Chapter Text
Pain.
From the second Natalia Porcher was born, she only felt pain. She only ever remembered pain.
When she was born, she was sold to an organization that specialized in “bringing out the best in human beings.” All her life she was experimented on and tortured, feeling as though she was going to die more times than she could count. As she passed her fifteenth birthday, she thought she was going to die at the hands of her captors, never to experience normal teenage life and confined to a building with other kids who shared the same reality. But then, as she was being electrocuted for the fourth time that day, she felt as though something in her snapped and a second later, she was out of the chair she’d been sitting in and the man that had been torturing her was slumped against the wall.
Natalia gazed down at her glowing, red hands, slightly shocked by what had just happened. Her moment of shock was over quickly as another one of her captors attempted to apprehend her. She retaliated by using her newfound powers to pick the man up by his neck and throw him backwards into the hallway. Natalia ran out of the room and into the hall, quickly rounding the corner and flying down the stairs to the foyer. As she approached the front door, she was surrounded by the remaining “scientists” left in the building, some of them wielding guns or knives and others wielding cattle prods. Natalia breathed heavily, not knowing what to do and beginning to panic when a woman behind her jabbed her in the back with a cattle prod, causing Natalia to cry out in pain. The unexpected attack caused the young girl to use her powers, knock all of the “scientists” away from her, and set the horrible building on fire. She panicked again and ran out of the building and into the streets of New York, simply running as fast as she could in an attempt to get as far away from the building as possible.
Eventually, she grew tired and found an abandoned apartment building to take shelter in, choosing a studio apartment on the fourth floor of the building. With nothing but a pair of old jeans, a t-shirt, and a pair of ragged shoes, Natalia was able to eventually fall asleep in the corner of the room, facing the front door.
Natalia spent months in that abandoned building, only venturing out at night to go through dumpsters in an effort to find food and, lately, snatching purses. She desperately needed new clothes and since she was petrified of people, she didn’t want to attempt to ask anyone for help. Unfortunately for her, a certain superhero had been patrolling the area she was in and was about to turn in for the night when he saw her steal a woman’s purse. Natalia ducked into an alley and knelt on the ground, dumping the purse out to see how much money she’d obtained.
“You know stealing is wrong, right?”
At the sound of a boy’s voice, Natalia jumped and slammed her back against the cold brick of the building she was next to. There, hanging upside down in front of her, was Spider-Man himself.
“Y-Yeah.”
“... So you know I’ve gotta turn you in to police now.”
“You can’t!”
“Why?”
The girl paused, frowning and taking a deep breath before she spoke, “I don’t- I don’t have a home or anyone.”
The eyes on Spider-Man's mask shrunk before going wide again, “You’re one of the escaped kids from that building, aren’t you? It was all over the news the other day.”
Natalia’s eyebrows scrunched together, her frown deepened, and her breathing increased. Before she could completely break down and begin to cry, Spider-Man dropped to the ground and stood in front of her.
“Woah woah, hey, it’s okay, it’s okay. I’m gonna help you, okay? That’s what I do. I can take you to someone who’ll be able to help you.” He extended his hand to her and for the first time, Natalia realized that she was feeling a rush of power, a strength that she’d never felt before. Not wanting him to know, she steadied her breathing and took his hand. He pulled her close, holding her by her waist, then shot a web at the top of a nearby building and the two were, almost instantly, sitting on the roof. Spider-Man had his phone out and dialed a number a couple of times, grumbling when no one picked up and simply dialing the number again, until the person he was trying to call finally answered.
“Hey, Happy! So, remember that news story about those kids being tortured?”
An hour and a few more slightly uncomfortable web rides later, the two stood in front of the Avengers tower in front of an older man.
“This is the girl you told me about?” the man asked, looking Natalia up and down.
“Yeah, found her stealing purses. You’ll make sure she’s okay, right?”
“Of course P- er, Spidey. I told Stark about her, he wants to meet her tomorrow morning,” the man, Happy, smiled at the masked hero then at the girl standing next to him. “You’re safe now, I’ve got a room and clothes set up for you.”
Natalia glanced at Spider-Man, obviously still terrified, and he nodded, signaling for her to go with Happy. She walked towards him slowly and timidly, keeping her eyes trained on her shoes as she walked.
“Alright, I’ll show you to your room. Spidey, I’ll call you in a couple of days to let you know how she’s doing, okay?” The boy nodded and took off back towards the hub of the city, leaving Natalia and Happy as the two ventured inside the building. As Natalia stepped through the door, she felt the same rush of power that allowed her to break out of that building days ago. She relaxed her shoulders, not wanting Happy to pick up on her newfound ability to replicate the powers of another person. She followed him to the second floor and then to the fourth door on the left which she was then let in to.
“This is your little space for the night, there are pajamas, shirts, and jeans in the dresser over there. Your bathroom is that door over there, if you need anything I’ll be in the room across the hall.” Happy indicated each item he spoke of before turning to leave the room and bidding the girl good night.The door clicked shut behind him and Natalia locked the door so she could feel safe. She took about an hour to shower and wash her black, curly hair, noting how pale her brown skin looked, likely due to the lack of sun. After washing up, she donned a soft shirt and pajama pants and decided to try to sleep, even though she knew that she wouldn’t be able to.
In fact, she wasn’t sure if she’d ever be able to sleep again.