Katherine ran off into the night, not even bothering to grab her phone or her bag. She just needed to escape the noise. It wasn't her fault, her parents had invited friends to a family party. The same group of people every year and the same thing would happen every year. She would somehow do something wrong and her mother who had drank just a little too much liquid courage would start yelling and screaming at her for ruining everything. Normally it waited until after the party, but this time, some late nighters decided to watch the last of whatever was on the television. Some movie possibly, she didn't really pay attention. She just knew it had loud noises and it wasn't helping her. Another explosion caused her to jump and drop a plate of food in the kitchen. Her mother came bounding in and started to yell at her. Forgetting that the door was left wide open and of course her father turned the volume down to make sure everything was alright. Allowing the guests to hear the drunken screams that she was horrible and had ruined everything. That no matter what, she always had to go and ruin everything because she always needed to be the center of everything.
Katherine tried to explain it was an accident, that the explosion from the movie scared her. It wasn't doing much good because her mother just told her to shut up and stop being such a baby. She tried to hold back the tears, but of course the tears just gave her mother more reasons to yell at her. She kept apologizing, that she'd clean it all up and to just please go back to the guests that were in the other room. Her mother wouldn't listen. So instead of trying to get her or anyone to stop it, she ran. Ignoring the screams of her mother telling her to get back inside this instant.
When she thought she was far enough away, she took a moment to catch her breath. She wasn't exactly in the greatest shape, but she could keep going when she freaked out. Looking around she realized she might actually be lost. The buildings looked different at night than they did in the daylight hours. Walking around she tried to find the tallest building, she knew how to get to a safe place from there. She could possibly hail a cab, but with how stressed she was, dealing with a stranger wasn't the best idea. Looking up at every block, she finally saw the tower. It's giant red lettering standing out against the light pollution. She set off towards it, knowing the tower was only a few miles or so away.
Arriving to the tower, she sat down for a little bit in a darkened corner. Her feet were starting to ache and she was getting a bit tired. She didn't know how far she had actually ran, but she knew she had to have run at least two or three miles or so before she started walking. Hiding away she watched the people of the city around her. They of course ignored her, they couldn't see her, and even if they did, she assumed they thought she was homeless. Not that she cared if it meant they left her alone.
Pulling her hoodie closer to her body, she pushed herself against the building more, trying to avoid the wind that was starting to chill her bones. She wasn't really dressed for outside activities. She had a thin Chicago Cubs hoodie, a t-shirt and a pair of black skinny jeans. Then again, running how many miles and being as out of shape as she was, her clothing was just wet from sweating as well. She tried to move closer to the building, near a door that was somewhat protected from the wind that was starting to pick up a bit. She hoped this wasn't a side exit, because currently she was pushed up against the door. Of course she failed to notice the camera watching her every move.
JARVIS mentioned something at the side exit, pulling up the screen, Tony noticed a person curled up by the door. Looking back a few hours he noticed her walking around, looking for a place to stop and he noticed she was trying to avoid people and like she was lost. She didn't have a phone or bag with her. She really wasn't dressed for the weather. She didn't even have any shoes on. Tony was sure her feet were a bit cut up, so she must have been in a hurry. He asked JARVIS help to keep an eye on her, he was going to see if he could speak with her in person. Walking away from his latest project, he went out to the back door. She wouldn't see him coming and he hoped she wouldn't run. He didn't hear JARVIS mention that her vitals were getting a bit low. Her core temperature was dropping and she seemed to have lost a bit of blood from her feet.
She was tired and cold. Her body was shivering and her feet wouldn't stop bleeding. She didn't realize she'd cut her feet up and now she had glass and metal sticking in her foot. Afraid to do anymore damage, she stopped pulling pieces out. She felt dizzy, she had a hard time keeping her eyes opened. She just decided to sleep, get some rest and in the morning she could figure out her next move. Plus it would give her body a chance to physically and mentally recover from the panic attack she had gotten from dealing with her mother yelling at her. As her eyes closed and blackness surrounded her, she thought she heard someone calling out to her, but she was already out.
Her body was so cold, it only took minutes to get to her, but she was so cold. Her heartbeat was faint, but still there. Her feet were worse than he thought, there was glass and metal still in her feet. A small pile lay where she had been. He lifted her easily, bringing her back to his lab and calling for some help. He laid her down, removing the hoodie and seeing her face for the first time, thought she was pretty. She wasn't thin, but he wouldn't say she was overweight. She had some meat on her. Her face was pale, but he wasn't sure if that was from what had happened or if she was always pale. As one of his friends came into the lab, he was snapped from his thinking. Getting to work removing her clothes and cleaning her up. Hoping he wasn't too late.
Hours later Katherine woke up, loving the soft warm bed she was in. Realizing she wasn't home and she wasn't in her own clothes, panic set in. jumping up and running to the door and finding it locked. It was dark in the room, city lights barely helping her. She could see the sky starting to brighten off in the distance, She tried to calm down, but she failed. Screaming and crying she ran to the window. Opening it and realizing just how high up she was. She fell back, screaming to be let go, that she wasn't worth anything. She was just an ugly girl who ran away from her drunk mother. The door opened and she hid, trying to avoid the fact that this person might kill her, or do something much worse.
Tony cringed, he heard her cries and saw her in the corner. Carefully he walked over to her, trying to calm her down. He told her he wasn't going to hurt her, that she was safe here. He wasn't going to kill her or harm her and he wouldn't send her back to her mother. He told her she had been asleep for almost twenty four hours and was recovering from trauma to her feet. She kept crying, her breathing shallow and erratic. He sat down a few feet from her, letting her see he meant no harm. Tony decided to open his arms to see if that would calm her down. What Tony wasn't expecting was this girl to crawl over and hold onto him for dear life. Crying and shaking, she kept saying she didn't want to go back. Tony wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her back and telling her she wasn't going anywhere and he'd be the one to protect her. He didn't know how long he sat there holding her, but after awhile, he felt her breathing slow and realized she had fallen back asleep.