Katelyn-Superhero In Progress

Chapter One- Caged

“So this is really happening. We have to fight them?” Katelyn asked, disbelievingly. She pulled her blanket closer and snuggled deeper into the couch. Steve Rogers paced the small apartment living room, his face pale, but determined.

“It seems so. I won’t sign and neither will half the team. And I know you won’t sign. There seems to be no other choice. I’ve tried to talk to Tony, but he won’t listen. Neither will Rhodey or Natasha. Or Vision, for that matter; he only listens to Tony. I don’t want to fight them, though; and I’d hate to put you through this, watching us fight.” Steve emphasized on the word, us.

“Wait a sec. Watching? Can’t I help? I want to protect heroes’ rights!” Katelyn stood up from the couch, her blanket, English essay, and pencil falling to the ground. Steve smiled slightly at this angry outburst from his daughter.

“Honey, think about it for a minute. These are your friends, not just Hydra agents. I promise you, this won’t be enjoyable for any of us. You’re probably going to stay with mom for a bit, away from the fight.” Steve reasoned. Katelyn laughed derisively.

“You think you’ll be able to stop Sharon Rogers from helping in this thing? Dad, you know how Mom is. She’ll want to be in the middle of the fight punching bad guys left and right and I want to too.” Katelyn argued. Steve could see she had a point. Sharon never backed down from anything. Neither did Katelyn, for that matter. They were both stubborn and rebellious.
“Katie….I just don’t want you to get hurt…And your powers-I don’t know about them. Maybe they’ll disappear…It was Loki’s magic, after all.” Steve tried to reason with his rebellious daughter.

Katelyn’s powers were given to her by Loki while they were helping Thor in Asgard. It was only Steve and Katelyn because they both had the Super-Soldier Serum and could survive there. Loki tried to stop them from helping and accidentally gave Katelyn powers that consist of magic (like Loki) and energy. Other than them being given from Loki, Katelyn enjoyed them. Her favorite power was the plasma blast, which shot a ball with greater energy than the sun at her attacker.

“I won’t get hurt. Okay, I probably will, but that’s all part of being a superhero, Dad. You get hurt and you pull yourself up again and keep fighting. Please, Dad.” Katelyn begged, using her best puppy dog face. Her dad sighed in resignation.

“Fine. But I’m in charge. If I say go back, you go back. If I say run, you run. Got it?”

“Yes, Sir!” Katelyn saluted, keeping a straight face, before smiling.

“Alright, team,” Steve said, looking at the line of Supers before him. Nightmare (That was Katelyn’s superhero name), Winter Soldier, Scarlett Witch, and Falcon. “Tony and the rest of the Avengers have signed the Accords. We need to make them see sense.”

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Katelyn glanced at Steve and he briefly nodded back. She quickly went over the plan in her head. She would attack Panther, then attack Black Widow. Simple as that. As Katelyn ran to Panther for a full-fledged attack, she briefly wondered if she really could beat him. After all, he was the Black Panther. He was basically the same status as Mr. America himself. Shaking these thoughts away, she dodged a punch and threw one herself.

“Katelyn! Do the magic thing!” Steve yelled in her com. Katelyn winced at the loudness, but created a pulse wave and sent Panther flying. Literally. He was thrown thirty feet up in the air; they could hear him yelling…and swearing. Katelyn let out a whoop of victory, but not before she was tackled by the Widow. They fought hand-to-hand. Katelyn kick-flipped Natasha and Nat punched her in the gut. Katelyn did the old one-two and then kneed Widow, who retaliated by round housing her. Eventually, Katelyn tricked Natasha and pulled her into a headlock.

“You will pay for that,” Natasha whispered in her ear, before spraying her in the face with some sort of gas. Katelyn felt her consciousness fading. Desperately, she tried to maintain it. She had to fight.

“You will lose this battle, Nat. You’re on the wrong side.” After saying that, Katelyn passed out. She didn’t hear Steve’s yells of, “Don’t you dare take her! No!” She didn’t hear Bucky’s whisper of, “Stay strong, little soldier.” All she knew was that the darkness was swallowing her. And there was nothing she could do about it.

A few hours later, which felt like seconds, Katelyn was awake and found herself strapped down to a chair. The straps were a sort of steel and the chair was…normal. This surprised Katelyn; she thought that it would be some weird invention of Stark’s. After trying to break free and failing, Katelyn glanced around the room. It was plain white with nothing in it but a door leading to who-knows-where. She tried to use her magic and open the door, but, for some reason, it stayed shut. Hm. That was definitely Stark’s idea. Glancing around the room again, Katelyn saw something she had missed. A mirror.

Exactly why they put a mirror in a prison type room was a mystery. Katelyn stared into to it anyway. What she saw was normal, well, for a superhero. Her red hair was still in its ponytail and her blue eyes were blazing, with that weird yellow spark they had since she got her powers. The only thing different was that her skin was pale. But that was understandable.

She looked at the mirror and saw the symbol which still gave her shivers. The trading symbol. Once on a mission, she had to let herself be captured by slave traders. While in their custody, they branded her on the side of her neck. It was small but noticeable. She used make-up to conceal it, but the make-up got smeared off.

The door opened and Katelyn swerved around furiously. Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, walked in.

“Admiring yourself?” He said with a smirk.

“Yeah, you know I’m gorgeous,” Katelyn said back sweetly, “And nice to see you too. You’re looking well.”

“Don’t I always? Anyway, you need to answer some questions for me. If you don’t, I’d hate to see what Papa Steve says when you’re dead.” Tony smirk was replaced with a snarl. Katelyn sucked in a breath. Okay, she was scared. In fact, she was terrified.

Katelyn had never been a brave, courageous person. She got scared of small things, like spiders. So when someone threatens to kill you if you don’t answer their questions that utterly terrifies her. She tried to stay calm and appear collected, but she had worked with Stark before. He could see straight through the lie. Straight through her mask.

“You know, I can tell when you are scared. Or afraid. Don’t even try to hide it. Now tell me, where is your hideout?”

“I-I won’t tell you.” Katelyn stumbled across the sentence.

“What?” Stark said menacingly. Katelyn tried holding her head up high, even though she was shaking.

“I won’t tell you.” She began to pretend it was a mission. She put a blank mask on and steadied herself.

“TELL. ME. NOW.” Iron Man yelled. Katelyn just looked at him blankly. His hand came down in a blur; it was so fast, Katelyn didn’t duck. Stark hit her across the face. Cheek stinging, Katelyn looked up at him.

“No. I can’t let you hurt my family.” She made sure to put emphasis on family. For a second, Tony, not Iron Man, hesitated. Then Iron Man was back.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Nightmare. You asked for what you’re going to be given.” And with that, he walked out of the room. Katelyn didn’t see the tears that stained his cheeks as he walked out. All she cared about was getting out of this room. And fast. When Stark began to close the door, Katelyn used her magic to keep it open. Huh. That was weird. It stayed open. Whatever.

Iron Man noticed and whirled around. He stretched out his arm (he had his armor on) and fired at her. He hit the steel bar. With a jump, Katelyn sprung out of the chair and got ready to fight. Again, Stark fired at her, but Katelyn used a magic force field to deflect it. She shot her plasma blast at him. Stark flew upward and the energy blast hit the wall where the door was. The explosion was enormous, flinging both heroes into the opposite wall.

Jarvis stabilized Iron man’s suit and Stark levitated, unharmed. Katelyn, on the other hand, groaned and shakily stood up.

“Time to finish you off, Katelyn.” Iron Man said. Katelyn just stood there, shocked. Tony had used her real name! She raised her eyes and looked at his. They weren’t his normal soft brown; they were a dark, steely color. This broke her heart. Tony was truly dead, now it was only Iron Man. There was no Tony left. This war had destroyed him.

“Do it.” She spat, harshly. Iron Man did. Almost. Just in time, Katelyn decided to keep fighting and clenched her hands into fists and put them in a cross. This caused the repulser to rebound and it hit Iron Man in the chest. He fell backward.

“Sir that was 75% damage.” Jarvis’s cool voice sounded.

“I know, J!” Iron Man yelled, harshly. The AI said nothing.

Katelyn stepped over him quickly and exited the room, only to be stopped by Vision.

“Where are you going?” He asked calmly. The vision was always calm. Katelyn gave him a tired look.

“Where do think?” She answered back, annoyed.

“Home maybe? I cannot let you go.” He stated.

“I know you cannot. That’s why I’m going on my own.” Katelyn answered and tried to get past him, only for him block the way.

“You are our prisoner. We will most likely kill you. That is if you will not answer our question. Why is it you do not answer? Do you want to die?”

“To protect my family. All those heroes that are on my side? Those are my family. I can’t let them get hurt.” Katelyn answered.

“That is reasonable. But I still can’t let you go. The Widow has yet to question you.” With that, he grabbed her upper arm and dragged her downstairs. Katelyn fought him the entire way down, never submitting. When they reached the bottom floor, Black Widow appeared. She grabbed Katelyn’s arms and put them behind her back.

“My turn. Vision, take care of Panther. T’Challa is still hurt from her chucking him into the sky.” Natasha pushed Katelyn into a dark room and tied her up. Her hands were tied above her head on a beam in the middle of the room. The Widow turned on a light bulb, making it slightly easier to see.

“So,” Nat said, circling Katelyn.

“So what?” Katelyn answered sassily. Natasha responded by dislocated her shoulder. Katelyn screamed loudly at the intense pain.

“Where is your hideout? Do you have deadly weapons? What is your guys’ strategy?” Black Widow drilled her with questions. Katelyn stared blankly at her. When she didn’t respond, Natasha dislocated the other shoulder. Katelyn screamed again, this time, louder.

“Answer me, Katelyn.”

“Never!” Katelyn yelled through tears of pain.

“Fine.” The Widow said coolly back, and she repeatedly punched Katelyn.

“Stop, please! Make it stop!” Katelyn pleaded over and over, but Nat had a hardened look on her face.

“Tell me.”

“No…” Katelyn said in a small voice. Black Widow sighed and pulled out a knife. Katelyn sucked in a breath.

“Tell me, or you endure torture.” She insisted. Katelyn took a deep breath.

“I will never tell you. EVER.” As soon as the words left her mouth, Natasha slashed her across the stomach. Katelyn choked back a scream and set her jaw. Nat kept slashing until Katelyn passed out from the pain. By then, her arms, legs, and chest were covered in blood.

When Katelyn woke up she couldn’t move her body. Someone was carrying her. Slowly, she opened her eyes. It was Steve.

“Hey,” Steve said softly through tears, “You’re awake.” Katelyn snuggled closer to his chest and bit back a wince when she did so.

“Yeah…It hurts…so bad…” She managed to say, coughing up blood. More tears spilled from Steve’s bright blue eyes.

“I know, baby. I know. But Daddy’s gonna fix it. Okay?” Steve said softly. That was when Katelyn got worried. Steve only revealed he was her Dad in battle when he was super scared or worried.

“How…bad is…it?” Katelyn said softly.

“Very bad. Very, very bad. Oh, I’m so sorry! This is all my fault!” Steve broke down into sobs.

“No, no! This is…not your…fault…St-dad. I promise.” Katelyn said calmly. Steve began to calm down.

“Buck! We need medical!” Steve shouted. Katelyn glanced up and saw James ‘Bucky’ Barnes rush over with medical supplies.

“You’re gonna be okay, Little Soldier. I promise.” He said reassuringly. Katelyn smiled weakly.

“I’m so tired…” Katelyn muttered. “A little…Sleep wouldn’t…hurt.” And with that, she passed out.

When she woke up, she found herself in her old bedroom in Steve’s apartment. She smiled slightly because it was exactly the same as she had left it. Clothes were strewn everywhere, her bookshelf was a mess, school supplies covered her desk; her math homework lay on the top. Katelyn tried to sit up and succeeded. Glancing around, she saw that everything appeared normal. She slowly got up off her bed and made her way to the door. As soon as she opened it, her Dad came bounding up the stairs.

“Are you alright? Do you need anything? How about some water?” It warmed her heart to see him so concerned.

“No Dad, I’m fine. Where’s the rest of the team?” Katelyn asked. Steve gestured down the stairs.

“They’re planning our attack.”

“Oh. Can I join? I have some favors to repay.” She looked up at her father, biting her lip.

“Katelyn, you are severely wounded. In fact, it’s because of the serum that you’re alive. I don’t think it would be a good idea to get you worked up about this. However, I guess you can seat with us. You can put in ideas, but you can’t go onto the field. Am I clear?” Steve commanded.

“Yes, Captain.” Said Katelyn, grinning. With Steve’s help, she was able to go down the stairs. Once she reached the bottom, she was able to walk on her own.

As she approached the table, she saw that her team was planning the old fashioned way. With paper and pen. When they saw her, smiles were spread all around. Wanda (Scarlett Witch) got her a blanket, Sam (The Falcon) gave her some hot cocoa, and Bucky (Winter Soldier) pushed over a chair.

“How are you feeling, Sugar?” Wanda always called her sugar because when Katelyn was younger, Wanda had caught the small superhero eating sugar from the jar.

“I’m doing okay, sore, but okay.”

“Well, that’s understandable.” Sam put in while reading a file on Stark. Katelyn pulled the blanket closer and snuggled into Steve’s side. She loved doing this; it made her feel protected and safe. Steve wrapped his arm around her and hugged her close. Katelyn hummed contentedly rested her head on his shoulder. Bucky and Sam grinned at her before returning to their work.

“So what’s the plan?” Katelyn asked, Captain-style.

“Well Captain,” answered Bucky with a twinkle in his eye, “We are planning to have Wanda distract them and then have me and Sam infiltrate. We have a holographic map of their base. You will be the com director and give us directions on where everything is and what to do. Steve will steal their weapons…If they have any. Sam is actually pretty smart and made a copy of Jarvis. We call him Johnny-Boy though.”

“After finding Jarvis’s code, I recreated him, but with a different name…And he’s on our side. He should be able to disable Jarvis; Stark will be powerless.” Sam explained.

“That sounds like a pretty good plan, Sargent,” Katelyn said to Bucky, laughing a little. Bucky smiled back and then turned to Sam.

“Show her how he works.”

“Alright.” Sam agreed and then said, “Power-on, Johnny-Boy.”

“Good Evening, sirs and madams. I am Johnny-Boy, an artificial intelligence created to help you. Is there anything you need?”

“Can you disable Jarvis, Tony Stark’s AI?” Katelyn asked, hopefully.

“Yes, Ma’am. It will take 2 hours and when I do it, he will be disabled for only 20 minutes. Would you like to do so now?” Johnny-Boy asked.

“Uh, no. Thanks, though.”

“No problem, Master Katelyn.”

“Oh, I like him,” Katelyn grinned. Wanda smiled.

“I knew you would; that’s why, after this war, he will be yours to use. We think it will protect you. Yes?” Wanda’s Scandinavian accent slipped out. This happened frequently, but it was no matter…Unless they were going undercover on missions.

“Yeah. Thanks for that. By the way, what do we have to eat?” At this, the whole team laughed.

“I’m gonna order some pizza.” When Steve left, there was an awkward silence. Bucky and Sam seemed to be having a whispered conversation; they forgot about Katelyn’s serum-enhanced hearing.

“You ask…She likes you better.” Bucky hissed at Sam. Sam looked outrageous.

“She does not! You ask; I’m not. I don’t want her to go through that again!” Katelyn listened with an eyebrow raised. She glanced at Wanda, who rolled her eyes.

“You know, I can hear all you’re saying. Just ask me.” The mini-super soldier said exasperatedly. Bucky and Sam stopped whispering and arguing altogether.

“Sorry. I forgot about the enhanced hearing.” Sam apologized.

“It’s not a big deal. What were you wanting to ask?”

“Well,” Bucky began, “We were wondering what…what, uh, happened at Stark’s…Hideout.” The atmosphere of the room changed. Wanda became more alert, Sam looked ready to run from the room if she got mad, and Bucky…Bucky was ready to comfort Katelyn if she started crying. Katelyn took a deep breath and began.

“As you probably know, they tortured me. Black Widow did it. It was horrible; to be tortured by someone you thought loved you. I-I was so scared and terrified that she would kill me.”

Steve came back in the room with the pizza in one hand and two two-liter Coke bottles in the other. Katelyn stared in amazement.

“How did you manage to get that without being seen?”

“Johnny boy.” Answered Steve, smiling. He laid the pizza out on the table, and in ten minutes, all of it was gone.

“Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you something, Dad.”

“Fire away.”

“Won’t Tony notice we’re using your apartment?”

“No. We used some kind of tech to fully copy my apartment. Then we moved to Michigan. For now. We’ll probably move again.”

“Why Michigan?” Katelyn asked. She’d thought they’d move somewhere close to or in Brooklyn.

“We just picked a random place, so as to confuse Stark,” Sam answered this time.

“Oh. Cool.” Katelyn commented.

“And also because Michigan has a secret weapon facility that Stark and his team don’t know about.” Said Bucky.

‘That makes more sense. I knew there had to be a reason.” Katelyn smiled.

“We also have very important allies there,” Steve added. Katelyn looked at him, curiously.

“Who?”

“Well, Nathaniel and Clint Barton for starters. Then, this guy named Ant-Man. He is on a mission there, so we’ll have to interrupt.” At the mention of Nathaniel, Katelyn grinned.

Nathaniel Barton was Katelyn’s best friend. They had known each other since they were babies, so they had a tight-knit relationship. Maybe more than that; Katelyn wasn’t sure yet. But she enjoyed spending time with him, and now she would get to. Nathaniel had brown hair and bright blue eyes, like his father. He was a master marks and swordsman; which also meant he was muscular. And Kate had a thing for gorgeous guys.

Sam noticed her look and smirked. “Someone is excited to see Nate.” Then he started cracking up, and the whole team (excluding Kate) started laughing, too.

“I-I’m not that excited, but I am looking forward to it. Everyone on our team so far is way older than me.”

“I’m sure that’s the reason, Honey. By the way, your Mom was finally able to come. She’ll be here at midnight.” Steve said, changing the subject.

“Can I stay up to meet her?” Katelyn asked, excitedly. Katelyn didn’t get to spend a lot of time with her mom, since she was with the government, so anytime she got to see her was good.

“Hm-mm.” Steve said, his mouth full of pizza. Katelyn stood up from her chair.

“I’m going up stairs to get dressed. I hate these pajamas.” At this complaint, Bucky, Sam, and Steve all looked at Wanda.

“Well, I didn’t know! I just picked a pair from her drawers!” Wanda said defensively. Katelyn grinned reassuringly at her.

“It’s fine.” Katelyn walked up the stairs to her room and pulled open her drawers, grabbed a T-shirt and comfortable shorts, and pulled them on. Sighing, she looked in the mirror. There were minor cuts on her face and bruises, but she didn’t mind them. She was used to getting injured. More of the problem was the person that did it, not the actual injuries. Kate wiped a tear from her cheek as she remembered the torture. Suddenly, her eyes narrowed. I’m gonna pay them back, Kate thought savagely, hate and anger welling up inside her. Her eyes flashed angrily and the yellow spark seemed to grow brighter and with a toss of her head, she left the room.

“Katelyn!” As soon as Katie came down stairs, she was attacked by her mom. “Are you alright? Are you hurt? Oh, honey!” They both gripped each other hard. Katelyn hadn’t seen Sharon Rogers for 2 months. After a while, they broke apart.

“Mom! I missed you so much!” Katelyn said excitedly. She hugged her again before starting to talk.

“We confronted Tony and I got captured and they tried to get me to tell them-“

“I know, honey. Daddy told me everything. I was so worried about what would happen to you, but I couldn’t leave work. Coulson was mysteriously murdered and the whole building is on red alert. Everyone that works there is a suspect.”

“Not you too!” Katelyn gasped. Sharon nodded, heavily.

“They didn’t have a choice. With all the new cloaking technology they have now, anyone could be anything in disguise.”

“So what’re you gonna do?’ Katelyn asked, your curiosity starting to grow. She didn’t know Coulson personally, but she knew he was an extremely good agent, and a very kind man.

“I have to stay there working. My shifts are going to be longer than ever, with more missions. We have to find out who the killer is because Coulson wasn’t the only one murdered.” Sharon said gravely.

“Really? Who else?”

“Agent Williams-he was one of the more mediocre- and Secretary May Adams. They were found sitting at their desks just….dead. We don’t know how exactly they died yet; the results aren’t in. But there aren’t any stabbing wounds or bullet holes. I’m guessing it was a poisonous gas.”

“I would guess the same thing.” Katelyn agreed. Just then, Steve and the rest of the team came into the Living Room.

“We’re suiting up and going out.” Said Steve, and Katelyn had no choice, but to go back upstairs and change.