anastasia 'anna' novikov ~ avengers

prelude

21.03.18.                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                        (I'm British so the dates may be backwards)

hydra base-somewhere in russia.

"I don't see anything down here Steve" a redhead women called out over intercom.
"One of hydras greatest assets is down there Natasha, keep looking, I'll be there soon" said a blonde in return. The redhead to be known to Anastasia as Natasha continued making her way through the base, easily taking out hydra agents in her way. She soon approached a door which unbeknownst to her, lead to a staircase, which lead to the basement.

"I've got a door, going in" she called out as she opened the door. The staircase was almost pitch black, which to most would be frightening, but the infamous black widow had no fears. She got to the bottom of the stairs and it was seemingly dark, cold and silent. She felt around the walls for a light switch
"anything?" her partner asked via intercom
"just switching on the light" and as she did, she saw the rows of cells, all empty except one, but she wouldn't know that until she walked to the end of the hall.

It was their she first saw Anastasia, an obviously malnourished girl who couldn't be older than 16. Then she noticed the holes in the thick concrete and the girls bloodies fists. "hey Steve, any chance our asset is a person?"
"Not sure, what have you got?"
"umm 15 year old who i think can punch through concrete"
"she saying anything?"
"I should probably ask questions, she's just kind of staring. Stay up their, don't want to freak her"
"Okay, call if your in danger" and with that Natasha turned 0ff her intercom, and turned to face the girl.

"Hi, I'm Natasha" she said softly to the girl
"False, your name is Natalia Romanova, the red rooms most successful student before she went to S.H.E.I.L.D, great decision by the way, red rooms awful, oh but they now hate your guts. Luckily they treated me like shit, then sent me to hydra to get some really freaking strong steroids or something, then locked me here. So I pretty much have 0 loyalties."
"How old are you?" Natasha asked hesitantly
"14" the girl replied
"Okay, so we're going to have to bring you to S.H.E.I.L.D now, umm first getting you out of here.. so I'm going to find keys..." as Natasha said this, Anastasia pulled apart the bars of the cell and stepped out so she was standing next to her, in silence.

"Lead the way red, can I call you red?"
"Ummm... sure" Natasha then turned on intercom "I've found the asset, appears to be communicating, coming up now"
"Hey Red, feel like I should tell you I kind of freak out when people touch me"
"That's cool, you got a name?"
"Anastasia Nikovov" Natasha and Anastasia were now stood by the door to the basement "but I prefer Anna, you may want to tell your friend to move from right outside the door before we step out"
"Steve move or the door will hit you in the face" Natasha was unsure if he had moved until Anna opened the door revealing Steve stood about a foot from them "Hi Steve, I believe I'm your asset, I don't do handshakes or physical contact, trust issues, fine putting on handcuffs if you guys want, but I can snap the chains with ease. Shall we go?" the three of them then proceeded to leave the hydra base making their way to a quinjet.

"What the fuck is that?" she questioned. She was currently looking at a black metallic object which seemingly had wings
"That's a quinjet" Natasha said turning to face the dark haired girl.
"And we're just gonna head on board?"
"How else are you expecting to fly back to New York?" natasha queried whilst following Steve on to the ship.
"Right...Okay..." it is to be noted all 3 people kept straight faces their entire journey "Wait did you say flying?"
"Yep, so Buckle up" Anna followed Natashas instructions, taking a seat in which she had full view of the window. Then, Natasha started to take the ship of the ground. Anna couldn't help but feel worried, she had barely ridden in a car before today, let alone flying. She gripped tightly on to the handle of the ship before she sensed they were stable in the air. This was also when Natasha stood up and walked to the section of the quinjet Anna and Steve were currently in.

"I'm new to this whole flying thing, but shouldn't you be steering" Anna asked a quickly approaching redhead.
"Its on auto pilot, it's question time"
"Okay sure, taken by the red room at 2, then transferred to hydra for freaky steroids at 11. I've been locked in that room only being let out for school, training and umm..." Anna looked down and aware from the eye contact she currently held with Natasha "torture...they didn't let me go on missions, saying I wasn't finished, I think because they gave me the powers whilst I was still developing, they appear to still be gaining strength. Ummm... oh I could hear some of the hydra agents conversations so if you give me a map, I can show cities that held bases, but they didn't exactly go referencing co ordinates or anything but it might still be helpful, any other questions"
"Ummm... nope that about covers it, I will let you get back to staring out the window"
"Why thank you" and with that, Anna turned to look out the window whilst Natasha sat down next to Steve.

After 30 minutes more flying, they were over the ocean. Anna felt her breath hitch as she saw the mass of blue liquid underneath her, then she felt her hands begin to shake, her heart rate increase and she was suddenly gasping for breath. All she wanted was to divert her eyes away from the liquid, but she seemingly couldn't. Natasha was quick to notice Annas sudden change in behaviour and moved to sit near the girl.

"Hey, hey Anna look at me" she then clicked to try and grasp the girls attention. Annas face snapped to her, and this was Natasha's first look at the girl. She had bright blue eyes which contrasted her almost black long, straight hair. She had fair skin, which was understandable after being inside most of her life, and dark circles under her eyes. She was wearing a plain white vest top, with a brown leather jacket Steve had provided over the top. After getting her attention, Natasha went about leading her to take breaths "breath with me okay...in...out... okay again" after 20 minutes of breathing in and out, Anna was finally able to breath again, and Natasha had dimmed the windows to the quinjet.

"I'm...I'm sorry... I will accept punishment for crying now" Anna stated calmly looking at Natasha.
"I'm not gonna punish you Anna, we've still got a couple of hours of the flight, try and sleep okay"
"Ummm...no?"
"Suit yourself, I'm gonna go talk to Steve"
"Okay before you go talk about me, I can hear it all, crazy senses, so maybe do it when your you know further away"
"I wasn't...okay no yeah I was definitely going to talk about you, bye Anna"
"See you later Red" . Natasha took her place next to Steve whilst Anna just seemed to stair at the floor in front of her, averting her eyes from anywhere but the window.

2 hours later, Natasha was landing the quinjet, whilst you stayed at the back with Steve "Hey spangles, can I call you spangles?"
"I'd much rather you didn't call me spangles."
"Right what do you want me to call you, because it sure as hell won't be 'Steve"
"Umm captain America" Anna continued to keep as straight face, despite the things shes saying sounding like jokes.
"That I most definitely won't be calling you, but cap I can work with"
"Cap it will be"
"Okay, so cap, are people gonna man handle me when I step out the plane, because it usually sends me into either attack mode or shake and cry mode, and it's definitely attack mode if they are men twice my size with muscles"
"Okay... I'll text fury"
"Thank you cap" Anna said sincerely, the corners of her lips turning up ever so slightly.

As much as Anna was currently trying to stay as cool, calm and collected as possible, she was deep, deep down very nervous. She disembarked the plane, having put handcuffs on herself and Steve and Natasha either side of her, keeping an appropriate distance.

The next week that proceeded Anna was indefinitely one of the most overwhelming of her life, and that was saying a lot. It entailed an incredible amount of interrogations, multiple panic attacks and mandated therapy. This was all before Natasha decided to claim legal guardianship and move Anna into the avengers compound. It took time to adjust, a lot of time to adjust but slowly and surely she did... Until it was time to face a new challenge...and that is when our story begins.