The Siren's Song

Chapter 2

"Are you absolutely sure this is what you want?" Fury asks from behind his large metal desk at S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ. Somehow he's always looked more like a disapproving father figure than the badass Kat knows him to be. But she wonder's if that says more about her and her issues than it does about Nick Fury.

She knows she owes the man, as well as his position, respect. Still, it's all Katrina can do to keep from rolling her eyes. She knows that for any other agent, the position wouldn't have been an offer, it would have been an order. Even now, he's only questioning her consent to the posting because he knows he's have to deal with her mother if anything goes wrong.

"I sure." Kat says, forcing a smile that she hopes masks the majority of her annoyance.

 ###

Kat rolls her head, trying to loosen some of the tension tightly laced between her shoulders. She feels Steve's eyes on her and avoids meeting his gaze as she raises her hands into a guard position.

Steve Rogers, for all his "Aw, shucks" All-American-Boy energy, can be inconveniently perceptive. It's the one thing Kat doesn't like about him. She prefers people who take the version of herself she shows them at face value and don't try to probe deeper. People are easier to manage when they believe what you want them to.

"What's up, Kat?" Steve asks before she can throw her first punch.

She shrugs and throws a punch at the shield he's holding. He easily side steps the attempt, clearly not intending to let her practice until she talks... the bastard.

"It's nothing." She says, trying again, only to have him side step and send her fist glancing past. She lets out a low, annoyed growl.

"You seem a little on edge." He says.

She glowers at him, biting back the urge to say that it's his presence that put her on edge. They'd both know it was a lie and he'd just keep pushing until she opens up anyway.

"My mom and I just had it out earlier." She says, throwing another punch that she expects to miss. When it doesn't, she loses balance. Steve puts an arm up to catch her as she collides with the shield.

"Woah... easy there, kid." 

She can hear the grin in his voice, but doesn't look, knowing if she does she's likely to slap it off his face.

He holds on to her arm as she rights herself and finally she lets herself meet his gaze. There's something so open and honest about his eyes that she finds at once appealing and unnerving. Honestly is not something she's had a whole lot of experience with in her life, save for with her mother. They agreed a long time ago that there would be no lies between them. For two people surrounded by nothing but deceit, it's a necessity. They have to have something solid to hold on to if they don't want to be swallowed up by the instability around them. But for everyone else? Well, honesty doesn't exactly come naturally to someone who was raise in the Red Room.

"Is it weird that I have a hard time picturing you as someone's daughter?" Steve asks.

Kat frowns a little at the question. It catches her off guard. If she didn't know better, she'd think there was something vaguely flirtatious about the comment.

"Well, she's not exactly your average mother." Kat says. 

Having regained her balance and her composure, she attacks again. This time Steve tosses aside the shield and spins her around, pining her arms to her sides with one of his arms. She struggles at first. She had too much training to see everyone as a threat to be relaxed when incapacitated, even if her captor is Captain America.

"Breathe..." Steve whispers in her ear, his tone soothing. "Let go of the anger. It's not an asset in a fight. Gotta keep calm... Cool." 

She knows he can feel the tension strung through her and knows there's a good chance he's not going to let go until he sees her relax, so, with a great deal of effort she lets out a long slow breath and tries to let some of the tension go with it. To her surprise, it actually helps.

"Better?" He asks.

"Better." She admits, letting herself relax against him. There is something soothing about the feeling of his breath gently moving her in and away from him. She closes her eye and lets out another slow breath, this one carrying with it a hint of a sigh.

Steve abruptly pulls away from her, snapping her out of the meditative moment. Her back feels surprisingly cold with his sudden absence. She opens her mouth to say something but Steve beats her to it. Though, this time, he's the one avoiding eye contact.

"You did good, Katrina." He says in a rush. "You'll be a hell of a fighter when you get a handle on your temper."

He walks away and begins unwrapping his hands. Kat gathers that  training is over, if somewhat short.

"Thanks, gramps." She says, figuring he deserves a little teasing if he's going to get all weird and shifty on her. "I'll keep that in mind while I'm babysitting a bunch of eggheads in the middle of nowhere."

"Wait..." Steve stops and looks back at her as he drops his wraps in his gym bag, his expression oddly pained. "You're leaving?"

"Yes sir." She says, taking the time to unwrap her own hands and tuck the wraps under her arm before hopping down from the ring. "Fury commands and I obey..." She makes a face and shrugs. "Usually." 

Steve chuckles at that and it makes her smile a little. She's relieved. Considering she'll be leaving within the next day, she's glad that things between them seem to be headed back to normal. She'd never admit it, but it would have hurt her if they left things on bad terms. She doesn't let many people in and those she would actually admit to caring about could be counted on one hand, but Steve's managed to worm his way into her hear since coming out of the ice. There's something about him that is just so warm and wholesome that she can't help but care for him more than she meant to.

"The glamorous life of a junior S.H.I.E.L.D. agent." She says with a shrug, wanting to keep the mood light and friendly. "But at least my mom won't be able to come to my rescue this time."

"I'm happy for you, Kat." Steve says, running a hand through his blonde hair. "But... Selfishly... I wish you were staying." 

She keeps her expression guarded as she processes his words. Because, selfishly, she'd glad he wants her to stay, even though it changes nothing.