Combustion ✦ STEVE ROGERS² [✓]

02 | EXPLANATIONS

THE FLIGHT BACK WAS RELATIVELY SMOOTH. The quinjet sailed silently through the clouds, flying back towards the base in Manhattan. Tony was piloting the jet, and as Natasha stood up to check on Clint as he lay on a table, and Steve attached an IV to his hand, Thor walked over to watch Loki's scepter as it lay contained in a protective casing, while Bruce, who had since changed back from the Hulk, was sitting in a corner, listening to opera music through headphones. Kato herself was standing off in a corner, staring off into space as she thought to herself.

She couldn't get Natasha's words out of her head. Gear up, lovebirds! What the hell was she getting at? It was absolutely absurd to think Kato and Steve were anything more than friends. Kato had never seen him in any other way before, either. He was her friend, nothing more. And to say anything otherwise was just ludicrous.

After a few moments, Steve walked over to Kato and faced her. "Are you alright, Kato?" he asked.

Kato nodded, snapping out of her thoughts. "Yeah, I'm alright. Just..." She sighed. "Thinking."

Steve crossed his arms, regarding her for a moment. But thankfully, he didn't question her further. Instead he raised an eyebrow before saying, "So you mind telling us what's been going on with you lately?"

Kato frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Kato, you've been all over the news for the past six months," Bruce said as he removed his headphones.

"Even though you'd made it very clear that you wanted to stay off the radar," Natasha added.

"Not to mention your fancy wardrobe upgrade," Tony piped up, then added with a chuckle, "Edna Mode would be ashamed."

"So what's been going on?" Steve asked. "What made you decide to come out of hiding?"

Kato glanced at each member of the team, meeting their gazes before she sighed. Then, she shook her head. "Steve and Natasha know about this already, and Thor has alluded to it before, but... six months ago I found out that I'm not from Earth."

"Not from Earth?" Tony repeated.

Kato nodded. "I'm from a place called Haxodon. It's a planet millions of lightyears away from here. I was sent here when I was a baby after my planet was attacked and destroyed. And that's why I'm so strong, and why I draw my powers from sunlight. Haxodon had two old suns orbiting the planet. But Earth has one sun, and it's new. My body drinks up the radiation from the sun, and it gives me my powers. And it allows me to do more than I ever thought possible."

"I remember reading about Haxodon as a child," Thor said thoughtfully. "It was a beautiful place before it was destroyed." He nodded at Kato. "It makes sense for you to come from there."

"But that still doesn't explain the suit," Bruce said, motioning to Kato.

Kato huffed. "I was getting to that." She glanced around at the group again. "As it turns out, I'm not the only survivor from Haxodon that made it here to Earth. There were six others who crash landed here as children and infants. Including a man named Luca Wolfe. My cousin."

"Your cousin?" Steve repeated.

Kato nodded. "Yes. He was the one that gave me this suit. And this crest here?" She traced the symbol on her chest again. "It's the symbol of the House of Vel. It means valor."

"The House of Vel?" Natasha said with a frown.

Kato looked up at the team and nodded again. "Yeah, it's the name of my family's bloodline. The name I was given before I arrived here was Kelli Lok-Vel. And my cousin's Haxodonian name is Kex-Vel. Hence the name, the House of Vel." She sighed. "Luca convinced me to stop hiding who I am and to stop hiding from the world. He told me that I needed to show the Earth who I am, and to use my powers to keep humanity safe. So that's what I've been doing."