"Mom! If you don't let me out, then I'll run away, and never return!" I scream.

"No you will not!" She replies angrily.

"Why not?" I ask.

"He will find you, and he'll force you to do horrid things." She says, her voice softening. She always told me that my birth wasn't planned, nor was it expected.

"I know that what he did was purely out of scientific curiosity, but I just want out, mom. I promise that I'll be careful." I assure her. My light chestnut hair is falling out of its loose bun as I speak.

"My final answer is no." She says.

"This is so unfair! I'm not three! I'm almost eighteen!" I scream, stomping up the stairs. I slam my door, nearly knocking it down. An icy layer covers the door.

Oh yeah, I have powers. I can create and destroy ice and snow. It comes from my mother. Even though she didn't have the exact powers I have, she still has powers. When she was younger, she was the intern of Tony Stark. He took a special interest in her powers, and then nine months later, I came into the world. Of course, Stark won't ever know about his secret daughter, mainly because my mother quit her internship and broke up with him before she even had the baby bump.

"This is so unfair." I tell myself. A warm rush of air flows through my open window. It melts the ice into a puddle of water.

"Cassie, open this door right now!" My mother orders.

I open my backpack (since the only reason I ever leave is to go to school) and pack clothes. I leave my phone, and create a ramp of ice leading out of my window. I slide down, and let the warm air melt the ramp.

"I need to be careful." I tell myself as I run down the busy sidewalks. I don't even make it five miles before running into one of the costumed freaks known as the Avengers.

"Someone is out late. What are you doing out here?" He asks. I shrug, and try to pass him.

"Sir, I was out late with some friends, and we were studying. We lost track of time, and if you don't let me pass, I'll miss my mother's curfew." I reply.

"I don't believe it." He says. I should've known that my weak lies won't work. I also forgot it was June, and school was out.

"Well, you should. My curfew is 10, and what time is it now?" I ask.

"11:17. Now I know you're lying." He says. I run between two buildings, and I hear his heavy boots against the concrete.

I conjure a wall of ice to separate us. He punches holes in it, but I just continue to fill them with ice. Soon, my arm gets tired. I stop conjuring ice, and he breaks through. I have a backup plan, though. I freeze the ground under him, and run, ice trailing behind me. His boots and the heat cut through the ice like butter.

"Stay away from me!" I scream, surrounding myself with a snowstorm.

"Stay away from you? You're a sorceress! A enchantress! A witch!" He shouts back, "I bet Stark would love to meet you."

The snow falls onto the ground. It melts on contact. Stark would love to know about his secret daughter. He would love to know that Jade Marshall had a daughter that has powers. He would love to dissect me and figure out what makes me work.

"I'm such a fool. I can't be free. There's no escape from the storm inside of me. I can't control the curse." I reply.

"Come on, kid. Drop the act right now. I bet Stark is going to love you." He says.

"I'll never join you. Especially not after what my mother went through with Stark. He's the reason I exist, after all. I would love to see you try to hurt me, Captain Rogers. I could give you hypothermia or frostbite at any moment." I snap. I cover my mouth, realizing what I just admitted.

"The reason you exist? So he's your father?" He questions. I fix him my worst glare.

I pull myself up, and realize that I'm in a dead end. I literally backed myself into a corner. He reaches out, trying to get me to take his hand.

"Stay away from me. You aren't safe here." I respond.

"Look who is talking. You're the child in a rough New York neighborhood. If anything, I should just bring you to Stark." He says.

"Like I would ever trust him. He only cares about his ego and his money." I snap. I think I'm getting on his nerves, which is good.

I back into the corner, and surround myself with melting ice. He punches a hole through my dome of solitude, and I cower in the corner. I'm a teenage runaway. I'm not a god or monster. I'm just a girl trying to escape her horrible life.

"Get up. I'm making a wild accusation and saying that you are a runaway." He says. Is it that obvious?

"I'm not going to fight you. My mother warned me to stay away from you and the rest of your freak show." I reply, dodging his question.

"Well, I am technically on patrol. I guess runaways are common in this neighborhood, so they sent me to catch them. Mutant runaways were even more common." He explains.

"Okay. I'm not a runaway, and I'm certainly not a mutant." I literally just showed him my powers. Should I just scream let it go and create an ice castle while I'm at it?

"Really? You can't even keep your story straight." He's right.

"You know nothing about my life. Even if you did, you would still classify me as a threat. It's the middle of June, and I'm creating ice. You would just drag me to that big tower filled with freaks that run around in costume. You create more damage than you think. The reason I live here is because of the Chituari! They destroyed the apartment my mother and I lived in!" I respond. Well, there's the truth, and what I think of his freak show.

I let the ice melt, and stare at the fence next to me. There is a small gap at the bottom, and I bet I could squeeze my adolescent body through. Before he can say anything else, that's exactly what I do. I throw my bag over the fence, and slide under the fence.

"Catch me if you can, Capsicle!" I taunt.

I pick up my bag, and run. I can hear him climbing the fence by the time I make it a block away. Honestly, I expected him to be faster. He is the perfect human, after all. I climb up a rusted ladder, and hide on an old rooftop. Unfortunately, he brought backup. A streak of red and gold flew about a yard above my head. Stark.

"Not today." I tell myself, scrambling to my feet. I run across the rooftop, and jump to the next.

My long hair comes out of its bun, and my light chestnut bun is now nonexistent. My pale blue streaks are on full display. Some call it light brown, but I call it light chestnut. The streaks are almost like a way of knowing that it's me, and not some other girl with the same eye and hair colors. I can hear his suit soar trough the air. I see beauty through pain, and pain is all I learned in school. I was bullied, and that pain made me want to work harder. There's a ladder up ahead, and I slide down it. My anger against Stark runs through my body like adrenaline, and it pushes me further.

"I wish I stayed at home. I wish I never grew up. I wish Stark wasn't my father." I cry when my adrenaline rush is over.

I get up and wipe my tears away. He can't know that I exist. I mean, my mom went to great lengths to ensure that I was a secret. She bribed doctors to keep quiet, and made sure my name wasn't called out when Stark was a guest speaker at school. She did all of that, but she never let me go out into the real world.

"Come out, kid." Someone orders.

Not happening, buddy. They make it sound so simple, but it isn't. I can't believe they thought that would happen, though. I mean, I admire their perseverance, but it's just a waste of their energy.

"Leave me alone, Stark!" I hiss. I mentally curse myself for doing that.

His tin can clanks as he walks closer. I have survived for seventeen years because of two simple rules: Never reveal my powers, and never run into Stark. I broke them both in less than an hour. I won't let them break me, though. Someone pulls the crate away from behind me, and I fall backwards.

"I found you, kid." Captain Rogers says, "I bet your father is worried sick."

"My father doesn't know I exist." I mumble, but apparently he hears me.

"Stark! Over here!" He yells. Iron Man slowly makes his way over to me, and I get up.

"Stay. Back. Stark." I hiss.

"Cap, I searched all data for a birth certificate or id, but she doesn't have one." He says.

He's right. I don't have a birth certificate, and I am only known about through websites that have to do with ancestry and stuff like that. Apparently, he doesn't know about that. My icy blue eyes stare at his mask.

"What's wrong, Stark? Surprised that you had a daughter?" I snap, and then I regret my comment.

"Daughter? You're kidding, right? I must've been drunk when that happened." He replies. I've had enough of these clowns.

I create a layer of ice around his suit, and run. Before I make it too far, I turn around.

"Oh, and it was a joke." I say with a smirk. He didn't believe me, and I enjoy that he didn't.

I run past the diner and thrift store. I climb over dumpsters and sprint past libraries. I climb onto the back of a train just like I'm a Dauntless. When it stops, I jump off and run to the departing train. It leaves right as I get to the platform.

"Starting right now, I will be strong. I don't really care if they believe, because I've still got a lot of fight left in me." I murmur.

I feel the warm winds blowing my hair in my face. It feels incredible. Is this what freedom is? I don't have much time to think about an answer before a man's shadow is visible, covering my own. When I turn around, I see something that gives me chills. It's Captain America.