➖ CHAPTER SEVEN

➖ KATHERINE NICOLE HAD OFFICIALLY been at the Avengers Tower for one month when Tyler came around for a visit. The boy had popped in unannounced and strolled in like he owned the place. Nobody was home due to an early mission debriefing so he strolled through the large penthouse living room, past the bar and down a couple hallways until he found the one that housed Katherine. Jarvis has been ordered not to alert the remaining to occupants and was keeping eerily quiet.

The young man stopped outside of her door, listening to the soft sounds of the teenager sleeping before he kicked the door open and shot his gun once, just to scare her. There was a girlishly loud scream seconds later when Tyler was tackled to the floor as Katherine fell out of bed with a scar d noise that resembled a mouse squeaking.

Quickly the teen stood to her feet, grabbing Tyler's fallen gun and pointing it at him as something cool wrapped around his neck from the back, pulling him to his feet. The boy held his hands up in surrender as Katherine locked eyes with Bucky, letting out a breath of air before speaking, lowering the weapon as she did. "It's fine, Bucky." She says and Tyler feels the cool metal tighten briefly around his throat. "Tyler's my dumbass handler, you can let him go."

Bucky does so, but not without an eye roll and a grunt as he threw Tyler to the ground, storming out and slamming his bedroom door behind him.

"Er.. morning Katherine Nicole." He says awkwardly. Katherine stared at him stonily as she moved towards her door, gun still in her hand. Tyler followed wordlessly after her, looking around curiously as they passed through the living area once more and moved on through a couple more rooms until they reached the kitchen where Katherine gave him the stink eye as she went about making coffee and glowering at the time.

"What the hell are you here for?" She finally grumbles as he leans against a counter. "It's too early to deal with this shit." She's only been asleep for a few hours, having passed out on the floor in the gym. She figured she'd sleep walked to her room, not realizing that Bucky had placed her on her bed as he usually did most nights.

Tyler couldn't help the smirk as he watched her. "I'm your handler." He states simply. "I'm here to handle things and check in on you on Director Fury's behalf."

Katherine scoffed. "Tell him everything is fine." She states. "I don't need another babysitter on top of the avengers." She says before heading out of the kitchen after telling him to stay put as she went to her room to get dressed and ready for the day. It was Friday and she had homework assignments to make sure got turned in on time.

She stayed in her room as long as humanly possible, taking her time with the jeans and T-shirt she wore before slowly making her bed and putting her hair into a French braid. By the time she grabbed her bag and walked out of her room she had about ten minuets before Happy would be waiting for her in the parking garage.

The kitchen was a tense sight when she walked in, she stopped in her tracks as she walked past the door frame and took in Bucky and Tyler staring at each other. It felt as if there was a testosterone war going on through the room and she noticed the slight crack running through the dark glass mug he held in his metal hand. "..what are you two doing?" She asks, stepping carefully into the room and grabbing the premise lunch that Natasha had stored in the fridge for her. She noticed that Tyler's hands were going white with how tight he was squeezing them into fists.

The two payed no mind to her, she needn't know the previous conversation that they held. "You should go." Bucky says in a hard time, eyes never leaving Tyler. He didn't trust him, there was just something.. off putting and he wasn't sure what it was. "Happy will be waiting."

Katherine just shrugs and a mutters a half hearted 'see ya later' before moving to leave. "I'll come with you." Tyler pops up, walking stiffly towards her and pushing her towards the elevator doors. "I only needed to see that you're alive and doing what you're supposed to be doing."

"Mission accomplished." Katherine says as the elevator moves quickly towards the lower levels. "Tell him that if he wants to make sure I'm following the rules that he can check in on me himself." She hadn't heard from Fury since the day she left (he'd given her a stiff hug) and she was a little pissed.

Minuets later the two stiffly walked out of the elevator. "Follow the rules." Tyler says, walking towards the S.H.E.I.L.D. car that was provided to him. "Keep out of trouble. I'll see you next month."

"Great." She mutters, going the opposite direction towards Happy, who was dutifully waiting by the passenger side door as she rounded the rear end. "Morning, Happy."

"You're early, Miss Stark." He says, opening the door for her before closing it after she buckled. "Who was the boy with you?" He asks like a concerned uncle as he watches the dark car pull out before following it. "He seemed to agitate you."

Katherine only gave him a shrug as she sipped the coffee out of the to go mug she had managed to grab on her way out of the kitchen. "Old friend." She says, leaning back in her seat and closing her eyes for the brief few minute ride.

"When was the last time you actually got more than a few hours of sleep?" Logan asks as she sits next to her friend in class, Katherine had chugged her coffee after arriving ten minuets early to class and had taken a cat nap on her desk before Logan arrived. "Your fave is doing that thing it does where you look tired and irritated and.. I'm not helping am I?"

Katherine just shrugged and looked at her friend as Zander took the seat next to her, giving her a rushed good morning as the rest of the students arrived in classes, followed by mister Killian.

Katherine did her best to stay awake for the class, Zander and Logan doing their best to keep her from getting in trouble whenever Logan's dad looked her way.

Eventually Katherine was asked to go grab something from the supply cabinet down the hall and she jumped eagerly at the chance to wake herself up some more as she went searching for the extra dry erase markers.

Unfortunately Katherine had taken a little too long in finding the markers as Logan had come searching for her and just as Katherine used her power to stretch her arm and the rest of her body up to the very top shelf the door was wrenched opened.

"Kat, did you fall asl-" Logan was lookin up at her, slack jawed and wide eyed as her best friend slowly shrank back to her normal size, the packet of markers in her hand. "..Kat?"

"Shit." Katherine mutters, before doing the stupidest thing she could've done in that situation. She grabs Logan by the front of her shirt and drags her towards the front doors. "Your dad will understand, right? Right." She says, talking to herself as she drug Logan through the school. "Oh my god Tony's going to kill me! And Clint!"

Logan just followed, letting Katherine drag her wherever as she tried to process what she had just seen. The two teens wound up walking straight through the front doors before walking a block away from the school building when Katherine finally made enough sense to speak right.

"You're coming home with me." She says. "I have some explanations to give you." She looked back at Logan.

"Dude.. you just.. went all mister fantastic and.. stretched your whole body- " Logan says slowly, trying to make sure she hadn't been slipped some kind of drug and wasn't hallucinating. "How?"

"Genetic experiment." Katherine says off handedly as she continues to drag Logan the few blocks back to Stark Tower. She was already a nervous wreck and about got them ran over as they crossed a street. She was scared out of her wits and didn't know what to do. Her secret had been outed, and not even on purpose or by someone who was going to at least use it as leverage. No, it just happened to be her best friend who thought that Katherine was named Kat and that her father was Tony Stark.

This, for lack of better words, was a very not good situation that could possibly end in Katherine being locked back in her cell in the sublevels of headquarters.

Logan was at a loss for words and fidgeted as Katherine pulled her forwards the large building. The tower looked over the both of them as they stood at the doors to the front. Katherine seemed to have a mental conversation with her self before looking back at Logan and dragging her forward into the lobby of the building.

Logan was scared, Katherine wouldn't speak to her whenever she found the voice to ask questions and she wasn't even sure what was about to happen. She felt as if this could have a bad outcome and that she probably should've acted like she hadn't seen anything.

She fidgeted some more as she was pulled onto an elevator that began rising to the top floor.

"Miss Katherine," An English sounding voice came over what seemed to be an intercom, scaring the wits out of Logan and causing her to scream quietly. "You should be in school, yes?"

"There was an emergency." Katherine says off handedly. "Are they all home?" She asks, tapping her foot on the steel floor bottom. Logan just listened and watched as the floor count rose.

"All except for Captain Rogers, Miss Katherine." The AI says, and Katherine purses her lips. "Shall I alert them to you and your guest's arrival?"

"No, thank you." Katherine says as they pass the fiftieth floor, she was still gripping onto Logan's wrist tightly and looked at the girl as she continued to fidget. "Could you calm down?"

Logan gave Katherine a very wide eyes look. "Dude, you live with some of the hottest men on earth!" Logan says, her voice going slightly shrill as she was sure she looked a mess right then in her black leggings and tank top. "I cannot remain calm!"

"Well.. try!" Katherine says as the near the penthouse floors, a few moments later and the elevator slowed. "Keep your damn cool, Okay?"

"Bitch, what cool?" Logan asks as the doors slide open and Katherine tugs her out. "I have no cool! How does one be cool when ones best friend lives with- hoLY SHI-" Without warning Thor walked out of the kitchen with an apple in his hands, I'm nothing but a pair of sweatpants with sweat running over his well built torso.

"Lady Katherine." The Norse god greets, giving the two girls a smile. "I thought school lasted until much later.." Katherine was about to answer when suddenly Logan made a weird noise next to her and slumped to the ground, her face red.

Katherine looked between Logan and Thor before letting out an annoyed scream at the confused looking God. "Way to go Thor! Your stupid abs broke my only friend!"

Seconds later there were several pairs of footsteps coming down the hall from the bedrooms and the hallway from the labs and the entire team (minus the captain) were surrounding her.

"Thor broke Logan!" She says, pointing to the god as Clint rounded on her after Bruce and Tony lifted Logan off the ground. Everyone stared at her and she lowered her arm before staring meekly at the floor. "..okay so I might've broken her before Thor when she accidentally walked in on me.. we, stretching."

The two people who weren't sure what she meant gave her a weird look before Clint gave a very furious and very stern look, raising his finger at her. "Katherine Nicole- Go to your room! Now!"

She pushed past everybody weakly and headed for her room, tears running down her face as she realized what a huge mistake she'd just made and how badly it was going to cost her. She barely noticed the footsteps following her and didn't even try to stop them when they followed her into her room.

She sniffles into her pillow after flopping face first onto the bed, feeling a mixture of things she'd never felt before. There was fear that she's just scarred Logan for life, fear that she was going to be sent back to her cell and what Logan's father would think of her.. what Zander would think of her when he got word of this.

And there was loathing, she loathed what she was. She loathed herself for being able to do these stupid things, she loathed herself for being the science experiment that Hydra made her to be and she suddenly loathed the thought that Nick Fury had allowed her to come here, that she'd been allowed out of her cell.

Most of all, she loathed that Logan had saw her, and that she had probably just lost her only friend in the universe (besides Zander) that seemed to understand her on levels that others did not.

Katherine didn't notice the gentle hand on her back as she was too busy crying, but she didn't notice the presence. She chose to ignore the person, and Bucky was glad because he wasn't even entirely sure what he was doing or why. He just felt so damned heartbroken when he noticed the scared look on her face when Clint faced her and the pitiful way her shoulders slumped as she walked away.

He wasn't sure if he was even helping her at all, but he was sure that he wasn't going to leave this girl alone to deal with this as she had been for most of her life.

He knew what she was feeling right now, the way it felt to be a hydra experiment.. even if she wasn't as deadly as him he figured it was a terrible feeling, especially for it to have happened to someone as young as she was when the first experiment happened.

Bucky Barnes was not going to leave a fellow Hydra experiment alone to deal with this weight. He wasn't going to let her have to deal with explaining to her friend alone, and dealing with the repercussions.

Bucky Barnes was in no way shape or form going let Katherine Nicole go through this alone, like he had. Because some how, deep down, he knew that it was only going to get worse for this girl.  That her ex Hydra handlers would find her now that she was out in the open.

He knew who they were, and why they had done this to her.. he remembered them from the brief period that he was on the same base as her, and he was going to do the right thing this time, do what he should've done when she was only a three month old.

Bucky Barnes was going to protect this girl at all costs, and he'd give his life doing it. Of that, he was already sure.

➕➕➕
HI YALL WHATS UP? A SUPER LONG CHAPTER BC YOUR GIRL IS IN A SUPER GOOD MOOD WITH SOME SUPER BIG NEWS?? I KNOW THERE ARE PROBABLY GRAMMAR AND SPELLING MISTAKES SOME WHERE BUT ILL GO BACK AMD FIX THOSE.

MONTHS AGO I SENT OUT a manuscript of a half finished book (dark paradise rewritten) to a publishing agent that I got the name of through a publishing house I'd like to be with.

She responded a couple weeks ago saying that she finally had a chance to read what I sent her and that she's very interested in working with me once I finish it.

So ofc I was super stoked right?

And then today I listened to a voicemail she left me (she called the day before but I was asleep all day bc I've been very sick, and still ) saying that she's going to be in Cali next month and wants to meet with me and that when we get together we'll go over a contract and possibly meeting early on with the editors at the publishing company-

I screamed, and stopped breathing and had to keep pinching myself and when the rest of my family got home they all just screamed and jumped on me and just- this is really a dream come true, you have no idea how long I've had this passion and how long I've wanted to be a writer and I am so proud of myself and so incredible Happy that I'm finally getting the chance!

And I'd like to give a shoutout and thanks to Nicki (-ravenclaws ) Dark Paradise wouldn't even be a thing right now. She's been the person who I bounce ideas off of and who has been continuously supportive of my writing from the first time we met and I'm honestly so thankful to have her in my life because not only is she an amazing author as well, but she inspires me to be better and I'm so happy that I get to share this big moment in my life with her. Even though we haven't known each other long she's been my biggest supporter (besides my dad) because she's about the only person that probably understands what this means to me.. what all of this means to me.. it's hard to put into words how much I live what I do and how much I love her and just wow I need to shit up now