➖CHAPTER FOUR

➖ KATHERINE NICOLE FOUND HERSELF ADJUSTING rather well to her new environment, or at least she thought she was anyway. There was no strict schedule she had to run her life off of, there were no over the top rules or guidelines, no scratchy comforter and white cinderblock walls and most of all, there were no handcuffs.

Katherine liked having free will of her power, she liked being able to simply reach her arm out and have her hand stretch all the way across the room for a book if she was too lazy to get up and get it herself. It was nice for a change, having control. Fury never let her live like this, like she had nothing to fear or hide.

She was observant for the most part, taking in each member of the tower one at a time. She found over the next week and a half that they all came and went as they pleased, and that most had separate houses from the tower. The only constants She was able to recognize so far were Tony, Clint, Bruce and Bucky. Thor had gone back to Asgard, and Natasha had been out on a mission for some time and took the Captain with her. Leaving Katherine with the aforementioned men and Sam Wilson, Steve's friend.

They all had their own little habits whenever they were around and Katherine found them very amusing to uncover. She liked Clint's habit of nesting wherever he went and Tony's sarcasm above all else habit. Bruce had a habit of leaving science experiment files everywhere and and sometimes even the science experiment themselves.

She wasn't so sure yet about Bucky, he was hard to read and she figured that was because of who he was, all she knew was that he wasn't comfortable in his environment.. at least not when she was around anyway.

Katherine had picked up her own routine And habits of course, it was only natural. She found that she preferred training at night, when she had a hard time falling asleep, and that she tended to follow Clint around wherever he went.

For the most part the man didn't seem to mind, and she was happy for the most part. But she could tell that there were times when she was getting on his nerves and would go off and bother Tony.

It was one of these times when Tony figured out she had a power.

Katherine had been working with him in the lab and he had knocked over a tray of screw drivers, out of instinct Katherine reached her arm out at lightening speed and caught it just before it hit the ground. This wouldn't have been unusual had she not been on the other side of the room, reading a book.

"Did you just..?" Tony asks after she's placed the tray back on the table. He was honestly a little terrified, not having expected it out of her.

"No, no I didn't." Katherine says, her eyes wide as she shakes her head profusely. She hadn't meant to, just a reflex she supposed.

"Yes, yes you did." Tony says, walking towards her slowly. He was excited now, could she really do that? And how far could she go? Could she use her whole body?

"Old age really is getting to you, Stark." The teenager says, trying to act as if he were seeing things. It wasn't working out to her advantage so far. "You're seeing things!"

"No, I'm not." Tony says, coming to a stop infront of her. He towered over her as she sat in a spinny office chair. "Although I did just see you stretch your entire arm out all the way across the lab to catch that."

"Whaaaat?" She says, an incredulous look on her face. She didn't really feel like he should know about her powers if Fury hadn't already informed him of them.

Stark says nothing, just stared at her for a moment as his mind works. Finally, he grabs hold of her arm and pulls on it, hoping it would working like a rubber band and stretch.

Katherine looked at him as if he were insane, her eyebrows furrowed as she studied him. He continued to pull on her arm, going as far as to put his foot on the wall beside her to steady him as he pulled even harder, but to no avail.

"So does it just like," Tony asks, trying to get her power to work. "go of it's own accord or do you have full control of it right now?" He moves on to pulling on her legs and Katherine just stares at him.

Eventually she gives in and lets him pull her leg, it stretches out so quick and far without warning that he toppled to the floor. "Really, kid?" He asks as Katherine laughs from the chair, her leg coming back to her.

Tony jumped right back to pulling on it. Thats how Katherine wound up wrapped around his body like a pretzel twenty minuets later, causing Bruce to to just stare at the two when he walks in the door, cup of coffee in hand.

The older man simple shrugs before turning away as if he'd seen stranger things before this, setting his coffee down in his desk before walking over to the pair, he figured he should ask. "Uh, Tony," He says, the billionaire turns to face him, arms moving wild as he struggles to keep himself up. Katherine's head peaks around his shoulder with a triumphant smirk as her body winds even tighter around his. "Why is our teenaged ward wrapped around you like a pretzel?"

"Physics." Tony says before turning back around to his work table, attempting to pick up a wrench.

Katherine turns her head all the way around to face Bruce, who cringes at the sight before pushing his glasses up and looking at her. Fury had informed him of her ability to stretch like this, so he wasn't too shocked at what he was seeing. "I bet him two cheese pizzas that he couldn't spend the entire day working with me wrapped around his body." She says with an even bigger smirk. "And he's losing so far."

Bruce nodded as if he understood, it seemed like something the pair would do. "Am not." Tony mutters, finally able to grab hold of the wrench he needed before turning around to walk towards one of his suits.

"Tony, the most you've been able to do is steady yourself." She says, looking at him. The man glares and focuses harder on where he steps.

Bruce just shakes his head and turns back to desk, just as the doors to the lab slide open. Bucky Barnes walks in, hair tied behind his head and sweat shining on his forehead as moves, metal arm hanging limply at his side.

"What's up robotnik?" Tony calls, his voice strained as the assassin marches up to Tony, an angry look upon his face. The man eyed Katherine around Tony's body and was tempted to leave (he still wasn't accustomed to Katherine's presence and didn't trust her at all) but rolled his eyes and continued on for Tony, stomping right in front of Tony.

He pointed at his limp arm, a hard look set on his face. "Fix it." He orders, attempting to move the metal that was attached to his skin.

Tony tried to raise his arms to examine the arm, but couldn't get them up high enough. "Fuck- um," He says, trying to figure out how to work. "kid, grab his arm for me?" Katherine's hands were free and she reached out to grab Bucky's hand, pulling his arm up to Tong's eye level.

She smiled politely at Bucky. "So, what's up?" She asks plainly, as if what Bucky was seeing was a normal, day to day occurrence.

Bucky only raises an eyebrow at the girl and stared silently at her. She stared back, not blinking. For several minuets of Tony struggling and Katherine purposely pissing the man off, Bucky found himself staring into the most beautiful pair of brown eyes he'd ever seen. They were so dark that they reminded him of a tea his grandmother used to brew for him, but so full of light and innocence that he couldn't help the soft smile that tugged at the corner of his lips.

For half an hour the two had a stare down until Tony had finally had enough. "That's it!" The man yells, throwing his wrench to the ground in a fit of anger. "I give up! You win!"

Katherine screamed and unwound herself from his body, stepping lightly into the floor once she was done before running around the entire lab, screaming at the top of her lungs. "I won!" She yells, running around wildly. All three men watched, unable to hold back the chuckles or smiled they held. "I won! Pizza! Pizza!"

Eventually she ran out the door and up to the living room area, where Clint and Sam sat together, playing a game on the t.v. They looked up in alarm when Katherine jumped in the coffee table, screaming. "Pizza party!" She was beyond excited, but both men just rolled their eyes and leaned in opposite directions to see around her legs as she danced wildly and sang about a pizza party.

➕➕

Hours later Katherine was passed out in her room on her little nest on the floor, covered in her purple comforter and wearing a pair of purple pajamas. She had worn herself out completely and had eaten so much pizza that she put herself into a food coma.

All of the Avengers has been there for dinner, to watch her rub her victory in Tony's face, even Bucky had shown up.

The Winter Soldier was silent for the most part as he ate and watched the entire scene unfold, his eyes mostly on Katherine. He felt drawn to her just a bit, he had from the moment they first locked eyes her first night here. It was strange and he found himself growing  angrier and frustrated whenever she would walk into a room.

It was annoying to him, and it made him want to pull his hair out and scream, but at the same time he wanted to grin and be all mushy.

Hours after everyone had gone to bed, Bucky was coming back from the training room. Normally, he would go straight to his room but for some reason he hesitated when his hand touched the door knob, he looked over his shoulder at her room and felt a shiver run down his spine.

He felt as if something might be wrong, and he tried to fight it but he just had to know, he didn't want anything to happen to her. Quietly, he pushed open her bedroom door and peeked his head in, it was mostly dark except for the lamp on her desk. The purple curtains were closed tightly and pinned together, which made the room feel smaller than it was. He didn't see her immediately and went into a panic, stepping fully into her room.

"Katherine?" He called quietly, almost whispering, he looked around in the half dark room, and relaxed just the slightest bit when he found her on the floor, wrapped in her blankets. He figured that she was probably there for a reason, but he also thought that she couldn't possibly be comfortable on the floor and bent down to scoop her up, blanket, pillow and her all in one.

He laid her softly on the bed and covered her better with the blanket, she only turned over in her sleep. Bucky stood over her for a moment, hesitating for some reason before turning back around and heading to his room, shutting  her door behind him.

➕➕➕
YAY ITS HERE