I'm a terrible person. I'm sorry for how long I've made you wait! Exam period is always a busy time, but I still feel bad about it! Anyway, I want to thank everyone that has favourited, followed, read and reviewed, it motivates me heaps and you're all so kind haha :)

: Thanks, here ya go haha

myharlequinromance321: Hehe yeah Steve's a sweetheart, but this chapter might change your mind (or not, what do I know?) haha

TamzinMay: Next chapter will be a whole bunch of Pietro/Ashley, and thank you! I don't like 'em either :D

Shy-lady: I want to give everyone's perspective, so that I don't keep you guys guessing, and so it's easier to understand. I'm glad you like it that way :) I figured it would be good to have Cap find her instead, he usually knows how to deal with situations without flipping his lid :P Tony...not do anything rash? It's in his nature :D

HinaLuv3er109: There shall be plenty of romance eventually! I'm trying to be as vague as possible, I'm going to pull a 'Marvel move' and not say anything else ;)

wickedgrl123: Well done my friend, well done. Haha I didn't think they would panic too much, it's not in Natasha and Clint's nature, Steve and Tony were worried but unlike Tony, Steve kept a lid on it :) and Pietro would never show it :P I will probably ring him back, once I figure out how the hell I'm going to pull that off haha! As for your Asgardian inquiry...we will just have to wait and see ;) Thanks for another review!

Savarra: Oh, stop it you...you're making me blush!

Fortune's Fool 1597: Awesome, I'm glad I'm not boring people with the current lack of Ash/Pietro, but it will come soon :) I think you'll like where the story is going to go when it comes to a certain God of Mischief...

DENM: Patience my friend haha, not for a little while. They have only known each other for like 3 weeks, but this chapter should be more peaceful. :)

PaigeTwdSoa: I applaud you. You're awesome. :D

SquishyPenguin12: I'm actually really jealous right now! How was it? I bet it was awesome :) And thanks again for the kind words, I'm trying to keep them in line as much as possible :P

icansleepwhenimdead: I'm 3000% sure I'll continue this story until it's done, so don't worry ;)

bluesootsprite: 'Red' is probably my fave character in the Marvel universe so I'm glad you're curious :)

SarahELupin: He's a good guy...somethimes haha

Wickedgrl123 & PaigeTwdSoa...you called it ;)

Disclaimer: See chapter 1...and I also don't own anything to do with Nike.

Chapter 11:

256.

She had counted 256 white tiles. Everyday for the past 16 days (which felt like 16 years) that she had been there, she counted the tiles that covered the pale ceiling.

Everyday at 7 o'clock a guard would enter to bring her a decent breakfast, which she would barely touch, before the doctors came in two hours later. The doctors would check her vitals and make subtle attempts to befriend her, after all, friends helped each other and that's exactly what they wanted. And of course, everyday she would blatantly ignore their attempts with the cool mask of indifference that she had practiced while observing her sister for so long. HYDRA…that's what they had told her. That is who had taken her

They had already served her the bacon and eggs they had made for breakfast, so when the bolted metal door swung open once more she didn't even bother shifting her gaze from the tiles. She was laying on the (surprisingly) comfortable bed that they had placed in one of the corners of the small room, arms folded with fingers entwined behind her head and legs crossed at the ankles lazily. One would think she was a guest, rather than a prisoner. Her brow lightly twitched when she dropped her stare to the clock that hung from the wall directly in front of her bed, on the opposite wall. 7:45. This time her brows furrowed completely, and she slowly turned her head left, to the door, voicing her thoughts as she did so.

"You're ear…ly" The ending faded to a whisper when she recognised the man that stood in the doorway, and he was most definitely not one of her doctors. She didn't know whether to grin or wince when she saw the unreadable look on his unmasked face. It was the first time she had seen him without it, and the silly thing definitely didn't do him any favours. He was a damn good-looking guy, better than the others she had seen. Not that she had met many men in her young life, but there was a dark quality to his handsome features that any sane (or insane) female could appreciate. The longish dark brown hair framed his lightly stubbled face, and his emotionless blue eyes were finally clear for her to see now that he was in the light. He wore a leather outfit, similar to the one he had found her in, and she noted the knives that were attached to him here and there.

"Damn, Red. Why didn't you tell me you were a looker?"

The words did nothing to alter his stone hard expression, nor did the teasing smirk that tugged at her lips. The man didn't even blink, he just stood as still as a statue, icy eyes staring at her like he was reading an open book. She cocked a dark brow in response to his scrutiny, released a breathy sigh, and returned her gaze to the ceiling without saying another word.

The man just stood in the doorway, he didn't move as he quietly observed her. HYDRA's new prisoner. HYDRA's new weapon. They were similar in that respect, only they treated her much better than they treated him. She had decent food, a soft bed, oh...and she wasn't tortured constantly. He had to repress the growl that was growing in the back of his throat. He wasn't jealous of the treatment she was receiving. No, she was a young woman that was accustomed to such a life, and what was he? An assassin that had killed more people than he could remember. But there was always that tinge of longing that he had, that small spark that urged him to free himself, to allow himself the same luxuries that she had most likely had her entire life.

She didn't know it, but he had watched her everyday since she had arrived. Not voluntarily, of course. It was his orders. Observe the girl, read her habits, and when she gets settled…break her in. The higher-ups had been notified that he was the only one to return unharmed from the helicopter incident, so he was assigned to 'befriend' her, to gain her trust. They knew she would ignore the doctors, so they would gain her trust through someone who she could develop a false sense of security around, someone like herself. Camaraderie between two weapons, two people who could eventually understand each other, two people who were too dangerous to leave alone. He knew his orders and he would easily follow them. As soon as she trusted him, it would be easy enough for him to warp her mind the way they wanted it.

So here he was, ready to break her in.

"Get up."

Her eyebrows shot up so high it must have been comical, and her eyes snapped straight to his passive face, meeting his emotionless blue gaze. He looked like he still hadn't moved a muscle, and she started questioning whether she truly heard the words or not. Deciding that she had not, she began turning away from him once again, before he halted her by speaking once more.

"I said...get up."

Despite the gruffness of the order, she cracked a small smile after hearing him speak for the first time. It was soft, but rough at the same time, and she instantly noted the accent. She shifted into a sitting position, with her legs uncrossing and swinging over the edge so she could face him, before hauling herself up from the bed and stepping forward. She crossed her arms over her chest, more comfortably rather than defensively, and looked at him with a look that clearly said: 'Happy now?'

He finally moved from the doorway, swinging it shut and walking towards her slowly and silently, like a predator assessing its prey. She rolled her eyes impatiently as he circled her with a ridiculously slow pace. Despite her original comfort, she was starting to grow warm under his inspection, and she had to do all she could to not squirm from his intense blue gaze. Just before it overpowered her, she suddenly turned around to face him with narrowed eyes.

"I've already had breakfast, and I doubt you're here to check my vitals…what do you want?"

Good, she was irritated. He had made her uncomfortable, and even though he expected her to respond a lot quicker than she did, he was glad she responded at all. It would make things so much easier in the future, knowing that he wouldn't have to use force to gain her attention. He gave her a thorough once-over, noting that she seemed to be in overall good health, and not starved or beaten like the other prisoners. Again, this would make his job of training her much easier. He was suddenly not so agitated at having to do this; it might be a far quicker process than he had anticipated. The sooner he finished training her, the sooner he could return to his own duties as HYDRA's best assassin. Play nice, and you'll be out of here.All you have to do is gain her trust. It was the mantra that he kept repeating in his head. It helped him remember his mission, and kept him from strangling the life out of her.

"Why do you call me that?"

Ashley looked at him like her had grown another head. The question was completely unrelated to anything she had said, and for a moment she had no idea what he was talking about at all.

"What…Red?" He didn't grace her with a response, knowing that she was aware of what he was asking, and just stared at her instead. "Because of the star. It was the first thing that caught my attention."

"Not the metal?" She was surprised that he had continued speaking to her; he obviously wasn't the show and tell type of guy.

"Bud, with the family I have and the things I've seen…well, let's just say that nothing surprises me any more." The small smile on her face would have fooled anyone that wasn't trained to see past such things. And he did just that, noting the pain that was barely clear after she mentioned her family. But those thoughts were pushed to the back of his mind when she continued talking, not that he cared very much for them in the first place. "To be honest, I'm kind of surprised…I wouldn't have pinned you as an American." She had spoken in a way that tried to encourage him to explain, but they both knew that wasn't going to happen. She moved back to the bed and sat down on the edge after she received no response, waving her hand as if inviting him to also sit wherever he pleased.

He surprised her by actually pulling a chair over from the small metal table that sat in the opposite corner of the room, just below the clock. He placed the chair a few metres away from her and sat down facing her, strong arms crossed over his stomach and legs reaching out leisurely as he leant back and observed her once more. Earn her trust, and you can leave. Earn her trust, don't kill her…

Ashley had been following his movements with her eyes, not entirely sure why they sent someone who was clearly an assassin to her. Were they trying to intimidate her? Or did they just want to send a powerful individual to deal with her instead, in the hopes that she might identify with him better? Whatever the purpose was, she wasn't going to be fooled so easily. Her 'father' taught her too much; she was no longer a naive 9 year old. But he didn't need to know that…

Mentally shaking herself out of the thoughts, she focused her cautious eyes on him again, only to find that he was already looking at her. She inwardly smirked when she saw how 'comfortable' he was pretending to be. She had been around assassins for her whole life, she knew they were never comfortable, and the subtle tenseness of his sprawled frame showed just how alert the man really was. Always prepared. She would have guessed that nothing could catch him by surprise; she had seen that when she blasted him during the helicopter…incident. He had landed so easily, courtesy of the arm she was now staring at.

"It's impressive. Can you feel sensations?"

She saw the metallic fist clench slightly, but she didn't remove her eyes from the limb. Ah, touchy subject. What she told him earlier had been half true, she had seen many things in her childhood, but this was not one of them. He didn't need to know that either...

"Some."

This time she gave a half-smile and a quietly huffed laugh, tearing her gaze from his left arm, and looking at his face instead.

"Not much of a talker are you? No wait, let me guess…you're not going to answer?"

She leant forward in mock anticipation, with an over exaggerated look of expectancy on her face. That soon changed into a shit-eating grin when she saw the corners of his mouth twitch in a quick smirk. He noticed her new expression and had to keep from rolling his eyes.

For a moment there he had a flash of images assault his mind, a similar cheeky attitude and grin from a small-framed man, whose features he couldn't quite make out. The memory…was it a memory? Either way, it had made him feel…he didn't know how it made him feel, it just did. But he quickly pushed the thoughts from his mind.

"I'm here to train you."

She supposed that she would have to get used to the short and vague sentences, because she couldn't understand what exactly HYDRA wanted her to learn from an assassin. Her eyes flickered over his face once more, but she hardly took any of his features in, as her mind raced a mile a minute for answers. She gave an involuntary snort when she came to her final conclusion. She hardly needed an assassin to teach her how to take a life.

The snort wasn't loud but he had heard it nonetheless, and it annoyed him that he didn't know what it had meant. It was obvious that she had come to some sort of conclusion, and from his point of view it looked like the girl had deemed him unworthy of training her. This thought alone was enough to have him sending her an angry glare, which she noticed instantly.

"What exactly am I training for?" She cocked a challenging brow at him, and unintentionally mimicked his posture by crossing her own arms. She was surprised that he replied instantly, and even more so by the fact that his voice betrayed nothing of the annoyance his glare did.

"Basic combat skills."

She laughed mockingly at his response. "Basic combat skills? I don't know if you noticed…but I don't even need to use my fists in a fist fight." He definitely didn't appreciate the condescending tone she had adopted, and had to grit his teeth in restraint. Befriend her, don't kill her…befriend her and you can leave…

"That tells me that you either don't know how to use them, or you rely on your power too much." He felt a sense of satisfaction when he saw her quickly glance to the floor after he spoke the second part of the sentence.

"I know how to fight. I don't need you to train me."

She understood that it had been a long time since she had learnt such things, and that he could probably teach her quite well…but she had always trained with her sister, it was those moments that she had enjoyed more than anything in her childhood, and she wasn't sure that she was willing to share that with anyone else. Yet alone the HYDRA assassin that brought me here in the first place.

He had anticipated her response, and wasn't fazed by her defiant tone. So much for making it easy. If she wouldn't cooperate, he would just have to make her. Physically harming her was out of the question. Not only would the higher-ups be on his ass for beating their star pupil, but he had also witnessed her turn two men into dust, in a matter of seconds. So no, physical harm would do little to aid him. He would have to make a trade.

"You let me train you, and I'll do something for you in return." He hated how pathetic he sounded. He was a killer. Hell, he could killer her in 27 different ways with his bare hands! But he wasn't allowed to. Those were not his orders, and he had to gain her trust. So he would suck it up, and deal with the humiliating situation.

Ashley definitely hadn't expected that. The barely concealed disgust on his face showed just how difficult it was for him to even make the offer, and she had to do all she could to suppress the smirk that was threatening to appear. It wasn't worth making him even angrier. But she couldn't help but wonder why he was so hell-bent on training her, he obviously didn't want to do it, so why was he trying to gain her consent? Obviously HYDRA wanted this, and he was just caught in the crossfire. Did they threaten him to do this? Was his life at risk if she refused? She frowned at the thought, not liking the implications associated with it. Obviously she had little choice, and her peeved sigh had him subtly raising his brows in anticipation.

"Fine."

His winning smirk was far more prominent than his previous twitch, and she could practically feel the victory radiating from him, even if his posture hadn't changed a single bit. She almost bit her lip at the sight.

And then she realised what he had just done.

Son of a….oh, well played Red. Well played.

"I want books." His smirk fell and made way for his newfound confusion. "I don't really care which ones, as long as they're not boring. One every two days should be acceptable."

Despite his initial confusion, he quickly caught on to what she was asking of him and gave a small nod when she finished speaking. He said nothing else as he stood from the chair and approached the exit, only stopping when he heard her address him again.

"Wait a minute, aren't you even going to give me your name…or am I supposed to just call you 'Red' all the time?" She had taken a light tone, not realising that he actually had no name to give her except for the one HYDRA had given him. Should he tell her that? Or should he just leave and let her think whatever she wanted of him? Gain her trust.

"You can call me 'Red'."

Again, he caught her off guard. She was joking with him, but he seriously wanted her to call him 'Red'? It was both her curiosity and her confusion that urged her to ask her next question, to which she would receive an answer she would undoubtedly never forget.

"And what do they call you?"

He didn't even spare her a glance as he resumed his walk to the exit, and for a moment when he pulled the metal door open, she believed he wouldn't answer at all. But he did.

"The Winter Soldier."

That was the first dream that didn't leave Ashley with mixed feelings. But she couldn't help wonder what had become of Red. It hurt her to even think about it. She didn't have much time to dwell on it though, because J.A.R.V.I.S broke through her thoughts.

"Excuse me, Ash. Mr. Stark has asked me to inform you that you will be leaving the Tower today."

Ashley's brows knitted together. Was he kicking her out? As if sensing her thoughts, the AI spoke up once more.

"The team will all be going to the facility today, so he has requested that you wear something casual."

"Thank you J.A.R.V.I.S, you can tell Tony that I'll meet him outside in two hours."

"Right away, madam."

She was relieved that she wasn't being kicked out like she initially thought, and gave a beaming grin when she realise that she was going to the facility.

Wanda was at the facility.

After running four laps of Manhattan, Stark had informed him that Steve found Ashley. It was a relief knowing that she had been at the Tower the entire time, according to Steve that meant that she wasn't willing to leave them any time soon. God only knows how Wanda would have reacted to her only female friend leaving.

Now, Pietro sat on his usual barstool eating his toast for breakfast, still in his matching grey pyjamas. He had plenty of time to reflect on the events that had occurred at the HYDRA base while she was in hospital. Too much time in his opinion. She saved him. He had come to terms with it days ago, and originally it annoyed him. He didn't like not being right, and his previous assessment of her was definitely wrong. If she truly was a threat she could have just let the burly German man blow his head off, and no one would even blame her for it. But she didn't do that; in fact she killed his attackers without second thought.

That was another thing he had to think about. So she wasn't a threat to them anymore, that much he would admit to himself, but her comfort in taking another's life had unsettled him. Pietro understood that she was doing it to protect him, but he also had the feeling that it was something she wouldn't lose any sleep over at all. What did that mean? It obviously had something to do with her past…perhaps she had already seen death while she was with HYDRA and it no longer fazed her. Or perhaps it had something to do with her mysterious family, or more specifically, her knife-wielding sister. God knows…but one thing was for sure, he was glad she was with them rather than against them.

"Hey hot stuff, nice to see that there was no permanent damage."

He ripped his stare from the half eaten piece of toast in his hand and focused it on the woman who was leaning against the doorway, with her arms crossed over her chest. He didn't have to look to know who it was; there was only one person that would call him by the pet name that he couldn't quite understand. Nevertheless, he took in her conscious form for the first time in 10 days.

Ashley had taken Tony's advice and gone for the casual look. She stuck to her trusty jeans, and wore her 'Just Do It.' black hoody over a plain white t-shirt. She had always preferred having her hair down, so that's exactly what she did, and grabbed the first pair of shoes (that weren't heels) that she could find. She smiled when she realised that they were red all stars, remembering wearing a similar pair in Vancouver when she was younger. Her face had gained back some colour, but the cold weather prevented it from truly regaining its usual hue.

"Welcome back."

She was surprised to see the small smirk playing on his lips, and gave a shy smile in response, before uncrossing her arms and walking into the room fully. His eyes followed her as she walked to the fridge on the opposite side of the counter he was leaning on, and poured a glass of orange juice. Realising that he was staring, he resumed eating his breakfast, but couldn't help glance at her when she sat in the stool beside him.

"Much happen while I was out?"

He just shook his head in response, not quite keen on talking with a full mouth. His mother would always scold him for doing it when he was a child, and he vowed to never do it again after the incident. When he finally swallowed his food, silence had blanketed them, and he didn't know how to say what had been on his mind for the past 10 days.

"I…"

Why was apologising so hard to do? Just admit you were wrong…Be a man. He cleared his throat, ready to finally own up to his mistake, and fully prepared for the smugness that she would most likely show. But she didn't give him the chance.

"Don't worry about it. It's fine." She gave him a small smile in reassurance, but he was too proud to leave it at that. So when she drained the rest of the juice, and stood up to leave, his arm shot out and he felt that familiar hum.

Ashley turned around in surprise, she thought that she was doing him a favour by not making him admit it, but she had to respect the fact that he wasn't spineless enough to just let it go unsaid. So she met his blue gaze, and for a moment she was thrown back into her dream with the intensity of his stare. The only difference being the softness of his eyes compared to the icy blue ones she remembered. She suddenly felt uncomfortable looking at him, and looked to the floor instead.

"I'm sorry."

Her eyes flickered down to the hand that had wrapped itself around her wrist, and then back to his face when she gave a small nod of forgiveness. When he realised that she wasn't going to say any more on the matter, he released her from his hold and watched as she turned on her heel and left. He sat there on his stool, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to make sense of what had just happened. One moment she was her usual self and in the next, well…he didn't know where her head went, but he didn't miss the pain that had found a place within her features.

He briefly wondered if he was the cause of it, but one glance at the clock on the far wall told him that he didn't have the time to be dwelling on it. So he got up, heading to his room to prepare for the long day ahead.

Ashley stood outside Avengers Tower, waiting for the group to arrive. J.A.R.V.I.S had informed Tony that they would be meeting there, and that is exactly where she stood, bouncing on the balls of her feet, waiting for-

"Oh, would you look at who finally decided to show up guys!"

Ashley cringed when she heard Tony's sarcastic and clearly pissed voice from behind her. She completely forgot that she would have to face them all for the first time since she escaped the hospital, and suddenly she wasn't so excited about the journey. She slowly turned around with a grimace on her face, and was met with 3 sets of not-so-happy eyes. One blue, one brown, and one green.

"Hey guys…"

The grimace stayed in place, even when she tried to smile, and her 'I'm in so much trouble' tone had them all nodding in agreement. She understood that Tony was mad at her, he was her friend. But Natasha and Clint were a whole other story. She hadn't even had a proper conversation with the archer, and the only time she had spoken to Natasha was the day Thor arrived. Though the second conversation seemed to be far more personal than the first. Either way, she was sure that they wouldn't consider her a friend yet, so it confused her to see them mad at her.

"Oh yeah, you're in deep shi-"

"You're riding with me. C'mon kid." Clint cut Tony off, not quite wanting to get into it at that moment. In truth, he didn't really mind that she had escaped. He would have done the same. So he threw an arm over her shoulders and walked her over to the black SUV that was parked on the side of the street.

Ashley silently sighed in relief. She couldn't have picked a better person for her to ride with at the moment, and was glad to not have to deal with the uncomfortable silence that would have no doubt come with Natasha, or the scolding that would have come from Tony. So she let Clint lead her to the car with a grateful smile on her face.

"Thanks."

Clint gave her a small smirk, and a nodded in response. "No problem, kid." He opened the door and sat in the driver's seat, with Ashley taking the passenger side. She was glad that at least Clint was on her side. Oh, and Pietro. Never thought I'd say that!

Before she knew it the car was slowly moving through the busy New York streets, and she knew in that moment that it was going to be a long ride. It was for that reason that she was glad when Clint broke the silence.

"You gave us a scare in that HYDRA facility. You should have seen Steve, he went full mother hen mode on us." He gave a humoured chuckle, and Ashley found it too contagious to ignore. He gave her a small smile and glanced at her before looking back to the road. He was glad to finally have some time to get to know the girl, it seemed that everyone else was way ahead of him in that department, even Natasha!

"I'm sorry, it was the only way to minimise the portal. I didn't mean to worry you guys." That had him furrowing his brows in confusion.

"Minimise?" His voice was unsure, but he hoped that his theory as to what it meant wasn't right.

"I can't shut down a doorway to space, but I can cut off the energy supply." Damn it.

"So it's still there…you can bring it back if you power it?"

Ashley nodded, liking how easily he caught on. "Yep."

Clint sighed in exasperation. They just couldn't catch a break. He reminded himself to talk to Fury when they reached the facility, and ask him to provide some surveillance for the site. The last thing they needed was anyone else finding the damn thing. The girl's voice broke him out of his thoughts

"So we're heading to some facility?"

He didn't miss the slight tinge of nervousness that had seeped into the question, and decided to reassure her.

"Yeah. Don't worry it's nothing like the HYDRA facilities, it's a place for people like us." He shrugged comfortably, but kept his eyes glued to the road instead of observing her reaction.

"People…like us?" The nervousness was gone, but it was replaced by uncertainty. She didn't even realise how worried she was about the facility, her time with HYDRA had left her with a bad impression of such things.

"Yeah, you know…people who try to help the world. It's a place for Avengers." Her eyes widened comically at his words, as if she had the greatest epiphany of all time.

"Wait, there are more of you guys?" He released a small snicker at her obliviousness, and noticed that he had laughed quite a few times in her presence. Well that's a first...

"Well, sure. Can't be doing this forever! Gotta retire sometime." She nodded in understanding. She was actually surprised at how easy to talk to, he was. Much easier than Natasha, and she still felt that same warmth from him that she had the first day he met her. The same sort that her sister had whenever she was around her. Was he a father? Or perhaps an older brother? Either way, he definitely had someone he cared about; otherwise he would be more like Natasha and Red. Colder. It was that thought that prompted her to ask her next question.

"I guess so…do you know what you're going to do when that day comes?" He seemed to think about it for a moment, before finally nodding.

"I like to think I have something to look forward to. If you spend all your life fighting for something you never have time for, then what's the point in having it in the first place, right?" She crunched her nose up and narrowed her eyes in a studying stare, as she looked at his profile.

"You're one of those…secretly wise people, aren't you?"

"Hey! I'll have you know, it's no secret!" The mock hurt that the sentence started with, gave way to a chuckle by the end. And he gave her a rare and broad smile as she laughed at his answer.

"You know, I like you...we should do this more often."

"Naawww, would you look at that! I've grown on you, and it only took me…" He trailed of while checking his watch, "A whole two hours, that must be a record!" The sarcastic comment earned him a light punch to the arm, and he nudged her back before slowing the car down to a halt.

Ashley hadn't even noticed the time fly by. Clint was a cool guy, and she would definitely be talking to him again. She opened her mouth to ask why they had stopped, when she saw it. In fact, she didn't know how she missed it in the first place, the place was huge.

Glass and white walls were joined together to make the modern building, with grass on either side of the track that led to it. The large 'A' plastered on the front gave away their current location. Clint noticed that she had zoned out everything but the facility when she didn't have a snarky reply for him. And he even felt a small sense of pride. He was one of the first Avengers, after all.

"Ready to go?"

This time she snapped her head back to look at him, and a small smile tugged at her lips.

"Let's do it."

The first thing she experienced when she walked into the facility behind Clint, was awe. He had already informed her that he had to speak to some guy called Fury (he even assured her it was his real name), about something important. Who knows? She wasn't really listening. So he left her to her own devices, and she walked through a countless amount of halls before she finally came to one very large open room, that looked like it was made specifically for training.

And then she was almost tackled to the ground.

"Ashley! How are you? Are you feeling better? We were so worried! Weren't we Pietro?" Ah, Wanda.

Ashley couldn't help but laugh at her friend. How in the world does she like me so much? It was good to finally see her again, she had missed having someone to talk to…who wasn't a mother hen that was 70 years older than her or a mother hen that was a billionaire genius. Though she would definitely pay to see those…

"Yes, so worried." Pietro rolled his eyes, and his sarcastic tone earned him a quick glare from his younger sister. But Ashley couldn't care less; she knew that they had overcome their initial dislike of each other so she just gave him a playful smile instead.

"It's good to see you again, champ!" She finally returned the bear hug and gave the shorter woman a pat on the back when they released each other. Wanda just beamed at her in response. "Are the others not here yet? Clint went to talk to some guy, but I haven't seen anyone else yet…" She trailed off as she looked around the room some more, only just noticing the 3 extra pairs of eyes that had witnessed their reunion.

Wanda followed her line of sight and let out a surprised 'oh!'. She latched onto Ashley's arm, pulling her further into the room as they approached the 3 figures. She took that time to observe them some more. The first one she looked at was African-American, he had a kind face and she could tell his personality matched it. Some sort of metal vest was wrapped around his torso, and matching goggles were resting on his forehead rather than his eyes. The second man was also African-American, but he seemed older and looked slightly cheekier than the first man. But the thing that stood out most was his suit. Nope, not a tux. His Ironman suit. Her eyes then shifted to the final member. And that's who really confused her. He was…well, she had no idea what he was. He kind of looked like a fleshy robot. Is that even a real thing? But on the bright side, she didn't get any weird vibes from him, just an incredible amount of power. Way too much power…

"Guys, I have someone I would like you to meet." Wanda stopped her train of thought, and Ashley looked at the three men before her, up close now. "This is Ashley. Ashley this is Sam Wilson, James Rhodes, and Vision." Ashley smiled kindly at the men who Wanda pointed out as she stated each name. Vision? What the hell sort of a name was that? A name for a fleshy robot.

"Ah so this is the famous Ashley we've been hearing so much about!" She was right, Sam was nice. She shook the hand he had offered her, and smiled at the grin he wore.

"The one and only." The older man-James- laughed at her response and she was slightly confused as to why it was so funny to him. Until he responded.

"Yeah, she's been hanging with Tony, alright." She shot him a devious grin. Glad to find someone else who was acquainted with Tony.

"Oh no, he's much worse." Her smile died down a little when she looked at the final member. The power coming from him had made her cautious, and she didn't like that. But she was completely stunned when he spoke to her.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Ashley. You contain a considerable amount of power." She processed his words but couldn't contain her spluttered response.

"J.A.R.V.I.S?!" The whole group laughed at the shock on her face, and Pietro (who she didn't realise followed them) released a loud snort that resulted in even more laughter.

"I'm sorry, that just came as a shock. Your energy readings are off the charts too, and it's nice to meet you all. I can't really say I've heard a lot about you…I didn't even know about this place. But I'm sure we'll all get along just fine."

They shared some more small talk, mainly talking about her time at the Tower and the HYDRA raid that left her in a coma, before Wanda seemingly had enough.

"Oh you must be curious about this place! Come, Pietro will show you around…I will meet you when I complete my training." She smiled at Ashley before shooting a look at Pietro that clearly said: 'Behave'. The elder Maximoff simply raised his hands in mock surrender and watched as his sister gave Ashley a final hug. He didn't even notice the small smile that had replaced the scowl he usually wore when witnessing such things.

As soon as Ashley turned around, she noticed that Pietro was out of sight. She frowned before her eyes found his form in the far doorway. Oh right…Road Runner. She ignored the chiding words Wanda was throwing his way, and jogged over to the door slowly. He rolled his eyes at Wanda but slowed down to give Ashley a proper tour. He was glad that they were more comfortable talking to each other now, he dreaded to think how awkward it would be if they were still at the 'throwing each other around' stage.

But what nagged at his mind was the conversation they had earlier that morning, and he had every intention of asking her about it.

"Ready?" he asked with a small smile and a cocked brow.

"You know it, hot stuff."

Ok, so next chapter might not be up for a little while as well, but it will be more Pietro/Ashley. I also want to say sorry, I completely forgot that I'm spelling everything the Australian way, and most of my readers are from North America...I hope it doesn't bother anyone!

I also have no idea how far the facility actually is, so I just said over 2 hours. I don't even know, if you do please let me know and I'll fix it. That goes for any mistakes you find as well. Thanks for the support, and sticking with the story! I've already got most of the plot planned out but if you want to really see something I'm open to suggestions.

I've also decided that when I finish this story (in about 70 years time) I'm probably going to write another one, but I don't know who it will involve just yet. Thanks again guys! See ya soon! :)