Three nestled herself further into the soft, padded corner and closed her eyes, allowing herself to lay down. If she was going to be here for a while she might as well rest some. No need to fight exhausted on top of being hungry.

Was it safe to sleep? Would they take advantage of that? What form of terror would her mind concoct even if it was currently safe? It had been a while since she let what Doctor Grante called 'night terrors' bother her. But the woman had unsettled her mind in a way that the dreams that man put in her head as a constant training never did. What if it had weakened her? She felt mentally brittle and - no. That wasn't the training. Thinking like that was failure to thrive. Failure to thrive meant she went the same way as Subject 5 and all the others. She would not allow that to happen.

After him, she had promised to herself that she would never fail. She had silently promised him as she pulled the trigger. At the very least, when she died - probably sooner than most - she would face it as fearlessly as he had.

So no more weakness. No more fear. She would sleep and live to fight another day. She would be the best assassin and spy the world never heard or saw.

--

Left, right, left, left, kick. The rhythm was mind numbing. A second sense. No need for deep thought. Just the motions.

Crack!! Until that happened. Steve went to pick up the broken punching bag and add it to the growing pile. He'd have to pay Tony for those. Only one was left as it was.

"You know," Natasha's soft voice filtered into the room from the entrance of the gym. "Punching things doesn't always solve your problems."

"Worked well enough fighting Tony's killer robots." He knew it wasn't true and Natasha didn't need to say so. She simply sat on the edge of the punching bag pile, no words.

After putting the last bag up, Steve began again. Her presence was distracting, however. Worse yet, she was a reminder of exactly what he wanted to temporarily take his mind off of.

He stopped and sat down next to her. If she was here it was either to hear his thoughts or say something. Might as well assume the latter. Together they sat, surrounded by the smell of sweat and the silence of the gym.

Eventually, she broke the silence, "If she agrees, we'll actively be a part of her life."

Steve nodded, relaxing a bit, "Can't say I'm not glad you want to be part of that."

The assassin looked daggers at him, "Of course, I do."

He held up his hands in surrender before dropping them, "Just wasn't trying to assume anything."

"How do you want to do this?"

"Parent a mutant teenager we know next to nothing about?"

"I just don't want to be those parents always fighting over how to raise their kid."

"All I know right now is that I want her to have as safe and as normal a life as I- we can give her." Steve sighed, looking around. "While it may be good to start here for security reasons."

"This isn't exactly normal." Natasha finished, laying back on the pile. "How about after a couple months we get an apartment?"

Steve agreed, joining her in laying back before saying, "It's the adjustment period where we find out more about her and what sort of care she needs that scares me. Finding a rhythm, learning the dance. All of it so unknown."

Nat only bobbed her head in an affirmative, promptly resting it on his shoulder. There they stayed, soaking in the facts.

--

"Love you, bye." Clint got off the phone with Laura and went back to raiding the pantry. After an hour nap he woke up famished. When was the last time he ate? Four hours? Five? Either way, he was hungry. Pizza maybe? Or a sandwich?

Wait. Clint stopped as he started to punch in the number for Delmar's Deli. When was the last time the kid had eaten? Damn. They were terrible people sometimes. He put the phone number in a little quicker. Time to make a bigger order than he originally thought for.

--

"Three pots of coffee later and I have no idea how long it's been but I think I've salvaged enough." Tony looked bleary eyed at the computer. While there was Friday for the job, there were some things that it was better to do yourself.

"Enough to convince the girl?" Bruce asked, looking up from some form of experiment he was working on in the lab. He had been there mostly just to keep Tony company and be a sounding board if the man needed to ramble.

"Better be." Tony ran a hand over his face, "I finally got to the Red Rabbit file itself. Come to find out that little tattoo isn't just for kicks and giggles. She's the only surviving test subject. Though, I'm pretty sure all of them were branded."

"How many were there?" Bruce poured a cup of tea for the both of them. Something to change it up from the constant stream of coffee.

"Twelve." Tony answered, his face gaunt, "Five died not long after birth and the rest were 'neutralized' AKA murdered by the time they were six." He swiped through a couple screens, "They weren't all Cap's but a lot of them were and even more Nat's. One more was both of theirs. I only found the background of this project up to when this kid, Subject Three was the only survivor. Then it just says the program was shut down, kid would continue training, and the base was to be used for other low profile experimental purposes. No idea what the training is."

Bruce took a sip of the hot liquid, "If I had to guess, it probably wasn't geometry and history."

--

The door slid open and shut. The smell of food hitting her nose. A different man than one who took her down from the chains shuffled a bit. His footing was unsure in this padded room. He had never used it before.

Finally, Three opened her eyes to see a short man with his arms full of sandwiches standing by the door. He looked out of place with his sweatpants, baggy hoodie, and at least six sandwiches in each arm. A smile came unbidden to her lips.

"Now this is a cruel form of torture." She inhaled the air, drinking in the scent of the bread, "You could at least have the decency to waterboard me."

A/N ~ Thank you to all who are reading this and have left a review. :D

I'm not sure if the story seems to be going a bit slow or if the pace is okay for now. But either way, some fun things are coming up in a bit!