervous.

“They taught me well,” Kate meets his eyes briefly before looking towards the television once again.

“That they did,” Tony glances towards the device several feet away which Kate was pretty preoccupied paying attention to.

She was quite an amusing individual. Nervous and lacking confidence one minute and then- well… Hacking Barton’s laptop for shits and giggles the next.

Movement out of the corner of Tony’s eye causes him to turn, finding Kate grabbing the files which were on the couch before stuffing them into the large pocket of her cargo pants

Eyebrows twitching curiously, he watches as she gets situated once more before she catches him eyeing her,

“They’re coming up the elevator,” Kate explains before looking towards the television once more.

Tony’s lips part hesitantly before he glances towards the doors.

“I see,” He finally nods.

A good thirty seconds later, the hum of the elevator becomes into hearing range and the lift dings before the doors begin to open.

Tony smirks and looks towards the teen momentarily.

That is quite a talent you have, young lady.

Turning his eyes back, Tony sees Steve already on the approach towards where they are and Clint and Natasha are not far behind him. Steve comes to a slow halt a few feet behind the couch she’s sitting on, seemingly halting his semi-frustrated expression, almost as if he made a realization on the approach.

Swallowing quietly, he exchanges a small glance with Tony before making his way around in front of the television, sitting on the couch adjacent to Kate.

Silence is thick in the air as Tony eyes Steve questionably. He came in with an intent to scold it seems, but now he was second guessing that approach.

Probably for the best after what happened last time you scolded her, Cap.

“Kate, would you mind explaining before we start talking about this?” Steve tries, voice less commanding and authoritative than normal.

Kate looks down from the television momentarily before looking towards the Captain. She eyes him quietly for a few seconds before looking down and back towards the television.

“Just wanted to look at my file,” She mumbles. “I knew you wanted me as far from SHIELD as possible. And after this morning I didn’t think you’d be eager to let me look at it either.”

Steve’s brow twitches lightly together before he glances towards Tony and his two colleagues momentarily.

“I had questions,” She adds, voice calm and confident. She didn’t seem at all embarrassed, worried… Very different from what the team normally dealt with. “Got what I was looking for,” She shrugs and meets his eyes once more before turning back. “Don’t really wanna talk about it.”

Steve opens his mouth to speak before pausing and closing it, glancing towards Tony, he catches the billionaire’s amused shrug before the captain sighs.

“Alright, but… I’m gonna ask you not to hack Clint’s laptop again, okay?” Steve leans forward, trying to catch Kate’s eye as she wasn’t looking at him.

Following his request, Kate looks away from the device and glances towards Steve momentarily with a subtle nod before looking towards Clint.

“Sorry agent Barton,”

“S’alright kid,” Clint responds gently, tone on the lower end, but understanding all the same.

Tony glances around the room, noting how awkward the atmosphere was turning before finally clearing his throat.

“So… How was the mission?”

“It was alright,” Clint shrugs. “Semi-eventful.”

“Get any action, kid? Sounds like you got action,” Tony smirks lightly, causing the teen’s expression to relax a fraction.

“Just a bit,” She admits.

Movement behind the couch causes Tony to look up, seeing Natasha coming around before she gestures for Kate to get up.

“I’m taking this one for a debrief,” She announces before gesturing for Kate to head towards the elevator.

“W- Natasha don’t you think we should all b-”

“Nope,” She calls over her shoulder.

Steve’s brow knits before he stands hesitantly.

“I mean- I’d like to be-”

“I think this situation calls for some girl time; a sort of informal debrief,” She throws a small wink over her shoulder that Clint catches and chuckles at before nodding.

Tony watches as Steve looks to his fellow colleague in Barton before looking towards Natasha.

That a signal for something?

Sighing quietly, Steve waves a hand towards them as they leave and he sits back down.

Clint does the same, taking a seat where Kate was before pulling the laptop to his lap.

“So?” Tony questions. “Give me the dirt - spill.”

“Kate took out a few hostiles on the mission,” Steve explains muffledly, hands over his face as he rubs his temples before putting his hands through his hair.

“Took out? As in-”

“Eliminated,” Clint offers, typing away on the device before frowning and muttering a curse under his breath. “She covered her tracks well. I’d need to call Hill and have a deep scan run on the device to see what she was looking for.”

Tony watches the archer quietly, remembering what Kate had kept in her possession. A few files.

I can’t say anything just yet. Might be a good way to build trust with the kid if I don’t.

“So she killed some people on this mission,” Tony mumbles, arms crossed over his chest.

“Yeah,” Steve mutters.

“You alright, Cap?” Tony chuckles using the back of his hands to swat Steve’s shoulder in a brotherly fashion. “How ‘bout some brutal honesty for once.”

“Starting to see what Gordon meant.” He shakes his head as if he didn’t like admitting the statement aloud.

“How so?” Clint looks up, pausing his device activities.

The Captain shakes his head, torn between what looked like being honest with not only the team, but himself - and just maybe lying to make the situation easier to handle.

“He said- basically that Kate was a handful. Capable, resourceful… That her confidence would build. She’d start changing and become unpredictable.”

Tony exchanges a small glance with Clint before the archer breathes a small semi-nervous chuckle.

“Not having regrets are we, Cap’n?”

Steve grasps his fist tightly, elbows resting on his knees before he meets the archer’s eyes.

Walking down the hall towards Natasha’s quarters, Kate has her hands hesitantly at her sides.

An odd place to conduct an informal debrief, but I suppose there’s emphasis on the former rather than the latter.

Natasha opens the door and heads inside. Kate follows loosely behind her.

“You can shut the door,” She calls over her shoulder before heading around the corner to her bathroom. Her room was the same layout as Kate’s, so everything looked rather similar geometrically.

Shutting the door gently behind her, Kate walks further into the room, thumbs hooked on the belt loops of her cargo pants.

“So what’d you wanna know?” Kate tries, looking towards the several floor to ceiling windows similar to her own quarters.

“Your bandage bled through.”

Oh shit.

Eyes widening, Kate’s hand swings up to her shoulder with such speed that she almost slaps herself, coming to feel the dampness on her black shirt before pulling it away to see a brush of scarlet over the pads of her fingers. Eyes snapping up towards the doorway, Kate sees Natasha pop out.

“Relax, c’mere.” She almost chuckles, voice considerably warm.

Kate swallows before walking towards the bathroom, one she recognizes as similar to her own as she steps inside.

Natasha gestures for her to stand in front of the sink counter before making her way around the teen, standing somewhat near the doorway to give her space.

“Let me see,” Natasha urges, her tone surprisingly soothing.

Nodding lightly Kate huffs quietly while taking the shirt off, careful of the taped bandage which was most likely coming off anyhow.

Setting the shirt down on the counter next to her, Kate positions her hands on the edge of the sink as Natasha comes to stand somewhat behind her. Peeling the tape away swiftly, she eyes the wound for a moment, expression unreadable before she opens the medicine cabinet about and grabs a small first aid kit.

“How’d this happen?” She asks, opening the kit on the sink counter, revealing some suturing supplies amongst other things - things this team probably used regularly.

Kate hesitates a moment, eyes on the sink bowl as she feels the coolness of the alcohol-free wipe touch the damaged skin of her shoulder.

“One of them had a knife,” Kate finally explains, shaking her head just barely.

Something you should’ve been ready for, you moron.

A small chuckle causes Kate’s eyes to lift towards the redhead.

“It happens,” She offers, tossing some of the used wipes in the small trash can which Natasha had placed next to the sink counter.

It grows quiet as Natasha continues to clean her injury. Kate hadn’t cleaned it properly. Well- not properly enough. It was hard to see over your own shoulder to clean a wound in need of a few stitches.

Wearing just a sports bra, now made Kate realize her upper half was mostly on display - the countless scars visible to the agent’s eyes. Gaze dotting up to the mirror, Kate watches Natasha work. She seemed concentrated on the task at hand. Her eyes hadn’t lingered anywhere, not even moved from the task at hand as she reached for something in the first aid kit with ease before continuing.

“Have some numbing gel here,” She wiggles the small tube in the mirror’s view for Kate to see. “I can stitch you up if you’d like.”

Kate eyes her momentarily, finding herself nodding before realling having processed the offer. Natasha was the last person Kate had to figure out. This whole situation wasn’t making it easier. Aside from Pepper, she was the only woman around, and twice as hard to figure out than the men of the team. Maybe that was a good thing.

Giving her a small smile, Natasha begins applying the gel to the surrounding tissue of her injury.

“Something tells me you’re used to just bare-knuckled stitching without numbing agents,” She raises an eyebrow, perfectly sculpted.

“Yeah you could say that,” Kate nods to the side, stopping the shrug she was about to implement.

You could say that…

“Don’t have much in the way of entertainment up here, but the TV’s got some streaming services you can pursue.” Natasha gestures towards the device before tossing Kate a t-shirt to borrow.

Carefully putting the article on, Kate watches as Natasha hops onto her bed and pats the spot next to her, remote in hand as she turns the television on.

Oddly relaxed. Almost goofy in her mischievous expression.

“Now about the debrief,” She quotes with her fingers, and smirks lightly as Kate approaches and sits on the edge of the bed, hands eased into her lap.

“I don’t think there’s much to discuss, but… If there’s anything you’d like to share we can chat off the record.”

Kate’s brow twitches at her words before she looks back at the agent.

“... Off record?”

“I can listen as- a friend, I guess. Not as an agent, and we can talk about anything you might be- curious about.” She tries, seemingly thinking up the words as she went. It was intentional. Trying to make Kate feel more comfortable.

Glancing towards the steaming service logo on the television, Kate looks down momentarily before swallowing lightly.

They’d find out eventually. Might as well tell someone before Steve tracks me down.

Eyes falling to the comforter, Kate reluctantly opens the pocket of her cargo pants and pulls the two files out.

Kate catches the curious expression taking over Natasha’s face as the teen slowly holds the files out to her. Natasha looks up and eyes her for a moment, trying to read her expression.

Doesn’t take a genius to see I’m not sure about this.

Taking the files from her, Nataha brings them to her lap, legs still crossed before she goes to open the folders.

Kate watches her expressions closely, evaluating any micro reactions, or any changes at all for that matter; Natasha keeps her expressions controlled as she slowly takes in the information present on the papers in front of her.

“You found this today?”

“Mm hm,” Kate responds.

Opening the second file, taking in its content, Natasha finally looks up to meet Kate’s eyes and lets flickers of emotion break thorough as she thinks over her options.

“What would you like to know?” She finally asks.

Kate’s brow knits together, lips parting slightly.

She knew?

Several Days Later…

Natasha was already aware that Kate’s parents worked for SHIELD. When she found out, Kate didn’t know, but she explained what little she had been told.

They’d been working on a project regarding Kate, researching her ability. Natasha hadn’t specifically stated the classification level, all she said was that it was high up. Not many knew about it. After Kate was taken, and her parents were killed, the Oriah program was established, with Doctor Gordon in charge.

The program was established to find her. Once they realized there were countless more people like her that this organization was taking, Oriah blossomed out into this huge operation to not only find her, but other kids once she had been found.

That was a lot to take in. She was at the center of this whole program - hell, the whole operation’s mission to find and save these other kids was just a façade to find her. It made her sick, and awoke emotions she hadn’t felt in a while. That part of her past was a whole nother side of herself that if the team saw- they’d realize just how much they really don’t know her.

All of this information, as overwhelming as it was, brought a certain ease to her mind. Her parents were SHIELD agents, and SHIELD obviously had some kind of access to her prior to her kidnapping, so maybe there was something she didn’t know about SHIELD. A larger reason for why she was so important to them. The curiosity was eating away at her by the minute.

Placing the orange juice back into the fridge, Kate brings her glass to the kitchen island and sips at the short glass.

It was relatively quiet. Steve was out at another SHIELD facility, outside of the state. He’d left early in the morning, leaving Kate to occupy herself elsewhere. She wouldn’t mind going for a run on her own, but it was more for Steve’s sake that she didn’t than hers. He had to know she could handle herself.

If he was smart, he’d be worried about everyone else instead of me.

Tony and Bruce were somewhere in the building, as was Clint. Natasha was on her way back from a mission.

Taking her juice to the sitting area, Kate plops down on one of the couches, having set the glass down on the small table between the adjacent couches. Putting her earbuds in, Kate flips through a long list of music. While living with the Bakers, Kate had gotten some music suggestions from Sam.

Finally just scrolling back to the top, clicking the shuffle button, Kate leans back against the couch and sighs quietly.

The last couple days were quite uneventful. Not much really happened, and Natasha thankfully delivered “report” of sorts to SHIELD regarding the little debrief they had. So she wouldn’t have to go in and get drilled on what had happened.

Natasha was quite a puzzle. Hard to get to know, although Kate wasn’t exactly trailing after her with a friendship bracelet. Having agent Romanoff work on her injured shoulder wasn’t something that necessarily made Kate uncomfortable. If anything- the whole experience put her at ease. She knew Bruce wouldn’t try to talk about her scars, at least she hoped he wouldn’t. Natasha on the other hand, struck Kate as someone who’d take anything she told her to the grave. She seemed trustworthy in that aspect, if not understanding in some manner.

The others… Tony, Steve and Clint: had their strengths and weaknesses.

Tony was so easy to talk to. She could make everything sarcastic and loose and the man somehow got exactly what she was talking about. Clint was an odd one, but she was getting close to figuring him out completely. He was kind of a goof, but at times he had a very nurturing vibe, something that surprised her. She’d caught Steve going to him for advice on a couple occasions regarding her. Lastly, Steve… Steve was a unique case of being. His situation definitely had something to do with that. She didn’t want to disappoint him. He was so kind to her, and he cared about her more than anyone had that she could vividly remember. His unwavering desire to help people had its flaws though, and the man was just- too good for his own good. He didn’t fit in well. Kate pitied him in some ways. Not only for what he had lost, but for what he was left with. Which pretty much his out of date morals in a corrupt and dishonest world.

Elevator.

Looking over her shoulder, Kate eyes the doors, waiting for the lift to arrive before there is a ding and the barriers slide open. Clint walks out, meeting her eyes rather quickly as he heads over.

“Hey,”

Kate gives him a small smile, glancing back down at the device in her hand momentarily before lowering it to her leg.

“I was gonna spar with Nat before heading off to get some work done, but she isn’t back yet. You mind filling in?”

Oh…

Kate swallows quietly and processes his request.

“Nothing extravagant,” He shrugs and shakes his head quickly, hands shoved in his pockets. “Just a little dancing around the mat s’all.”

“I uh,” Kate trails off. “Um,”

Her shoulder would be completely healed in about a week, but this could compromise that process. And if Clint found out, chances are that Steve would soon after. Natasha said to take it easy, otherwise the stitches might tear.

“C’mon,” Clint smirks lightly before leaning over the adjacent couch. “What harm could it do?”

Much, according to Natasha.

“I-” Kate blinks before looking to the side with a tightly clenched jaw. “Okay,”

“Great,” Clint clasps his hands together before gesturing for her to follow. “C’mon, it’ll be fun,”

Setting her phone and earbuds down on the couch cushion, Kate abandons her glass of orange juice on the table to follow the archer to the elevator.

By the time they get down to the gym, Kate has since relaxed. Clint yapped the whole way down about the last time they sparred.

“I’m just saying- you spar with me and Nat every once in a while and I think you’ll learn a lot. Especially from Nat. You can definitely learn a thing or two from her, she’s always got tricks up her sleeve… I didn’t mean- Not that you need help from her, I just mea-”

“I know what you meant,” Kate breathes out a laugh while meeting his eyes as they walk across the mats.

Clint smiles awkwardly before nodding, tossing a duffle bag off to the side of the mats before he begins rolling his shoulders and stretching.

Kate follows his action, stretching lightly, only to feel the pull behind her shoulder. Her stitches were gonna tear. That was inevitable. There was still a bandage taped over it however, so hopefully that would help.

“You okay if we just jump right into it? Figure things out as we go?”

“Yeah,” Kate smiles, lowering her arms to her sides before craning her neck slightly to crack it, doing another quick shoulder roll.

Adjusting his stance, Clint loosens up his balance, lowering his center of gravity as she did.

“Alright,” His voice is light and full of anticipation, almost giddy. He seemed excited.

While he raises his hands in a loose guard, Kate keeps her hands at her sides, although ready to act if necessary.

Taking a few steps towards her, Kate takes only one back, keeping a subtle distance as they go around a few strides before Clint makes the first move. A quick jab. Kate dodged the hit, finding her arms raising in a subtle guard.

Clint steps in and throws a quick combo and dirty combo of punches.

Jab, hook, jab, cross, uppercut, jab.

Using a hand to knock several of the punches aside, Kate jumps in after his last jab and throws a couple of her own hits inside his guard.

Uppercut, block, uppercut, hook.

Quickly getting out of his guard, Kate takes a couple steps back to reevaluate before Clint makes the first move again.

They exchange multiple moves back and forth. He didn’t use his legs as much as Natasha, and Kate wasn’t sure if bringing in those moves would throw the match off or not. When they break she’ll say something.

The match continues on for a couple minutes, and Clint starts throwing in some banter.

“C’mon,” He breathes before waving for her to come closer. “You’re holding back, I can tell.”

“This is sparring, you’re supposed to, agent Barton.” Kate responds, lowering her guard for a moment as Clint started talking.

“Yeah, but if you don’t train like its real, you won’t be ready for when it is.” He points at her before taking a couple steps closer.

I know what ‘real’ looks like.

Kate just nods, understanding his words, despite not thinking he really understood where she came from. None of them did.

“How bout we make things a little more interesting?” He breathes out and lowers his guard.

Kate mirrors the action as he goes to walk off the mats.

“What’d you mean?” She breathes out, only to realize she wasn’t all that winded, more so mimicking his current state.

“Little tool here Nat and I use on and off,” Clint throws over his shoulder before finally coming back from his duffle back, something in hand. He holds it up, revealing a knife.

“Hard rubber. Good for sparring, safe for most scenarios.” He shrugs before flipping it around in his grasp. “Do you have any training with knives?”

Kate hesitates a moment before giving a small nod.

“Yeah… Yeah I have experience,”

“Good,” Clint smirks before catching the knife readily.

Kate takes a couple steps back on the mats, allowing Clint to retake a spot evenly placed to her.

Not long after things fall silent does Clint make the first move.

Now this is more like it.

Dodging his swipes and jabs, Kate keeps a collected defensive position, taking steps back to match his forward movements.

Waiting for her opportunity, Kate finally catches his arm in its jab position, Kate pulls his arm forward, bringing his head forward and close enough for her to knee him in the face if she wanted to. She pauses, knowing the move she could enforce.

Before she can fully process a next move, her feet are already kicked out from under her and she hits the mat with a loud ‘oof’.

“Don’t hesitate,” He chuckles. “Nice job on that catch. You can fake the knee, y’know,” He uses his hands to gesture about before helping her to her feet.

“My training didn’t involve sparring,” Kate explains, watching Clint turn to go to the other edge of the mat.

Feeling a throbbing on her shoulder, Kate brings a hand back and lightly taps on the bandage under her shirt. Hadn’t bled through yet, but sutures definitely tore.

“All the hits were real during my training,” Kate adds.

Clint turns back after reaching the mat’s edge and twirls the knife lightly while processing her words.

“Well… Why don’t we go a little harder then. Meet in the middle,” He shrugs lightly.

Not a good idea.

“I don’t… I don’t think that’s the best idea,” Kate begins hesitantly.

“Think you’ll hurt me?” He chuckles lightly, not to mock her, but he seemed genuine in her voiced concern.

“Yes.” Kate doesn’t hide her response behind words. She had to be blunt.

Clint’s eyes lower momentarily, twirling the rubber knife about as he thought things over.

“Alright, well... “

“We can try it,” Kate offers, although her heart is far from her words.

This won’t end well.

“You sure?” Clint laughs lightly. “You don’t seem eager.”

“Maybe I’m just- overreacting.” She offers. “I don’t mean to insult your capabilities. But my training is… Different from what other agents probably experience.”

“I don’t doubt it,” He puts his hands up briefly before lowering them to a guard.

With a couple quick movements, the match continues. As throws are exchanged, and a few kicks make their way into the mix, Kate begins to relax into the scenario.

“C’mon you can do better than that,” Clint grunts while dodging a kick from her before blocking a couple of punches to deliver his own.

As the match continues, the pace picks up, force behind throws and kicks becoming harder.

Blocking several of his throws, Kate feels her feet slip on the edge of the mats. Subtly panicking subconsciously, Kate blocks his swings and throws a quick series of combos, one of the punches landing hard on his face, knocking him to the ground. Her stomach practically jumps into her throat, choking on her breath as she scrambles towards him.

“I-I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

What have I done - Why did I agree to do this!?

Letting off a deep laugh, Clint sways up to a sitting position, the heel of his hand coming to the side of his face, gently touching around the eye socket area, one eye partially closed.

“S’alright! It’s okay!” Clint laughs before shaking his head lightly. “Been a while since I’ve had my bell wrung like that. S’about time, probably.” He ends with a light chuckle.

“I- I didn’t mean-” Kate is already on her feet, and an irritating warmth taking over her wrist. “I’m - I-” Her throat felt tight, making breathing all the more difficult as Clint got to his feet.

“Take a deep breath, kid. It’s alright,” Clint’s tone has since changed, becoming more serious at seeing just how bad of a reaction she’s having.

As the room falls silent, Kate notices Clint’s eye line not on her face, and she looks down to see what he’s looking at, only to see her own hand itching her opposite wrist like there’s no tomorrow.

Clint takes the hand which was performing the action and removes it before taking the wrist receiving the beating, looking it over carefully.

Kate swallows and keeps her eyes on her forearm, away from the angry burn scars around her wrist. Tony knew about it, and Bruce and Steve did too. It wasn’t something she necessarily kept track of. These were just things she’d rather keep to herself.

Gripping her hand below her wrist, he rubs lightly over the top of her hand with his thumb before meeting her eyes, causing her to hesitantly look up following many seconds of silence.

“It’s okay. It happens,” He tilts his head down to better see her face, but she clenches her jaw and looks away.

“Why don’t we call it a day. Head back up to the common room? I’ll bring my laptop, we can put a little television on and chat.”

Kate doesn’t respond as he begins collecting his things, but allows him to direct her lightly towards the elevator to head back to the communal floor.

It had only been around twenty minutes since they left the gym, but Kate was coming to terms with what had happened. It was an accident. She just… needed to calm down and think logically. They wouldn’t punish her for an accident like that. Clint had already taken responsibility for what had happened by pushing her, but that didn’t really lessen her guilt by much.

“So, I have a question,” Clint speaks up, looking from his laptop towards the teen, and she looks up over her glass of juice, phone on her lap and earbuds in her ears.

“Hm?”

“Your parents,” Clint begins. “Do you know what they did specifically?”

Kate silently eyes him, trying not to react too strongly but it wasn’t something she honestly expected to hear from him.

“Nat- uh, she told me about what you guys talked about.” Clint adds, expression contorting with uncertainty. “Hope that’s alright. I won’t tell anyone, honest.”

“Mm,” Kate hums.

Note to self: Maybe Natasha wasn’t exactly foolproof.

“I can keep a secret, trust me.” Clint puts his hand up before lowering it with a smile.

Nodding lightly, Kate processes his original question and then finds herself shaking her head.

“I wasn’t aware that my parents were SHIELD, but, I knew they were scientists.” Kate answers. “Didn’t get very far on your laptop.”

“No clearance I guess, sorry.” Clint chuckles.

Kate can’t help the small smile as she meets his eyes briefly before looking towards the television.

Meanwhile…

Leaning back against the elevator wall, Steve lets out sigh, eyes closing momentarily. After chasing after Fury for a good hour at SHIELD’s Delaware base, Steve got the information on Kate’s parents. Fury finally spilled and let him see some of the files from the mission Kate went on with the team.

“It’s not even noon yet, Steve.” Natasha chuckles, causing him to look over at his colleague standing a couple feet away, leaning against the adjacent wall.

Steve just shakes his head before shrugging. They’d headed back together after Steve swung by the New York based and picked her up on the way back.

He had to show the team this information. At least Natasha and Clint. They needed to know about it.

The elevator finally arrives on the communal floor and Steve walks out as soon as the doors open, finding Clint sitting on one of the couches, and Kate on the adjacent one.

“Hey,” Clint calls over, looking over his shoulder briefly before looking ahead once more.

“Everything okay here?” Steve asks, a small stack of papers that were binder-clipped as he heads into the space with Natasha not far behind.

“Dandy as could be,” Clint shrugs before briefly eyeing the Captain as he came into view. “How was the mission?” He diverts his question towards Natasha, getting to his feet to head towards the kitchen.

“Fine,” Natasha nods, arms loosely crossed.

“By the way, I got a text from Chaves abo-”

“What happened?” Steve asks, his brow knitting as he leans forward, eyes locked on Clint’s semi swollen- developing black eye.

Kate turns, meeting his eyes with a look of distress while Clint just chuckles before leaning over the couch, gripping her shoulder before giving it a comforting squeeze.

“Sparred with your kid and got my ass handed to me,” He responds, making Natasha smile gently as she looked over at her partner.

Steve eyes move from Clint over to Kate seeing she still looks uncomfortable.

“Are you alright?” His expression was less concerned and more gentle, ultimately causing Kate to give a small nod in confirmation before she went to apologize again.

“Stop apologizing,” Clint chuckles, grabbing the water pitcher from the fridge. “Gonna have it outlawed,”

Clenching his jaw momentarily, Steve glances about before his grasp tightens on the papers. It was as good a time as ever to talk.

“Kate, would you mind bringing this to Tony?” Steve pulls a tablet from the pile of folders and papers. Looking up from the mess of papers in his hands, Steve flinches at seeing Kate already standing in front of him, ready to take the tablet.

He gives her a small smile as she takes it with a small nod and heads off rather quickly.

Once she leaves, Steve feels the smile fall as he looks towards Clint.

“Cap-”

“Clint, I'd really prefer you two take it easy on her. I’ve seen her training first hand. It is not what you would expect.”

“I get that,” Clint puts his hands up as he returns to his spot on the couch. “But we gotta condition that out of her. She looked about ready to faint after she hit me, She was expecting some serious repercussions for the act, and I think we need to talk about working on that.”

Steve takes in Clint’s suggestion, nodding after a few seconds of processing.

Walking into the lab, Kate’s eyes quickly find where Tony is, seeing him looking over some holograms.

“Hey kid,” He calls back, still preoccupied.

She weaves through the countertops until she’s next to him, and sets the tablet down on the countertop.

Tony looks down, brow knitting before he looks to her for an explanation.

“From Steve,” Kate shrugs.

“He just get back?” Tony questions, snatching the tablet up before opening it.

“Yep,” Kate takes a few slow steps around before sitting down on one of the wheeled stools, turning it around lightly. “He brought the tablet back with him from SHIELD.”

“I see,” Tony hums to himself before opening it up. “Jarvis, transfer the files over to my server”

“As you wish sir,”

“Hey kid I have somethin to show you,”

Kate’s brow knits, eyes snapping over as the billionaire got up from his stool and made his way across the room towards a large crate sitting on a counter against the wall. Picking it up by the handles, he lugs it over before setting it down on the counter near her.

Kate watches as he begins unclasping the latches and she slowly gets up, watching his actions closely until he pulls the lid up, revealing the object within.

Her eyes widen, brow knitting tightly before she slowly looks over at him.

“Pretty cool right?” He smirks, watching her reactions closely. “Wanna try firing it?”

“You- What is this for?” Kate questions slowly, her hand gesturing towards the arm repulsor within the case.

“Fun, what do you think?” Tony mutters before pulling it out of the case, holding it firmly with one hand before impatiently gesturing for her to hold out her right arm. “You can leave the hoodie on.”

“So… Fury just- gave you this information.” Clint states, still trying to process Steve’s words.

“Yeah,” Steve furthers, eyes snapping between the two of them. “I know this is- a lot to take in. But this changes everything we thought we knew about the Oriah program. It’s origin, the mission… these people, Kate’s parents… They never intended for such a program to exist. SHIELD’s only concern at the time was Kate. Her being kidnapped by this anonymous organization ultimately caused the creation of the operation to come about. Only when they realized just how many others there are, did they change the operation into a program for these kids. Kate is the reason that this program exists.”

The two agents take in his words quietly, and exchange a small glance.

Steve watches the two, his brow knitting after the silence continues on and finally he sees the flickers of guilt in Clint’s expression and his gaze snaps to Natasha.

“You both knew?”

“Try that one,” Tony gestures towards the third hologram target projected on the far wall.

Kate lifts her right arm, outfitted with the arm armour and arm repulsor before she fires it off like Tony showed her. The knockback causes her arm to circle over her head and she takes a step back to soften the swing.

“You’ll get used to the knockback, don’t worry.” Tony sits down in a swivel chair and watches as she rolls her shoulder lightly. “All the same though, you should take a break.”

Kate lowers her hand from aiming and looks back to Tony with a small shrug.

“My ability helps out, I’ll be fine.”

Tony can’t help the small smile in response to her words before he gives a small nod.

“So…. About this whole SHIELD situation,”

“You know too?” Kate mumbles, aiming the repulsor.

“Kn- Know what? Exactly?”

Looking back at the Stark, Kate realizes he wasn’t referring to anything specific.

“Oh, uh…. Nevermind. You meant the mission?”

“Yes,” Tony chuckles, brow gently knit.

“There’s not much really,” Kate shrugs before looking ahead once more. “Saw some action. Killed a few bad guys… Walk in the park, I guess.” She mutters towards the end before firing off the repulsor. Focusing on the recoil, she makes sure to step with the momentum and swiftly returns to a balanced position.

“You curious about them?”

“Who?” Kate turns towards him, lowering her arm to her side.

“SHIELD,” Tony responds before getting to his feet, hands in his pockets. “You ever… I dunno, think about working with them? On your own terms? After Fury’s offer, I assume you’ve at least considered it.”

“I mean- yeah.” Kate mumbles, unsure where he was going with his words. “I’d be a fool not to.”

“So you’d consider it.” Tony tries, evaluating her reactions closely. “

Kate swallows and gives the littlest shake of her head.

That’s not exactly an easy question.

“I don’t know,” She finally says. “I admit I’m- curious about what would have happened if I became an agent.”

“Tell me more,” He gestures before plopping back down into his chair, full attention on her, but not in a distracting way. He was oddly easy to talk to after all.

Kate eyes him for a moment before she looks down and chews her bottom lip for a moment, obviously torn on being this brutally honest.

“I-... I’m really grateful for everything the team has done for me, but…. It just feels like I should be doing something more. Like I should have-...”

“Some kind of purpose,” Tony responds, looking towards the piece of armor on her body before meeting her eyes. He gets to his feet and heads towards the counter with the crate.

“I guess so,” Kate mumbles quietly, her arm with the repulsor now at her side. “I’ve been getting training for so long to contribute to some higher cause and now I’m... “ She trails off, her words getting lost in thought.

“I get what you’re saying kid,” Tony speaks up, turning to meet her eyes as she looks up.

“I don’t mean to be insensitive to what you all are doing for me- I’m beyond grateful, I’m just saying-”

“You don’t need to explain it,” Tony chuckles, having shook his head gently with amusement while searching for a different tool. “Trust me I get antsy when I've got limited options too. You should talk to Capsicle. We can figure something out if you wanna look at some options,”

Kate’s brow knits slightly at his words, her eyes dropping as her thoughts run about in her head. He was so much easier to talk to. For some reason approaching Steve, Kate got nervous. She didn’t want to make him think she was ungrateful for everything he had done.

“You seem pretty uneasy.” Kate’s head shoots up at Tony’s words before she gives a small smile. “Whether we work something out with SHIELD or maybe something with the team… We can talk it over. I’ll pitch it to Rogers if you want,” His voice was very friendly and Kate could feel herself growing more comfortable as she gave a nod and a smile.

Later That Evening…

The team is hanging out in the gym, a few hours after dinner. Kate watches as Steve and Natasha spar. They both had their own styles, but Steve was apparently going to be starting more advanced SHIELD training soon to get him up to speed on more modern styles of fighting. At least from what Natasha had told her.

Watching them move swiftly across the mats, Kate’s eyes drop when Tony leans over.

“You should jump in.”

“Uh no,” Kate immediately responds, gaining a guttural laugh in response.

“I think you could kick Rogers’ ass,” Clint leans around Tony with a smirk.

“I’d pay money to see it,” Tony mumbles in response.

“I’d rather not make him rethink his decision to house me, thanks.” Kate breathes a laugh, causing Clint to laugh as well while Tony rolled his eyes.

As the sparring match comes to an end, Tony nudges Kate hard on the arm as they approach.

Kate shakes her head and shoots Tony a small look.

“Hey Cap,” Tony calls, causing Kate’s head to snap upwards.

“Come spar with your kid, she’s feeling left out,” Tony calls over to the opposite side of the gym to where they were. Kate immediately shoots him a look of annoyance and distress before glancing towards Steve who was now walking over.

“I’m sorry Kate, I didn’t know you wante-”

“I didn’t ask cause you were busy,” Kate mumbles quickly, her eyes snapping over to Tony agains briefly. “And we don’t have to right now,” She adds with a small nervous laugh, her arms crossed loosely as she was still sitting next to Tony.

I literally shouldn’t. I still haven’t had my sutures looked at from this morning. A stupid decision on my part.

“Nonsense, I’m not tired yet.” He smiles gently, coming to a stop several feet away from the bench they were seated at.

Over course, ever the gentleman.

Kate remains quiet for a moment as she glances at Tony to her left before her eyes meet Steve with obvious uneasiness.

“Oh hey, mind if I take some readings while you two fool around,” Tony suddenly mutters, picking up the tablet that was on the bench between him and Clint, tapping away on several things before glancing at Kate.

“W-....” Kate swallowed with uncertainty as she glanced at Steve again; his expression having remained calm and relaxed before she looks towards Natasha for help.

“I think it can wait. You sparred with Clint this morning after all. You need some rest,” She smirks before giving a small wink.

“Yeah.” Kate agrees hastily before meeting Steve’s eyes with a small nod.

“Okay,” Steve smiles before going to grab his things.

“Buzz kill,” Tony sighs, lowering the tablet to his lap as he slowly looks towards Kate.

She puts her hands up as he goes to stand and leave the room.

Over the next couple minutes, everyone begins to leave until its just Steve and Kate.

He was lingering, and so was I… That can’t be good.

“So,” Steve begins, packing supplies back into his duffle bag. “Anything you’d like to do with your spare time?”

Wow right to the point.

“I mean- if you’re finding yourself bored more often than not. Are there any hobbies or- activities you’d like to try?”

Kate swallows and thinks over his words.

What the hell do I say? Something tells me Tony already talked to you.

Giving a small shrug, Kate smiles towards Steve.

“Not sure,” She breathes before looking down. “I can probably think of something though.”

Steve is quiet and looks down, processing her response before giving a small nod.

Yeah… Yeah he knew.

“So, Tony and I had a chat earlier, and…” He huffs quietly before pausing while shoving some hand wraps into his bag. “Concerning SHIELD….” Steve trails off. “Could you tell me a little more about what you and Tony talked about?”

Just be brutally honest. Maybe that’ll get you out of this nightmare of a conversation. Note to self: Tony doesn’t waste time.

“...I want more SHIELD training.” She finally states.

Steve visibly clenches his jaw and lets out a small sigh.

“I know you’re probably thinking that I’m saying this because I've formed some kind of reliability on SHIELD given how long I was with them- and while I don’t deny I might have some… I do see benefits in working with them… Working with them- on my terms.”

Picking up her own belongings, Kate begins walking with Steve to the elevator as they make their way towards their separate rooms.

“Fury mentioned they have- colleges, and schools; proper training and employment. Maybe one day I could-… I don’t know,” She mumbles as the elevator doors open and they walk out into their floor. “I could do what you and agents Romanoff and Barton do.”

Stopping in front of his own door, Steve turns to her and gives her a small smile.

In that moment, Kate felt more like a kid than ever. Something in his expression read that he was more in the know than she was, and she felt like young and naive for a few seconds.

“While I don’t necessarily agree with it… It’s your decision.” Steve nods to himself, hands gripping his duffle bag.

Kate holds her phone and earbuds tightly in her grasp while evaluating his expression.

“While there would be serious conditions, and - limitations,” He begins, brow knit with concern. “I need to learn how to respect your boundaries… So if this is the direction you wanna go in, I’ll support your decision.”

Kate eyes him quietly, taking in the response.

Well that- went better than expected.

“This is your choice. An important choice. And- I want you to be able to make it for yourself.”

“Thanks,” Kate mumbles, still unsure if this was actually happening.

Giving her a small smile, Steve grips her shoulder gently before going into his own room.

Heading down the hall towards her own quarters, the vibrating of the device her in hand causes her train of thought to dissipate. Looking down, she reads the text message present.

Natasha:

I told you to take it easy. Swing by my room and I’ll take a look at those sutures ;)

Unlocking the device, Kate begins typing away at a response.

I know, I’m sorry. Agent Barton insisted, and I couldn’t steer him off without him becoming suspicious.

He was pretty insistent. She just couldn’t have Steve finding out. That would make her current chances disappear.

Natasha:

Tony mentioned some interests with SHIELD. Anything I can help with?

Reading the message over a couple times, Kate begins typing out a minimal response.

Maybe. I’ll explain when I’m there.