Worthy

Part 12 - Maybe One Day

"What do we do about the jet?" Peter asks Thor as he lays you down in the Quinjet while struggling to lay Barton on a stretcher opposite you, unconscious too. "I don't know how to fly this thing!"

"Barton said you were a mini Stark!" Thor shouts at Peter, "Just push some buttons and hope for the best."

"I could ask EDITH for some help," Peter's eyes light up as he remembers the AI assistant Tony had built into his suit before running to the cockpit; almost completely dropping Barton to the ground in his excitement. Thor scoffs at the kid running, securing Barton to the stretcher in preparation for some sort of lift off, before turning his attention back to you.

A feeling of complete confusion had overcome the god of thunder. Despite the anger that raged within him for what you had done, seeing the fear and pain in your eyes as Klaue had brought up your past had shifted some of that anger into guilt; maybe you hadn't been the cold hearted snake he thought. Had you actually been telling the truth back then; back when he thought he could have been falling in...

He shakes his head in frustration before standing. "No, she's conniving and manipulative." He thinks to himself; trying to convince himself of that by walking away when suddenly the engines of the Quinjet roar to life and it abruptly takes off. Thor is thrown from his feet and almost lands on top of you; managing to steel himself against the side of the Quinjet, he comes face to face with you, catching his breath as he gets so close.

"Uh, Mr Thor....sir?" Peter stops mid-sentence, confused by the scene in front of him. "Mr Stark is, um, well he wants to know what happened." Thor simply nods, leaning down and gently brushing the hair away from your face before following Peter through to the cockpit.

***

You finally wake up, feeling groggy, with a slight headache. As you try to sit up, the headache moves from a small ache to a massive pounding, and you feel nauseous. "Easy Kate," you hear Peter as he places an arm around you, while handing you a bottle of water. "You had a rough landing." he explains as you put a hand to the back of your head.

"What the hell happened Pete?" Peter goes on to explain how Klaue had used his now sonic arm to send out a powerful frequency; strong enough to take out you and Barton, but not Peter and Thor. Some of Klaue's men had arrived and tried to take on Thor, with no success, but Klaue had managed to escape, again. Despite the complete failure of the mission, Peter's tone was upbeat and full of enthusiasm, it made you smile, his complete naivety.

"And then, Thor carried you back here and I had Barton and then I got to fly the Quinjet. With EDITH's help of course, but it was so cool man!"

"Ok, ok!" You place a hand on his shoulder as another wave of nausea hits you. "I get the picture. Thanks for the back up Pete."

"Anytime." He pauses briefly, watching you with concerned eyes as you struggle to shake the grogginess. "Kate, can I ask you something?"

"Always questions with you Parker," you scoff a little, not making you feel any better. "Go for it."

"What did Klaue mean?"

"About what?" You absentmindedly ask, looking around for something to be sick into, as the nausea crashes; it's like the headache and the nausea are fighting each other for dominance.

"About who you were." Peter pauses, saying it so quietly as he's scared of actually hearing the answer. "About who you are." The statement makes you freeze, almost literally as a cold shiver runs up your spine as you finally remember Klaue's words.

You turn slowly to face him; the regret on his face is clear, but there's also genuine concern. You and Peter had grown close in the last year or so since he'd joined the team. Of course, he was a mini-Tony, without the ego, which made you like him even more, and despite his superhuman strength and abilities, you couldn't help but look upon him as someone who would always need your back up. An immense guilt washes over you as you realise that you know almost everything about this kid, while he barely knows anything about you, trusting you blindly.

"It's a long story Pete," you try to diffuse the conversation, hoping that will be enough to close the topic, but who were you kidding. Peter Parker would never be satisfied with that; the thought makes you chuckle slightly.

"Well, we do have a long flight." He shrugs as you start to sip the water, hoping it will settle both your stomach and your headache. Peter doesn't say anymore, just sits next to you, eyes watching your movement. Typical, the kid has picked up more Tony Stark body language, you think to yourself.

"Fine," you finally break, rubbing your forehead. "Something happened to me when I was young." You try and sit back, resting your head gently against the wall, forgetting about the giant lump that's starting to form. "Not a lot of people believed me." You sigh, sipping water again, Peter's eyes constantly on you. "At first they thought I was just making it up, because I was so young. But as the years went on I got obsessed."

You pause, feeling the tears prickling at your eyes, just making the headache and the nausea worse. "My grandpa thought the best thing for me was to get some therapy, but that was the 90s, a lot different from nowadays. They said I was crazy, so I got sent to a psychiatric hospital, I didn't get out until I was your age."

"How old were you when you went in?" he asks, a feeling of guilt and sympathy in his stomach.

"I was 10." You look down at the water bottle in your hand, picking at the bottle top. "It wasn't so bad," you try to laugh it off. "But when I got out, there was a lot of judgement; all the looks and whispers. Kids my age used to run away from me, calling me all sorts of names. After a while I decided enough was enough, and I left. Ran as far away as I could; started a new life, changed my name. And now here I am."

"And you didn't want the team to know..."

"Because it's my business," you snap before grabbing Peter's arm softly. "Sorry, I just didn't want it all to start again you know."

"For what to start again?" He looks at you.

"For that." You smile. "For the looks, for the sympathy, for the curiosity. But mostly for the judgement."

"There's plenty people at the compound who have had worse lives." Peter looks on confused.

"Probably." You smile, rubbing your forehead again. "But it's my life Peter, my story. I think it's my right whether I tell it all or not. Don't you think."

He smiles back at you, as you place a hand over his. "You're right. I'm sorry Kate."

"Don't be." You grip his hand. "You're like a little brother to me Peter, I'm just sorry I haven't told you everything. Maybe one day, ok?"

He nods, squeezing your hand back. You both sit in silence for a few minutes before Peter decides to try his luck and ask one more question. "Thor knows about it too, doesn't he?"

"Why does that matter?" You ask, confused.

"Earlier, when the two of you were arguing. When Thor called you a liar, I saw the look on your face. It reminded you of when you were a kid, didn't it? That's why you don't like him."

"It's not quite as simple as that Pete." You sigh, finally letting go of his hand. It had been hard enough talking about the past, but you definitely were not going to talk about your issues with Thor with the kid.

"I don't want to pry Kate, but it's just..."

"Just what?"

"You didn't see him. When you got knocked out. I've never seen him react like that." You put a hand up to stop him.

"He was doing his job, that's all." You finally try to stand up, the nausea still sitting at the base of your stomach. "Now, I'm going to check in with Barton. I need to speak to Fury about what happens next."