The sounds echo across the gym; heavy breathing, the low whistle of punches being thrown and kicks swung. Kate dodges the oncoming kicks from the agent before finally ducking under a final kick, knocking the agent off of his feet before turning deliver a finishing blow when her gaze snaps up, unprepared for the uppercut from another agent which sent her to the ground with a pained grunt, hand holding her jaw.

Several of the agents begin to walk closer to the teen, and before any can react, Kate launches herself towards one of the agents, a roar echoing across the gym as a lion tackles the closest agent. The other men jump away, some mildly surprised at the sudden outburst.

The agent pinned on the ground struggles to get out from under the paws pinning him down and looks up at the large cat pinning him, her teeth bared, breathy growls leaving her mouth as she pants.

The sudden jolt of electricity running through her body causes Kate to seize up and roar out, the sound changing to a cry of pain halfway through as she shifts back to normal, on the ground a couple feet from the agent as her hand comes to her arm, inches from the band restraining her.

"This isn't an ability session, A1." Gordon calls over, remote loosely in his hand as he looks over a tablet Banks was holding out for him to read.

Kate slowly gets to her feet as the other agents around her wait for their next set of instructions.

Looking up from the tablet, Gordon's eyes find Kate, and then the other agents.

"Well go," He raises his voice and gestures with the remote as a sign to continue with the training session.

Several of the agents nod before their attention turns back to Kate and she swallows before subtly rolling her shoulders back to try and relax her body before focusing her gaze on the closest agent.

The session continues for another hour, agents rotating out for the training, before it finally ends and Kate is taken to one of the back rooms for evaluation, something that should feel second nature, but now… Things were just very different. A voice or- silence yuring for her to not acknowledge the fact, was telling her nothing had changed. This was how things were.

However a new voice had made its home in her mind; one that told her this wasn't right. It asked when she had allowed herself to be used and told what to do. She used to be so different. What had they done to change that? The fact that she couldn't remember one thing in particular that they could have done to turn her into what she was now, filled her with uncertainty.

On either side of her, doctors went about taking down data on her vitals; muscle health, tension, heart rate bother active and resting… The list went on. They took down anything pertaining to her physically and in some cases mentally when it came to specific brain activity.

She never really thought about any of this before. Her brain was… noisy. Not like she was actively thinking about anything in particular, but she was processing things more often than not now. Before she would just zone out, let whatever needed to be done, happen.

She felt like a piece of equipment before; the thought wasn't really a bother, nor had she really thought about it in detail. That's just how things were, and she didn't care not process the fact. No one talked to her other than to give her instruction. She never had conversation with any employees and small talk was- practically unheard of.

Feelings of uneasiness and-... even annoyance, begin flooding through her. Being with the team at Stark Tower awakened something. Kate was beginning to understand Steve's position more and more.

~0~

Tony's eyes graze the communal floor, finding Steve across the room, outside on the balcony. Eyebrows twitching lightly, the Stark makes his way across the room and around the bar out onto the balcony. As he leaves the indoors and walks out onto the open space, the cold night air hits him rather quickly. It was the last week of February after all.

"It's freezing out here," Tony alerts Steve to his presence, causing the Captain to look over his right shoulder before his brow relaxes and he gives the smallest shrug.

"Clears my head," He mumbles before looking back down at the SHIELD tablet in his hands.

"If you need to clear your head go use the gym, or- I dunno, don't freeze your ass off for the sake of some peace of mind."

"S'not that cold to me, Tony." Steve holds back the desire to roll his eyes before looking over at his colleague.

"Whatever," Tony mumbles before stopping next to the Captain. Eyes finding the tablet in Steve's grasp, Tony quickly recognizes the contents present on the face of the device. "Looking at that again? What're you doing, trying to find more dirt?"

Steve sighs quietly under his breath, looking down at the railing, and then the snippets of Kate's Oriah file, before looking out over the city.

"You could say that," Steve mutters, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck before breathing out sharply. "They're obviously hiding something; more than eighty percent of the information and records regarding Kate are classified to level nine agents."

Tony eyes Steve quietly for a moment, gaze falling hesitantly as he thought over the predicament which had been going on for many months now. Steve was incredibly stubborn and reluctant to let things go, something Tony found amusing.

"I can do a little more snooping… See what I can turn up," The Stark finally speaks up, causing Steve's brow to knit together in response.

"I can't ask you to do that again. Hill caught you last time and I don't wa-"

"I've learned a thing or two since then," Tony reassures, tone raising as he pats Steve's shoulder before giving a subtly mischievous smirk. "I'll get Banner's help; we'll see what we can turn up."

Steve clenches his jaw briefly before looking out over the cityscape. While he considered the team his friends, they were more like colleagues than anything. Work friends. Which weren't like other friends. There was a sort of professionalism that came with it, however Steve was finding himself steadily opening himself up to these new friendships. The team had their quirks, and definitely their differences… But regardless, they stuck their necks out for him when they didn't need to. They weren't what he used to have, but Steve was beginning to understand that was okay.

Meeting Tony's eyes, Steve feels his expression relax a fraction before he closes his eyes briefly and nods before opening them.

"Alright," Steve mumbles, a small dip of his chin adding to his confirmation.

"That's it, Cap." Tony pats his shoulder once more before turning to head inside. "Get a coat or something. Super soldier or not- you can't lie to me and say you're not freezing your ass off." Tony calls over his shoulder.

Steve rolls his eyes lightly before turning his eyes out towards the city once more, and then down at his tablet. His eyes lock on the box of the file where an image of Kate should be, but isn't. Ever since Kate went away to some other location under SHIELD, they had hidden away most information about her, even documents and files Steve previously had access to. All were now gone or large parts of files he could still access were majority redacted. Perhaps Tony could access the information within those…

Either way, Steve can't let this go. Even if it's just a professional desire to discover more about this organization that took Kate and many others, she was still a large part of this investigation, and probably knew more than she was letting on like Natasha said. Masking his worry for the teenager best he could, Steve worried about what SHIELD may do down the line. Kate was with civilians now, but- Steve just couldn't wrap his head around why such an agreement was made. It wasn't like Fury to suddenly let go of one of his most valued assets.

Something was going on. Whether he had to go out looking for it, or wait for news to come about, Steve was going to discover what it was.

~0~

The Next Day...

The day started early and unexpectedly. Fury called the team in before the sun had risen, and they found themselves tracking down another arms dealer who had gotten their hands on more Chitauri technology. There was no relation to the previous arms dealer that had connections to Oriah, something Steve was just a tiny bit thankful for. Having a mission that didn't involve protecting and supporting Oriah was refreshing.

The mission went well, and short of Natasha, who had remained at SHIELD to do some paperwork, and Clint who had taken a few days leave elsewhere, Steve went back to the Tower a few hours following Bruce and Tony.

Not long after Steve found himself back at the Tower, Jarvis' voice came over the intercom, informing Steve that Tony wanted him down in the workshop as soon as possible.

Steve sighs quietly and closes his eyes for a moment. He wanted a shower and some time to breathe, but… This may concern Kate and Oriah. As tired as he was of this whole topic in general, dealing with this branch of SHIELD that had no regard for humane treatment, was fueling him.

"Alright, I'll head down." Steve calls out.

Making his way back into the elevator, Steve leans back against the railing lining the lift wall while waiting quietly to reach the correct floor. This had to concern their agreement from the night before. What else could it be? Steve hadn't suspected they would find something so quickly, assuming Bruce was helping.

The elevator doors finally open and Steve lightly pushes off the wall before heading down the hall and into the workshop. His eyes quickly find Tony.

"You found something?" Steve speaks up, walking into the room a few feet behind Tony, seeing Bruce leaning against one of the counters.

"You could say that." Tony shrugs, turning on his heel to meet Steve's eyes.

"And?"
"Let's say I get why you're paranoid." He mumbles, fiddling around with the hologram in the center of the room before bringing up a video. "Jarvis,"

Seconds later a recording started playing, causing Steve to take a couple steps forward, his hands in his pockets.

His lips parted as he remained quiet before he shot Tony a brief look.

"How old is this?"

"Little over a year ago." He responds, his eyes on the footage of Kate in a chair, having vitals and stats taken.

Steve goes quiet as his eyes bore into the video, intensely analyzing what details he can.

It appears to be a small examination room of sorts, Kate seated in a chair off centered in the space. There are three scientists in view and one of them is looking at her wrist, doing something none of them can make out, his back was to the camera.

"Mm- no," Steve's brow knit somewhat when he watched Kate try to gently pull her wrist away. "It hurts."

"Boyd, what's the problem?" Another scientist appeared and Steve's forehead relaxed at recognizing the man.

"That's the lead scientist, Oliver Gordon." Steve confirms, meeting Bruce's eyes and then Tony's eyes.

"It hurts," Kate breathes again, obvious tension between her and the man next to her as her fist was clenched.

"Sir," The scientist turned.

"Keep going." He responds, nodding in response before turning away again.

Bruce was watching the footage closely, as were Tony and Steve.

Kate remained still momentarily but it was obvious how she was growing more and more uncomfortable in the chair.

"Looks like they're doing- some form of a skin scrape but-... I can't make it out."

"For what purpose?" Steve's brow furrowed as he looked to Bruce.

"Skin scrapings are most commonly used to diagnose fungal infections of sorts but-... If they're trying to get tissue samples in correspondence to her ability, they'd need… A good layer of skin taken," He responds, his expression contorting only slightly as notes of sympathy appear in his face.

Steve clenched his jaw before looking back up.

"Sample taken doctor" One of the other scientists on Kate's right speaks up, most likely Byod given Gordon's eye line when he spoke prior.

"Good. Get it ready," He turns over his shoulder briefly before his body turned and he went to walk off camera. "Put binds on first." Gordon turned back again and the scientist in front of Kate turned with a hesitant look.

"S-Sir?" The scientist on Kate's left jerked around with surprise.

"I am not taking chances Kline, you know what she did to Wyatt Parsons; man still needs a cane to get around."

Steve's brow knitted as he continued to watch the footage, taking in the man's words.

The scientist, Kline, met the eyes of the other two scientists on the other side of Kate, somewhat behind her before they went to go about getting binders ready.

Steve clenched his jaw as he watched the footage, feeling his stomach knot as he watched them.

The footage wasn't in the best shape, but her eyes were sporadically shooting about and she was growing more tense.

"Alright now I have to head over to the next room so hurry up and get those on."

Kline and another scientist stood up, both on each side of her as they pressed on her shoulders, pushing her back into the chair as there was a sound of something being turned on. Clamps suddenly shot up from the arms of the chair, holding her arms down.

Kate jumped at the action, her eyes turning up with alarm before her fists clenched and she struggled.

Steve glanced down momentarily, causing Bruce and Tony to glance at him before they continued to watch the footage.

"Why am I watching this Tony?" Steve sighs, obviously growing more uncomfortable.

"Cause that sweet kid you brought home isn't what she seems, Rogers" Tony states, not bothering to look over at him as Steve turned a somewhat concerned look at the Stark.

His eyes snapped up to the footage to see one of the scientists walking over with a gun of sorts, more medical than weapon looking.

He positioned it on her stomach, much to her struggle as the two scientists were still holding her down alongside the restraints.

"The tracker… They're implanting the tracker" Steve mumbles in realization, his eyes on the screen when Kate suddenly cries out in pain, the gun shooting the implant under her skin and into her side. Steve clenched his jaw tightly, looking away momentarily as she started crying quietly.

"Is it live?" The lead asks, his eyes on another scientist out of view.

"... Yes sir," He responds.

"Alright, we're done here. Send her back to the watch room. I want 36 hours on her to make sure she doesn't try to take it out."

"We can seal the wound sir," One of the scientists states.

"Good. Make it clean, I'd prefer it to be cauterized, I don't want her making a mess of i-" The lead jerked to the side as several machines started beeping.

"S-... Sir?"

"Administer a shock"

"W- Doctor she's not doing any-"

"Administer one now!"

Steve's expression grew more alarmed as the scientists became frantic and he almost jumped in surprise as Kline, the scientist who had his back to the camera, suddenly hunched forward, choking on something as all the surrounding people jumped back, yelling out as the man suddenly collapsed to the ground.

"Tony-" Steve didn't look at him as he continued to watch the footage, Kate having already yanked an arm from the binders as the leading doctor started calling in backup. "Tony wha-"

"She just stabbed him in the neck with a pen" The Stark responds, his arms crossed as he watches.

"Backup! Get some goddamn backup down here now!"

"What the hell!?"
"Kline! Christ she- Put her down!"

Kate meanwhile had ripped the other binder off and had already shifted into something large and darkly colored, lunging at one of the men off camera. Screams followed and a body suddenly flew up, completely incapacitating the camera as it went fuzzy and the audio went dead.

Steve stares at the fuzzed picture before him before his eyes slowly meet Tony's, seeing the man looking at him.

"That's your little angel" He smirks before lifting a hand, rewinding the footage before freezing it on Kate, her in a shift, about to lunge off camera.
"A- dog?" Steve mutters, his brow knit tightly.

"Wolf but close" Tony responds with a nod, glancing at Bruce.

"Not an ordinary one. You see the size. She's averaging at about the size of a 700 pound black bear." Bruce continues, meeting Steve eyes.

Steve was quiet, his eyes going from Bruce, to Tony, and the footage before going back.

"You both viewed this footage... Saw everything... And- what, the only thing of interest was what she was capable of doing and not the fact that she has obviously been treated like wild game?"

"Christ Rogers, yes. We see that, alright? It's screwed up on a number of levels, but we're also telling you as scientific geniuses what we're seeing."

"What did Fury tell you about her abilities?" Bruce questions, his glasses in his hands as he was lightly tracing the frames.

Steve shook his head before rubbing his forehead with a huff.

"Something about a biological change er-"

"Biological manipulation," Bruce mumbles, nodding to himself. "Of course, yes. That makes sense."

"This kid could- literally, make up entirely new species with her ability. The size of a bear, the communications skills of a wolf-" Tony adds.

"Fury did say something about her being able to take on animal characteristics. Are you suggesting she could take on several different ones at once?" Steve's brow knitted with hesitation.

"The possibilities are endless. I'd need more data. Blood samples, records on her mental and physical fluctuations during these supposed trials they put her through…" Bruce trails off, his eyes on the ground as he was taking light steps about the area they were standing in.

Bruce begins to talk to himself somewhat, going over to a desk to look at one of the files they had hacked into.

Steve remained still, thinking things over when Tony suddenly placed a hand down on his shoulder.

"We'll keep looking. Anything in particular you want to find? Clear your conscience?"

"My conscience is already clear… It's just a matter of what I plan to do about it" Steve mutters, shaking his head.

Tony nods quietly, his hand sliding away.

"Anything in particular you need? More questions or searches you want conducted?"

Steve is quiet for a moment, the expression on his face indicating he was thinking.

"The two scientists Kate hurt. Kline and the other one… Parsons. I want to get in touch with them. See what they can tell me." Steve responds, meeting Tony's eyes as he gives a bit of a nod, obviously unsure.

"What're you trying to find exactly?" His question could be seen as somewhat amused but his expression showed his concern.

Steve hesitates his response before shaking his head. "I don't know."

~0~

A Week Later…

It took some time, but Tony managed to find records for both Doctors which were mentioned or present in the footage they had uncovered. Parsons had retired from SHIELD, but Kline was still alive and working at SHIELD- even after getting a pen to the neck, an injury that still made Steve subtly cringe when he thought back to it.

Steve had met with Parsons. It was a semi-professional meeting at the doctor's house, and while he was eager to talk about Katelyn Sanders, his words weren't exactly positive. He had a cane firmly in his grasp when he answered the door, and made the point to bring it up in their conversation multiple times, that he hadn't been able to walk right since she attacked him.

Parsons explained the incident when it happened; they had been trying to administer injections for tests, and she fought back with extreme aggression, giving one of the doctors a concussion as well as completely crushing Parsons' ankle.

Steve had tried to calm his frustration and obvious anger by treading into the water carefully, noting how Kate may have acted out because of fear and in self defense, in fact it may have been the only thing she knew early on.

"What would you know of such things, Captain?" Parsons had spat, having become more frazzled before continuing to discuss the hardships that came with working alongside Sanders.

By the end of the mild interview, Steve hadn't gotten much, aside from biased and hate-fueled opinions on Kate, not really anything he could use to his advantage. Parsons had stated multiple times that Sanders was one of the only ones who had given them an exceptionally hard time; the whole experience working with her wasn't pleasant.

Next was his stop at the SHIELD base in Delaware, where Doctor Kline still worked with SHIELD, just not in Oriah, not after sustaining his injury, according to the information Tony found.

Steve had only been to the Delaware base once, but found his way with a little help to the right area of the building where he could run into Kline.

After wandering several halls, Steve finally sees Kline standing outside of a room with a clipboard, looking over multiple datasheets.

Approaching the Doctor hesitantly, Steve clears his throat to get the man's attention.

"Excuse me, Doctor Kline?"

"Yes?" The man looks up to meet Steve's eyes, expression confused but not hesitant. He seemed more open upfront, as opposed to Parsons who seemed annoyed with Steve before he even said anything.

Swallowing Steve pulls a tiny notepad from his back pocket, holding it in one hand tightly.

"I had a couple questions about the Oriah program," Steve begins. "I was curious as to whether or not you'd discuss one of the children there."

"Well since you're aware of the program, I'd assume you have clearance," Kline gives a small chuckle before lowering the clipboard.

"Yes, I have clearance," Steve breathes a small laugh before holding up his shield badge for a split second.

"I'd be happy to," Kline gives the smallest shrug before looking back down at his clipboard momentarily. "Of course, which one?"

"Katelyn Sanders." Steve responds, ready for a negative reaction when the scientist hesitated, eyes lifting from the clipboard before he gives a sigh and a nod.

"Had a small feeling. Probably want to ask me about this right?" He gestures to the scar on his neck and Steve swallows before giving a small nod.

"If you don't mind me taking ten or so minutes of your time; I really have some questions I think you could answer," Steve goes on, trying to be as professional as possible.

The man nods before turning, gesturing for Steve to follow.

"Perhaps my office would suffice,"

~0~

Steve asks a few questions regarding Kate; what he thought of her, how he saw the whole program and how Kate did and responded to it. Kline was much more open to talking about her and had yet to show any sign of frustration or anger.

"You don't seem to hold anything against her; correct me if I'm wrong but… Why is that?" Steve finally questions after listening to Kline discuss some of the other parts of his job at Oriah.

Kline gives a small nod in response before breathing out quietly.

"Working with this organization… You come across a lot of things you'd never expect. Being assigned to this program was one of those things." Kline explains, gesturing slightly with his hands. "Sanders was… She stood out. Overall was seen as one of the most dangerous individuals to arrive here."

"And why is that?" Steve urges.
"She was one of the only ones who ever fought back." He responds. "Others might get scared and act out as such but-... I have never seen one of them as she was in that room that day."

Steve swallowed before clenching his jaw, listening to the man's words.

"The program was designed to rehabilitate kids who were broken, to build them back up"

"...You're saying they never fully broke her" Steve finally spoke up, having processed his words.

"No. Not even close," He breathes, giving a shake of his head. "I still think she's unsure of who's good and who's bad. The program approaches these children in a way that we provide support but also leadership. It is something to trust and lean on. This comes with the prerequisite of the participant needing a guiding force, something to lean on or against. We were forcing this on her, almost shoving a new system of control down her throat when she had spat the last one back out."

Steve remained quiet as he processed the man's words. "Since that day you got injured… How much progress did they make on her?"

Kline's expression changed then, and he was quiet.

"... They put her through so many mental and physical tribulations, I-... I honestly couldn't say. I haven't kept tabs on her but I've heard she became very easily handled overnight… Trust me when I say they- got to her."

"How?" He almost immediately mutters, his brow knitted tightly.

Kline seemed very hesitant to disclose any more information before breathing out in an uncomfortable manner.

"There are several cognitive-related tests they were doing that might have been explored, that's all I can say, I'm sorry." He responds, his hands clasped lightly as he gave Steve a somewhat apologetic look.

Steve breathed out quietly before giving a small nod, standing up.

"Thank you," He holds out a hand, causing the man to stand and return the handshake.

"She's a good kid," Kline responds, causing Steve to pause. "I heard about your presence here in the recent months… I'm glad she's got someone outside all this looking out for her,"

Steve gave the man a small smile before letting his hand fall. Making his way for the door, Steve comes to a small stop as his hands grab the knob.

"If you need to know anything else… Feel free to contact me," Steve turns, eyes meeting Kline as he walks up and holds out a small card, most likely his contact information.

Steve confirms as such as he looks down at the small card before giving a curt nod as he turns to leave.

Steve's stride is fast paced as he walks down the hall towards the garages. Turning his head down and to the side slightly, Steve clears his throat quietly.

"You get all that Stark?"
"Of course, Cap. What do I look like?" Tony laughs in response over the com in Steve's ear.