Torn

-|ALONE|-

It was a Saturday. The only thing worse than being in school, surrounded by people, was being home alone. With no one to hear her screams caused by the night terrors. She had gone up to the roof but Spiderboy wasn't there. Why was everyone leaving? Was it because of Katia? When she finally slept, she was pulled into a nightmare.

When Katia opened her eyes, she was tied to the same chair, in the same room. There was fresh blood on the floor. It was hers. One of the Hydra agents had trailed the cold metal of the knife against the skin of her arms. She was almost considering telling them some bullshit so that they would just let her go. Or kill her. But she knew they would never believe it. She was good at lying, but this was Hydra. They knew all of the Red Room's tricks and were not dumb enough to believe a lie. So she repeated the truth that she had been telling. Apparently, they were too dumb to believe the truth either. So, once again, she endured the blade. Soon enough they gave up on it and went back to brute strength, aka, the Winter Soldier's metal arm. It hurt like a bitch.

Once again, she woke up late at night. Katia wanted to leave her room and go to the living room to occupy herself, but she was too scared to move. She felt like she was tied to the chair, only this time she could move, but every inch of her being was telling her that she would be hit hard if she so much as picked her head up off the pillow. So she cried herself to a dreamless sleep.

She woke up the next morning in a state of shock. She was disoriented. This often happened, the morning after a nightmare. She got up, still a bit shaken. It was a Sunday morning and Katia still had the place to herself. Now, instead of throwing a houseparty, like a normal heathenous teenager, she goes upstairs to train.

She lets out all of her fear anger and sadness on the punching bag. Then the marksmanship target. She goes downstairs at about lunchtime. As she enters the kitchen and looks through the refrigerator and pantry, she realises that there is absolutely nothing good to have for a full meal. Katia decides that she'll have to go to the store.

This is a big thing for Katia since she rarely ever goes out if it's not for school. She changes out of her athletic wear and gets into an everyday outfit. Just jeans and a t-shirt. As she is walking out, she looks in the mirror. Her breath catches in her throat. The scars are still there. She goes back to her closet and gets a jacket. Then she walks out the door, keeping a switchblade in her purse just in case.

Katia arrives at the nearest grocery store, looking through the isles. All she needed was something for lunch. Maybe some instant ramen or stuff for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Even though the other customers could care less about the random teenager entering the store, Katia felt like everyone was watching her. She could feel eyes piercing her soul.

Katia quickly rushed to the far corner of the store. She was hyperventilating and felt like she needed to throw up, but nothing came out. Everything was a blur. She didn't know if any of her suspicions were real but they were definitely disorienting. Next thing you know, there were tears streaming down Katia's face out of nowhere. Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice.

"Kat? Jeez are you okay?"

She looked up to see MJ with a concerned look on her face. This was surprising because MJ usually doesn't show facial expressions of human emotion. Katia could barely get her next sentence out through her tears.

"T-They... They're h-here..."

"It's okay. No one's here. It's just you and me."

Katia looked up to see that most of the customers had left because they witnessed her severe and very external panic attack.

"You're gonna be fine. Do you want me to walk you home?"

Katia wiped her tears and got up, brushing herself off.

"N-no. I came here to get some lunch. I-I think I'll be fine."

"That was not fine. No matter what you may think, you can't just swing back from something like that, okay?"

"So, what? You're gonna babysit me until I'm feeling better?"

"No. But I am going to take you to Delmars to get a sandwich for lunch and then walk you home so that I'm here for you if you have a mental breakdown on the way back."

"Well, thank's for the aggressive friendship."

"I aggressively care about you, okay?"

"And I aggressively thank you."

"You're welcome. Now lets get you a sandwich."

MJ walked Katia to Delmar's Deli as Katia kept thanking her and apologizing for the trouble. MJ insisted that it was fine as they stepped through the doors of the deli. MJ got her a bacon egg and cheese sandwich and ordered one for herself as well. Then MJ started walking Katia home...

Natasha finally got back from Berlin to see a note on the door. "If you're seeing this, I'm at the store. brb." She walked through the door and set her bag down. Almost on queue her phone rang. She sighed. Why him? Of all people, why did it have to be him calling?

"What do you want?"

"Nat, I think I might need a place to stay."

"Steve, if I get caught-"

"I know, I know. It's just that I can't stay in Wakanda forever and once they're done helping Bucky, I don't wanna be any more trouble to T'Challa."

"But you're fine being a trouble to me?"

"I-I'm sorry, Nat. I'll just-"

"I'm kidding. You can stay at my place in NYC. But only because I can practically feel the puppy dog eyes through the phone. I'll text you the address."

"Nat, thank you so much."

"So, it's gonna be you, Bucky and Sam?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. How soon can you get here? This news isn't gonna be easy to break to my... roommate."

"You have a roommate?"

"Old Red Room buddy, you could say. She's got trust issues."

"With the quinjet, I could be there in an hour."

"Alright. Make sure you have cloaking on."

"Sure thing. Thanks again."

Katia and MJ sat eating their sandwiches for a while outside the Deli. After a while, MJ started walking Katia home.

"And remember to drink water, okay? Hydrate or diedrate."

"Got it."

"Is this your house?"

"Yeah. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"See ya."

Katia walked in the front door as MJ walked away. She hung her purse on the coat rack and locked the door behind her. As she turned around, she saw two men in her living room.

"Мама! If you're home, I think someone broke in!"

The two men looked her way. They both looked just as confused as her. Katia took out her switchblade. She pointed it threateningly in the direction of the two men. Their eyes widened as they put their hands up. One of them called back at the general direction of the hallway,

"Hey, Nat! There's a kid in your living room! She's got a knife!"

Natasha's voice could be heard from the hallway as she walked out to the living room.

"Kat, it's fine. They're friends. That's Steve, and that's Sam."

"Oh. Why are they here?"

"They're on the run."

"So we're housing criminals now?"

"Yep."

Then Sam, who was very confused, cut in.

"I'm sorry, who's she?"

"Katia's... my daughter."