In the Shadows (Avengers FanFiction)

Chapter 1

Katherine sneaked through the shadows in familiar alleyways, hiding from the strange people in leather suits with weapons and a strange symbol on them saying SHIELD. After living on the streets for years, she had learnt not to trust anyone. Her crooked nose showed the lessons she had learnt about distrusting everyone. After all, homeless people tended to be ruthless when it came to hiding places, shelters, food, and blankets. Luckily, her powers meant that hiding was no issue.

"Are you sure she's here, Nat?" One of the agents said, making Katherine jump as she nearly walked into his companion, a redheaded woman with forest green eyes.

"Fury said she usually is here. Apparently, it's the only area she's been spotted in. So yes, I'm sure. She's probably nearby, so just keep searching" the redhead replied, her tone suggesting a hint of annoyance and boredom.

"Remind me exactly why we have to bring her in? She's only a teenager, and she's done no damage to anything" the man spoke again, his expression clearly showing his boredom and lack of enthusiasm. Katherine guessed the 'she' both of the people were referring to her, but the man was right. Why would anyone be after her... maybe HYDRA had figured out her power? Maybe these strange people worked for HYDRA and were here to bring her in.

After a few more minutes of trailing the two strange agents, through their conversations, she had figured out their names were Clint and Nat, possibly short for something. And Katherine was starting to get tired. Hiding in the shadows for long periods of time often caused her to vomit or get nosebleeds, as well as montrous headaches.

Katherine immediately noticed her nosebleed and the fact her shadow form was flickering, which, unfortunately, the redhead, Nat, noticed too. As soon as Katherine realised Nat had noticed her, she began to run through the familiar maze of alleyways, the duo chasing after her.

Eventually, Katherine reached a dead end, her trail easily seen by the fat drops of blood left behind her, an easy trail for the duo to follow. When they turned the corner, they saw Katherine scrabbling up a tall wall in an attempt to escape.

As Katherine climbed, she heard a pair of loud footsteps and a pair of extremely quiet footsteps that Katherine struggled to pick up, even with her enhanced senses, turn the corner, and stop.

"Katherine, we don't want to hurt you. Please just come down so we don't have to" the man, Clint called up to her. She ignored and continued climbing, ignoring her pounding headache and still ongoing nosebleed until a loud bang sounded, and she slipped, her arm throbbing, making her realise she had been shot. She scrabbled to regain her grip but couldn't and fell, hitting the back of her head on the concrete ground with a sickening thud as her vision dimmed to blackness.

Clint turned to Natasha as he approached the unconscious girl.

"Did you seriously have to shoot her? She wasn't hurting anyone" he questioned, his tone mildly irritated as he checked the pulse of the frail looking girl.

"She was trying to run. I stopped her from running" Natasha shrugged nonchalantly as she spoke, watching Clint as she carefully picked up Katherine's unconscious and bleeding body.

"She was scared, what do you expect? Now she probably has at least a concussion from hitting her head like that. Fury won't be pleased" argued back Clint, ever the father.

Natasha shrugged again and led the way back to the black SUV parked nearby, which she climbed into the front of, whilst Clint went straight to the back, still cradling Katherine in his arms. He laid her out on the seat and began to bandage her arm and check her head, as well as cleaning all the dried up blood off her face, wrinkling his nose at the state of her clothes.

Natasha began to drive the long journey back to Washington D.C, the location of the main SHIELD base, the Triskelion.

Halfway through, Katherine reawoke, finding herself laying in the lap of Clint, but she was too weak and exhausted to fight back. He smiled gently, trying to reassure and comfort her, knowing from her eyes that she was scared and in pain.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. We'll get you some help soon, there's only two hours left until we get there" he quietly reassured her, gently stroking her back.

"Where? Who are you and what do want with me?" Katherine asked in a raspy voice, her throat dry and voice having been unused for a while.

"The Triskelion. I work for an organisation called SHIELD, we won't hurt you. My name is Clint Barton and she" he gestures to the front of the SUV, where Natasha is driving "is Natasha Romanoff" he responds, examining her body language and facial expressions closely.

Katherine notices his examination and straightens her face to a neutral position, not wanting to seem vulnerable. After all, she had always been taught emotions are weak and that SHIELD is the enemy, stopping HYDRA from reaching its full potential, so how was she supposed to trust the two spies that had kidnapped her, shot her and were part of the organisation that was supposedly the enemy?

After a while longer, Katherine's vision faded to black again, either due to exhaustion, blood loss, her head injury or all three, leaving her unconscious for the rest of the journey.