"How do you know Bucky?" Steve asked. His brain was still reeling from the fact. She looked him in the eye and said, "I told you. On my first mission, he was there." Oh, he thought. Of course. "He works for Hydra." Wait, what?! How does she know that?! "How can you tell?" Steve was truly puzzled by this strange girl. She stared at her shoes. "There are… some things about me you don't know."
They were all gathered in the main room. All they knew was that Steve wanted to talk to them, which led to the question: Why was Anna here? She was the one who broke the silence. "There are some things you need to know about me. You only know the basics." Everyone looked to Steve, but he just nodded. "I was born here, in America. In Queens, actually. When I was four, my father's work brought us to Russia. I stayed there until a few days after my parents were murdered. Then, a man from Hydra showed up and took me to Sokovia. They tested on me, with this thing they called the Staff. It gave me powers. Once the experiments were finished, they put this blue liquid in me. Then they trained me. I can fire any gun more accurately than a soldier. I could shoot an arrow at the person in the office building across the street right now, and they would have to explain to the police why there's an arrow in their gut. I can throw knives. I'm more skilled with a katana than the man who killed my father. I know martial arts." Just then, Tony threw a ball at her head, to test her reflexes. She caught it. "I have enhanced reflexes. I can throw a punch and knock your teeth out. I can ride motorcycles. I can drive cars and planes. I speak nine languages fluently, and a lot more I can understand without a translator. When I got back from my first mission, they put me under for a few months. then they woke me up. They said these… words. It was like I wasn't me anymore. I wasn't in my right mind. I did things… horrible things. I killed men with families. Then they would just put me back to sleep. I was on a mission here in America when the base was destroyed. Then I just… stayed. I realized what I had done. After awhile, a man with tattoos found me. His name was Will. He was from a gang." Natasha spoke up. "A gang? You mean, a small gang. Right?" Anna sighed. "A pretty good sized one. I wasn't an official member, but I transported drugs for them. Usually from Brooklyn to other places in the city. No one suspects a ten-year-old with a red backpack. They just loaded the bag, he would tell me the destination, and I went. They never knew who I was. The man just called me "the transport." The guy took care of me in exchange for my work. I have a code, obviously. I don't kill women or children, and I don't actually do drugs. He pretty much let me do what I wanted. He made me wear sleeves, though. It was for my safety, because a ten-year-old with tattoos is suspicious. We couldn't have anyone asking me questions." Steve and Sam stood up. "Tattoos?" Steve said, raising his voice. Everyone looked at him. Sam just stared with his jaw dropped. "How?" Steve asked. He very clearly didn't like the idea of a ten-year-old with tattoos. She looked at him. "Like I said, he let me do pretty much whatever I wanted. And…" She paused. "And what?" Sam questioned. She took a deep breath. "The way I knew Bucky was from Hydra… the star. On his arm. We match." She pulled up her sleeve. Sure enough, there was a red star tattooed on her left arm. As she did that, her other sleeve lifted just enough that they could see the two simple bands on her right arm peek out. Sam's eyes were practically bugging out of his head. Anna continued. "Altogether I have five. Three on my back, and one on each arm." Steve slowly asked, "How did you get your tattoos?" She replied, "The star is from Hydra. Everything else I just gained over time. There was a tattoo shop down the street from the guy's house. I asked if I could, he gave me fifty bucks and told me to be back before sunset because I had a job. He knew the guy and he trusted him. Clearly he called before I got there, because the guy knew who I was. He's a good guy, actually. A tattoo-covered teddy bear, to be honest. He loves kids. He has a daughter. She's pretty nice, about my age…" She looked down. Tony eyed her. "What?" he asked. She looked at him. "I'm not actually ten. It's just a habit. It's easier to just say that. People believe when it goes well in their minds. 'How old are you?' they would ask. 'Ten,' I would say. They believe that easier than my real age." They all stared at her. She looked about ten, so why would she say otherwise? It clicked in Steve first. The cryo. It kept her the same all those years. He asked slowly, "How old are you, Anna?" She answered. "I'm actually about fifteen. My parents were killed when I was seven. Will was… killed. That's why I was on the streets. I had nowhere else to go." Vision finally spoke up and asked, "Who killed Will?" She looked at him. "Ever heard of Frank Castle?"