A/N I do not own any of the characters originally found in Marvel comics or movies. Any dialogue from the movies is not my own. I own Kat, any original characters associated with her, and the plotline.

Trigger Warning: The main character of this story was raped as a child. There are many flashbacks and they are graphic for the sake of the plot. I will put an all encompassing warning here because there are many mentions sprinkled throughout the story and I do not want to put warnings on even small mentions because I feel it takes away from the plot.

There are also mentions of infertility in this and Kat struggling because of it. If you have any similar sufferings and might be triggered because of it, I warn this may not be the story.

Finally, there is the usual warning of how shitty Hydra can be. That will be discussed in detail here and we all know what they do to people

Kat Elizabeth Hastings smiled as the flames twirled and spun in her hand, the heat licking the image of the smirking man away forever. She glared at the picture of her younger self with the thirty-six year old man and set fire to the old memory

It had been ten years and three months since Robert Hawkins had strutted into her life and she still couldn't cleanse her brain of his whiskey soaked breath or his cold, unrelenting smile.

He had died in prison long ago but it still felt like just yesterday he was caressing her barely matured body and telling her that he loved her.

She stepped inside her small Brooklyn apartment and closed the door with a sigh.

The twenty-three year old had grown up a lot since her first kiss. She had grown to understand what Robert was really doing to her and she wanted to tear her own flesh apart at the very memory of his lips on it.

She cursed the skin she walked in. She cursed the way men's eyes danced over her as she walked across the street. She hated all of it.

She hated all of them.

That was until she met him.

He made her forget, even if for a short time. In his arms she truly understood love. She knew that the world wasn't all hatred and anger.

Until he left her.

She cried for weeks and her mother held her in her arms and whispered that eventually it would be okay.

Her mother promised that one day Kat would find a love and a life that was filled with more joy and love then she could even imagine. It might take a while and a lot of work, but it would happen.

That was the night her mother and father died in a car crash.

She wondered if that happiness would ever come.

She collapsed onto the sofa and was about to turn on an old movie when her phone rang out Taylor Swift's Style.

You got that James Dean
Daydream
Look in your eye
And I got that red lip
Classic
Thing that you like

Speaking of boyfriends.

She sighed as she picked up the phone

"Sam Wilson, did we not break up a year ago? Did I just dream that happened?"

"No?"

"Then why are you still calling me everyday?" She wondered and she heard his sharp laughter pierce the other line.

"Because Kat, I have something you might like to hear."

"Why would I want to hear anything from you again? Reminder that we did break up because you called my music taste weird and freaky."

"Still the weirdest reason a woman has chosen to end it with me but that's not the point. I have a story that you can make fun of me for."

Kat immediately sat up with wide eyes, fascination curling around her senses. "Where are you? I'll be there in six minutes," she told him grabbing her keys as she bolted outside.

Sam laughed. "Good to know your sense of humor never changes."

She called a cab and headed over to Sam's apartment, giving the driver a tip if he broke a few laws to cut through rush hour traffic.

She raced out of the car, throwing money at the poor old man and banging her hand on the door so hard she worried she might get splinters.

He swung open the door topless and she rolled her eyes as she shoved past him, walking into her apartment as if it were her own home. "Nice to know your wardrobe hasn't changed," she remarked, heading into his kitchen to grab a soda.

"What? I was getting ready for work."

She smiled and nodded as if that was obviously what he was doing.

"Speaking of work, when are you going to find me a job?" She asked, collapsing back on the couch and sipping her soda like she lived there.

"You are sending me very mixed signals here Katty," he said, placing his hands on his hips. "First you want me to stop calling you now you want me to find you work?"

"One, I told you in high school, please stop calling me Katty it's not cute. Two, I know I'm never going to get rid of you Sam, but you can't blame a girl for trying," she shrugged. "If I really wanted you to stop calling I would just stop picking up the phone," she shrugged and he nodded.

"Fair point, and I don't have a job just yet. I'm not Superman you know."

"But you are working with Captain America?" Kat reminded him, a small grin dangling across her lips. "The guy you idolized in middle school? You had a poster of him on your bedroom wall? If he can't find me a job nobody can," she sighed.

"You do realize he just recently woke up from being stuck in the ice for about seventy years right?"

"Details, details," she waved her hand distractedly.

He chuckled. "Well, I was thinking of asking you to help Stark, but-"

"You wanted me to be a doctor for Tony Stark?!" She exclaimed.

"He said no," Sam finished lamely.

"Tony Stark? The Tony Stark? As in billionaire, playboy, philanthropist Tony Stark?"

"The one and only."

"Do you not remember how gramps felt about him?" She laughed. "I believe his exact words were 'stuck-up, petty rich kid with no understanding of how basic humans live'."

"Yeah, I remember," Sam rolled his eyes. "Which is why it's good he said no."

"What about the Avengers as a whole?" Kat suggested "Could I work just as the Avengers doctor?"

Sam shrugged. "I'd have to ask Cap."

She sighed and leaned back against the couch. "Rents coming up soon, Sam. Please, please please, hurry."

He raised his hands in surrender. "I'm doing the best I can, Katty. I promise."

She nodded and smiled at him. "So what's this story you called me about?"

He chuckled. "Alright so I'm in my suit-," he began, sitting down by her side as he prepared to give her a truly incredible story.

"Bird wings and everything?"

"Whole deal," he nodded, taking a deep breath before he continued. "And I hear there's a perimeter breach at Headquarters. Right on the roof. Naturally, I'm the only guy there that can deal with it-"

"Naturally!" She giggled.

"I go up to the roof and there's nobody there. Not a soul. At first I'm thinking this was some stupid trick, when I'm punched by nobody!"

"Ha!"

"I look around, and I start getting my ass kicked by what looked like fucking nothing! I started to wonder if Shield had come up with some invisible tech and the agents were fucking with me when I see it. A little tiny man running on the roof."

"Holy shit!" Kat always loved listening to Sam's stories with the Avengers. They always managed to surprise her.

He nodded. "He wasn't bigger than my little finger but he had the strength of ten men."

She grinned. "Hold on, so you're telling me there was a man the size of a tic tac that broke into headquarters and you tried to fight said tic tac… and lost?!"

He nodded again, a small smirk on his lips as he noted how entertained she seemed. "See I knew you would like this."

She rolled her eyes. "Why didn't you just step on the guy?!"

"I was afraid he would flip me onto my fucking back!"

She laughed at him so hard she couldn't breath. "You got beat up by a tic tac!"