"The paths you have chosen reflect your life choices, your commitment and dedication. I am proud to be standing in the midst of each and every single one of you to tell you how appreciative I am of your achievement in these past few years, I hope as many of our teachers and agents do, that you will find S.H.I.E.L.D to be like a second home to you, to reveal your true colors and most importantly, make your country proud." Director Fury's voice bounced off the walls like pure gold, he had that effect on everyone so that you'd just have to listen to him. Everyone except Katrina, the only one brave enough to cause trouble in front of everyone.
The ceremony had been going for about 50 minutes and Katrina had already given her Valedictorian speech. but Katrina was already getting impatient and wanted this to get over with. Patience wasn't one of her biggest traits, it sort of ran in the family. The 23 year old was very much like her father and brother.
"Hey stop kicking me!" Jemma whisper shouted at Kat who was sitting right next to her. "Sorry anxiety" she lied. Her best friend was never the person to fall for a lie although at times she could be gentle and easily fooled she would never let a lie trick her.
"Oh really anxiety" Cornelia scoffed and turned from the row in front of her. Kat bit her tongue from cursing at Corneilia or telling her to mind her own damn business, but then again this was her last day with her, what were the chances of working in the same office with her anyways?
She ignored her and turned to Fitz who was slouched in his seat, he was gazing off into space, probably not paying any attention to Director Fury's speech, and was sweating like crazy, big audiences weren't his thing either.
"Hey Fitz, Fury called your name" He snapped out of his little moment and sat up straight looking around, his chair fell to the ground. Her and Jemma burst into a fit of laughter causing everyone to stare with daggers at them.
"Sorry" she mumbled and people brought there attention back to Director Fury who was clearly pissed off at the current situation.
"Anyways as I was saying before I was ever so rudely interrupted....." He gave a cold glare to Kat who could only smirk at him. Phil stood on the stage next to him silently shaking his head in disapproval but secretly she knew he was laughing on the inside.
"I will be announcing the name of our honor role students.....and please do remember that even if you aren't mentioned in this list, it doesn't mean you're not a valued student."
"Please welcome up the following students. Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz, Bobbi Morse, Sharon Carter........." The list went on for ages. The girls screamed as both Jemma and Fitz's names were called. They all walked onto the stage to recieve their awards. Katrina was a bit surprised that she didn't make it into the honor roles, it didn't make any sense anyways. but at least she was graduating, she told herself. Minute by minute passed by and the amount of guest speakers never seemed to end. It was evident that not many people were paying attention. Finally near the end of the ceremony Fury came back onto the stage with Phil to announce one last thing.
"I am pleasured to announce that our top student has beat the average test score by .8 percent And receiving a 97% rank for all tests including field work, narcotics, dark sciences, and forensic sciences. So please welcome Katrina Maria Stark" She gaged and looked around, hoping there was another Katrina Stark out there. But there wasn't. The whole gymnasium erupted with applauses and hollering.
"Way to go Kat" The two British voices brust her thoughts as they hugged her tightly. "Guys can't breathe" she managed to gasp out. The let go of her and she stood up before smirking and leaning down to Cornelia. "It's only because you're Fury's favourite" She whispered. Kat wanted to start a fight right there but she'd probably lose the opportunity of getting a job. "Better luck next time" she whispered back before whipping her hair and walking onto the stage. She took the diploma from Fury's hand. He reached out to give her a hand shake but instead she hugged him so tightly and felt the tears rushing down her eyes, she pressed her lips together to stop the sobs. Fury patted her head softly and said in a voice only loud enough for her and Coulson to hear, "your family would be so proud of you, to see you up on this stage." She let the tears trickle down her cheek. "Thank you Nick" she had gotten used to calling him that name when she wasn't on duty or at the academy. She released from the hug and nodded at Fury before walking to Phil who was smiling broadly.
"Come here you big girl" he opened his arms wide and let her in for a giant hug. The whole crowed awed as they saw much affection between the two. "You have made me so proud" He brushed his fingers through her hair and looked steadily at her. "Well done" he whispered softly into her hair. They walked off the stage hand in hand and took the closest seats to the front. Kat looked up at Fury who was standing at the podium and clearing his throat.
"Now it is time to congratulate you on this journey that will be starting from today we wish you all the best and on behalf of the council, S.H.I.E.L.D accademy and S.H.I.E.L.D, I'd like to announce you as graduated students, welcome to the force!"
*****************
It had been little over a year since Kat had graduated, she had just turned 24 and finally was got the job as Fury's official assistant and named a level 6 agent. Work was always tough but paid off and she was able to see Nick and Phil more often compared to when she was younger and in school.
"We have a job for you......" Nick opened the door and Let Kat into his office, she propped herself into his computer chair and kicked her legs upon the desk, something she'd do to annoy Fury.
Over the last year she had discovered that she had this strange ability to read people's minds, it was a strength that allowed her to be in very difficult missions were her abilities were useful.
"So who's the guy" she asked only reading a section of his mind. He sighed and tossed a file onto the desk.
"I think you'll recognize him." She opened up the file and examined it carefully.
"Wait Steve Rogers....as in Captain America.....as in the guy that lives in Phil's drawer on his limited edition collectors cards , also as in the guy my father never shut up about?" Even she couldn't say that with a straight face, she burst out with laughter and couldn't stop.
Fury just stood there patiently waiting for her to stop, she held out one hand in the air. "Wait just give it a minute".
"Does Phil know?" She asked resuming back to her serious expression.
"Yes and he believes you'd be best for the job, I myself met with the captain less than a month ago, I'm sure you remember the story" She nodded and listened carefully.
"Captain Rogers here has agreed to work with S.H.I.E.L.D, so we'd like you to be his guide for the next couple of months, introduce him to newer technology, training and combat skills, oh and he will be living with you"
"Living with me? I live here" If Tony knew I was working with S.H.I.E.L.D he'd probably come and find me one day and help me out, God I miss him.
"By the way, Rogers should be here any minute now, go meet him downstairs now!" He fake smiled and shoved her towards the door.
Fury wasn't too keen on letting Tony see her just yet, after all she knew all about him but not much about her, he probably didn't even think she was alive.
She got up and headed for the door. She turned the handle and looked back at Nick fury who was pouring himself a cup of coffee. He turned to her and tossed her her own mug. "Oh and Tinny, please don't scare the man, he's been in ice for forty years" He said in the most polite voice she had heard him talk in. (If you remember in the first book, tinny was also one of Katrina's many nicknames.)
"I'll try sir" She walked out the door with a slight smile on her face. And continued to examine the file on Captain Rogers.
"Hi I'm Kat" She walked into the empty glass elevator and began practicing her introduction. She didn't care if people saw her making a fool out of herself.
"So how was the ice" no Kat you're gonna freak the guy out.
She tried to come up with a better way to make herself more friendly to him.
The silence was starting to bother her. Although she had complained about the elevator music and demanded that it be removed, she was beginning to miss it.
Ding
The elevator doors swing open to another floor level and in flooded workers and agents. Great. People.
She began to whistle a tune and looked around hoping to distract herself from the packed 'glass cage of doom' as she had once called it.
Ding
The elevator doors opened omce again to the ground level, she squeezed her way through the crowds of people out on the ground level and didn't bother to excuse herself once pushing through the people.
A muscular man wandered curiously through the front doors and made his way towards the receptionist desk. Kat glanced down at the file in her hands and looked for a picture, it matched perfectly well with this man. Wow he looks good for 93 she smirked just a bit before walking swiftly towards him, her heel boots flanked against the marble floors. She could make out captain Rogers speaking with the receptonist. "Excuse me I-"
She walked closer and called out. "Captain Rogers?" Thankfully she had gotten his attention very easily, up front he was quite attractive, he looked at least 6ft, Kat was 5.7ft so she wasn't too short which was always an advantage. He turned around at the sound of his name being called and raised a brow, not recognizing her.
"Welcome to New York Captain Rogers" She saluted him just as Coulson had informed me to do so.
"I'll be your guide for today, oh and welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D HQ"
He saluted back but with a confused face. His face was squinting trying to look at mine in the bright sun.
Kat guestured for him to follow her through the halls of our S.H.I.E.L.D secret building. He kept his pace steady and followed beside me, he looked around the halls frantically like a five year old boy in a toy store. She attempted to keep my giggles in but She couldnt. Within seconds the smallest giggle slipped out of my lips. He stared at me cluelessly. She could picture Maria Hill scolding me for doing such a rude thing, thankfully she wouldn't be fired because I'm Fury's third in command assistant and technically Kat was practically his daughter so she'd always get second chances.
"I hope you don't mind me asking mam but why are you laughing" he raised a brow at me and she just laughed at him.
"First of all, my name is Katrina Stark and I'm laughing at you because you look like a boy in a shopping mall."
He chuckled slightly but his face turned into a slight frown which made me remember his story.
"It's just things are nothing like the 40's, everything has changed, no one acts the same, it's just a bit hard for me to adjust but I'm pretty sure I'll kick in" he gave me a slight smile as we walked towards the elevator
"Oh my apologies, I'm so sorry Sir.....I mean Steve" i bit my lip and blushed just a little bit, hoping he Wouldn't notice and would somehow forgive me
He stopped in the middle of the hallway. He seemed struck by something but I didn't know why, ew too much drama for me today. I wish Tony were here, he was better at making friends.
I looked at him hoping for him to speak. "Please don't tell me he's frozen" I whispered in my head as I walked back to him.
"Di.......d you say Katrina Stark.....A...As in Howard Stark?" He asked with a puzzled look.
Kat nodded and gave a fake smile, whenever people mentioned her parents and sorta cringed, She never got to say goodbye to them, never got to tell them how much she really loved them.
"Uhhhh, yeah, Howard was my father, um I was born 10 years after Tony, uh how do I put this.........well my parents were killed by hydra when I was 6.......so Coulson , Fury, and Maria took me in.........and well thats my story" she smacked my lips together whilst trying to hide the tears forming in my eyes. She looked back at Steve who looked like he'd seen a puppy killed.
He stepped really close to me, She tried to step back, but before She knew it she was pulled into a strong hug. His arms crushed my tiny body but for odd reason it comforted me more than anybody's words.
"I'm sorry if that was too sudden. It's just your father and I were close... Your father was a great man" his voice sounded like he was about to cry and it made her want to also.
DING
She looked up at him and saw those amazing eyes, she was fangirling way too hard but couldn't resist his eyes, they shone like stars and twinkled when he smiled.
"Kat do you have Rogers" a male voice ran through my ear piece. She broke out of her thoughts and turned the other way.
Why the hell does everyone have to ruin the damn moment, can't a girl get a moment to relax?
"Yes sir, we'll be at the office in 2" she pressed the ear piece down and looked at Steve for one last glance.
We hopped onto the elevator. Kat leaned over and inserted the key for floor level 21.
"What's with the key" Steve asked over the loud and annoying elevator music. Damn it she thought, I told Coulson to ask fury to get rid of it. No one enjoys 80's Jazz!
"Well Fury...you've met him before, am I correct?" Kat glanced over at him from my professional figure and he nodded.
"Okay well he's the director and we need to keep him the safest since he has all the classified files with him, so it's our duty to keep him well protected." guessing he understood.
She looked around the elevator awkwardly, hoping we'd reach the top on time.
She couldn't believe this, she was standing next to Captain America, the one and only, the man who lived in ice and didn't age a bit, and might one add, he looks like he could be on the cover for sexiest man alive.
Her fan girl thouhgts were once again interrupted by a tremendous shake in the elevator.
Kat felt her heart jump out of my skin as the elevator dropped down a few levels and the lights flickered off for a second. Steve lost his balance just as Kat did. within seconds he came falling towards her.
Her back made a thud sound as it hit the cold metal wall.
The lights came back on and she looked up to see Steve just millimeters away from her face. One of his hands were next to her head as he held himself from falling on the girl.
Kat was breathing heavy, not cause she was afraid of heights or anything, but Her heart told her to be expecting something more than just one small power outage.
Steve didn't move from his position, he only leaned in closer to her.
He brushed off some dust from her shoulder. "Are you okay?" His brows were raised and he looked more concerned than scared.
She tried to find her voice but couldn't. I swallowed and nodded. Kat's face felt warm but her stomach felt sickening, as if there was something cold applied to my skin.
She looked down slowly and gasped. Steve too looked down and brought her too my knees. "Woah Katrina how'd you get that" She held her hand over her side as blood gushed out. Kat looked to see her own pocket knife jabbed into her skin.
"Are you kidding me?" She cursed under her breath. Steve winced at the sight but bent on his knees so that he was now kneeling in front of her.
"Katrina look at me you'll be fine" He cupped Kat's face in his hands, She nodded trying to ignore the pain. How could she have been so stupid? Then she remembered that earlier she had used the knife to cut a package and didn't bother putting the cover on.
It was her own fault that she was stabbed. I don't know how many times Maria has warned me about my blade. God shes gonna kill me.
"How bout we talk about nice or funny things, you know lighten the subject?" Kat suggested with a soft chuckle.
Steves brows and shoulders lowered as he glanced behind for a second.
"you're just like Howard" he made a small laugh and looked at the replica of the late Stark.
He crouched beside her, still applying pressure on her wound, and together they lay against the wall. He took her hand, his hand was so warm, not the gross sweaty type of warm but the good warm.
She smiled up at him and he smiled back. "so.......have you been site seeing yet?"
He shook his head and shrugged. Kat gaped at him unimpressed.
"You know what? Tomorrow I'm taking you to the Times Square whether you like it or not" She pressed my lips together like a sassy 6 year old.
He raised his brows and snickered lightly while Kat questionably stared at him. "What?" She asked amused.
"Well its just that......you sound a lot like Peggy and Well if I weren't mistaken, I think you're asking me out" he smirked. Kat didn't realize the captain was flirty.
"Well.......maybe I am" She smirked at him as he burst into a quiet fit of chortles.
"You know what Kat I'll take you up on that date, but let's get that knife out of you" he pointed at my side as she let out a slight chuckle
"Kat........Tony used to call me that...." Kat sighed hearing Steve call her that as the faintest memory of Tony popped in my head. She hadn't seen him since she was 6, Fury hadn't told him she was alive.
"I've heard Tony has been here multiple times, but I haven't seen him , unless you count when he's on TV" her face was cheerless as she looked around hoping for her earpiece to work or for someone to rescue us.
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but why hasn't Fury told Tony yet......I mean he is your brother.he has every right to deserve to know where you are" his words were like justice, the only thing that didn't sound like bull, For once she felt like someone understand her, besides Nat of course.
"You're exactly right Steven Rogers...." She attempted to stand up mid way between her sentence but crashed down onto steves lap. He lept for me and thankfully caught me and placed me back on my bottom. She blushed and scooted off.
"Yeah don't stand I don't want you hurting yourself even more"
A faint music was heard in the distance. Kat raised my head in every direction, trying to make out the music.
Steve got up and helped me too my feet. "You hearing that?" She nodded confused and tried to check if her ear piece was working. She soon saw a flicker fly out of the battery. There was a cracky noise comilng out of it.
"KATRINA.........D..............COPY" that was all she could make out of Coulson's voice.
"YES I COPY..........IM INJURED THOUGH CAPTAIN IS GOOD..........PHIL WHATS WRONG?" She asked when I realized he went silent.
"SECURITY BREACH" he yelled over the blasting music.
The music was earth shattering, must be are rock she thought to myself. There was only one person she knew who made an entrance like that, he made every entrance with that type of music since we were children.
"Stark?" She sighed with a slight chuckle. Kat shook my head in disbelief.
Steve covered his ears in pain and Kat dashed for the elevator doors and tried to pry them open with her fingers.
But anyone could tell she wasn't able to open it less than a centimeter, Steve rushed to her side and opened it up, he somehow jammed it to stay in a wide position. She leaned over to see how many feet away they were from the next elevator entrance, it would take a massive jump to get to nearest door.
He looked over at Kat "brace yourself" before they knew it. His arm was flung around her waist. God it hurt like hell but it felt so wonderful to be close to his side. He grabbed her as he jumped off and caught a metal bar close to the elevator.
She screamed in both pain and fear. He flung her up to the door and she rolled out into the halls. She looked down to see him climbing up many metal bars. Kat reached her hand out and helped him up. She didn't care how much it hurt, but he'd saved her life. She looked over at his arms which were covered in blood after holding her so tightly, the pain started to decrease slowly and within a few minutes she couldn't even feel it.
"Date night it is" he managed to say through his tired voice as he rolled onto the ground next to her. She chuckled and her eyes started to flutter.
There was a loud beeping noise coming through the hallways, soon the intercom turned on and a sarcastic sounding voice was heard echoing throughout the halls. "Hello Agents and Staff of S.H.I.E.L.D this is Tony Stark speaking, take me to your master" Kat could picture his cocky face right now laughing at his own joke. "What I mean to say is, Dr.Fury we need to talk, it's about your little project we discussed thank you" he ended in a cheery voice which almost sounded fake and it probably was.
"Kat this is Director Fury speaking do you copy?" His voice was full of energy and was pounding roughly in my ear piece.
"I copy sir" She pressed the side of the ear device and waited for a response.
"Report to my office with Rogers, we have something to discuss, oh and get Stark on the way, don't tell him anything yet." She hesitated once he said that last part. Did she just hear him right? After all these years of hiding her, Fury was just gonna let her see him like that? She eyed Steve who was looking out the glass elevator at the rest of the tower. At the top of the tower a helicopter was visibly sitting on the top level with Stark written all across it.
"Steve there's a change of plans, follow me".
So guys hope you liked this chapter . I wrote this on August 30, 2015. So I guess that shows you how much I've procrastinated on this book. This was also the first chapter I ever wrote for this book when I got the idea of ever wanting to write on Kat's life but I decided I'd have to give a lot of context first before we dove into her future. Anyways how'd y'all like meeting Steve so soon? Let me know.
Love Elle