Author's Note: Because I was late with the last chapter of Linchpin I present you with mini-badass Anya :) Enjoy!
This one time some boys tried heckling Dahlia and Anya just wasn't having it...
It'd been a long winter with everyone stuck in the tower all the time and when the weather finally warmed up, everyone was clamoring to get outside. So Jane and Natasha grabbed their coats and took the kids out to the park. Keeping their eyes on seven-year-old Anya, six-year-old Dahlia, five-year-old Irina and four-year old Kellen was quite the challenge. But at least the four of them stuck close together. It was easier to watch the group than all of them scattered about the park. So they let Dahlia and Anya take their bikes along so they had the chance to ride somewhere other than the tower garage.
"Mommy, hold my ring. I don't wanna lose it." Anya said as she screeched to a stop by Natasha. For Christmas a few months prior Clint got his three girls silver infinity rings. Natasha's had three diamonds (one for Clint, one for Anya, and one for Irina) and the girls were adjustable so they could keep them for a few years. Anya almost never took hers off whereas Irina never wore hers- instead kept it in a little box on her nightstand. So in order not to lose it Natasha added it to her necklace, keeping it around her neck for safe keeping.
When the group got to the park Jane and Natasha quickly found a nearby bench to occupy while the kids ran to the playground. Anya still loved the slide the best and Irina loved the swings. Kellen went straight for the monkey bars but Dahlia stayed on her bike, riding in circles around the bench Jane and Natasha occupied.
All the kids dressed in play clothes, which for Anya, consist of jeans, a Captain America shirt, a black leather jacket and black gladiator shoes. Her strawberry blond curls had gotten so long they reached her waist so she pulled them up in a messy bun, spirals falling down around her face regardless. Dahlia was also dressed to play, in gray jeans and an orange striped sweater along with brown boots. Her hair darkened every year so it was almost brown but still streaked with a bit of her dad's blond. She'd just gotten it cut at the start of the year, deciding a pixie cut would look cute. And it absolutely did even when it was sort of wavy.
Over the next half hour Kellen fell from the monkey bars twice, Dahlia almost ran over Anya and Irina fell backwards off the swings. Each kid cried at least once and Anya had a full scale meltdown because the basket on the front of her bike broke off. Natasha felt bad cause she didn't know how to fix it and Anya was so upset but with the promise of a brand new basket and a candy bar in the pocket of her black leather jacket, Anya calmed down and rode off with Dahlia again. They were traveling in circles around the playground, just going round and round and round. They made something of an obstacle course out of trashcans, benches and potholes but they slowly started drifting further and further away from Natasha and Jane and before they knew it, Anya and Dahlia were so far out they couldn't even see their mothers anymore. So Anya turned around and peddled back a few paces, leaving Dahlia by a nearby bridge to hold their place. Not but a few seconds later Dahlia found herself slightly less alone.
"Hey, little girl!" someone called from the other side of the bridge and Dahlia turned on instinct. A group of four boys came over the bridge, some as old as twelve or so. They all looked a little sketchy to Dahlia with backwards baseball caps and lose hanging pants. One of the boys even had a scar on his arm that looked pretty bad. In the back of her mind, Dahlia thought this is what a ruffians look like.
She averted her eyes, hoping they weren't talking to her, impatiently awaiting Anya's return. "Hey, little girl!" the same boy called out again as they got even closer to her. "Hey I'm talking to you."
"Umm, I don't know you." Dahlia replied softly, still not looking up at the boys as they got even closer until they were crowded around her.
"Nice bike you got there." one of the boys said, kicking the tire. The bike jerked a little but Dahlia steadied it. "I never had a bike this nice before."
"Your parents must be jacked," another boy added. Dahlia didn't say anything or even react, just kept her eyes trained on something off in the distance. "if they can afford such a nice bike like this."
"Those are cool boots." one boy said, pointing to her brown bike boots. She considered back pedaling and getting the heck away from them all but two of the boys were standing behind her so she was stuck between them. "My parents don't buy me name brands like that."
"Again I say, you're parents must be jacked." the other boys said again. The end of his sentence was sort of cut off a little by the screech of bike tires behind them. Everyone turned to see Anya skid to a stop before them.
"What's up?" Anya asked seriously, looking between all the boys then over to Dahlia's worried blue eyes. The boys standing between her and Dahlia immediately fixed her as another target but Anya stood up a little higher on her peddles, setting herself almost eye level with the older boys.
"We were just complimenting our friend here on her bike." one of the boys said. "And now I see you've got a real nice one too."
"Even got a basket, huh?" One of the boys reached out to touch the basket but Anya back peddled fast enough that he missed and skidded his fingers against her tire. It hurt enough to make him pull back sharply but he didn't say anything.
"We gotta go," Anya said, motioning for Dahlia to join her. Just as Dahlia went to peddle away a boy grabbed her handlebars and pulled her to a stop.
"Wait up now," he said seriously, almost making Dahlia fall over. "Who says it's fair that you two get nice bikes and we don't get nothing?"
"Yeah we think that ain't fair." another boy called out.
"Then ask your parents to buy you nice bikes too." Anya replied easily. One of the boys laugh bitterly and Anya made a face.
"Our parents don't buy nice things." one boy said as he stepped up behind Anya's bike. "But that don't mean we can't take nice things." Then the boy pulled the bike out from under Anya and she almost fell to the ground. That's when Anya decided she'd had enough.
"Give me my bike!" she yelled, grabbing the handlebars and pulling on them hard enough for the bike to slip out of the older boy's hands and clatter to the ground. "This is my bike! My daddy bought it for me and not you. So leave us alone!"
"What are you gonna do about it?" the first boy asked, stepping up to Anya and looking down on her. Anya accepted the challenge with a serious look, stepping up even closer and puffing out her chest.
"I'm gonna get my mom to kick your butt." she said so seriously that the boys paused a minute. But then they started laughing so hard one of them fell over. But never the less Anya stood her ground.
"Oh you're gonna get your mommy?" the boys teased. "Oh I'm so scared! I'm practically shaking! Your mommy is gonna hurt me!" The boys all laughed as their jokes bounced between them, each taking turns making fun of Anya who stood just as tall as she did when she made the statement.
"Yes she is. Because my mommy is the Black Widow." Anya said proudly. The boys all paused a second, all questioning if it was true or not. They looked between each other, all knowing The Avengers had kids but never in a million years imagining they'd meet one.
"No way your mom is..." the first boy was in the middle of saying when he got cut off.
"Anya, Dahlia? Where are you girls?" Natasha called out just as she rounded the corner and came into view. Every boy's jaw hit the dirt as they watched the Black Widow walk up to the girls. "What's going on here guys?" Natasha asked as she reached to pick up Anya's bike.
The look on Anya's face could only be described as smug as Natasha helped her climb back onto her bike. The boys were all dumbfounded as they watched Natasha brush back a piece of Dahlia's hair before asking again what they were all up to.
"Oh nothing," Anya said in a sing-song, flashing the boys her biggest smile.
Natasha thought the whole seen odd but shrugged it off. "Okay well Stark called so we're gonna head back to the tower now." she said apprehensively, watching the boys back off slowly.
Before Anya made it around the bend beside Natasha and Dahlia, she turned to stick her tongue out at the boys.