I had already gotten a good amount of education from my schooling, so I spent time during the day walking around, trying to make a new identity for myself while fully exploring the city. I kept my name that Steve had given to me, as a tribute to him after all he had done for me. While I worked towards making a living for myself, I tried to find more honest ways to get money that didn't involve begging for it. Unfortunately, it seemed that that goal would take me longer than I wanted.

It had been months since I had run away from Peggy, and I had been getting along fairly well. I was a little dirty because of the lack of a house, but I had food, warmth from my fire, and I could defend myself. All in all, no mishaps. Until today.

I was scouting out one of the alleys when I saw something that alarmed me more than anything else. I did a double take as I passed by one of the dumpsters. When I looked back at it for further investigation, I saw a symbol that looked similar to Hydra's symbol. Whether or not it was a coincidence, I didn't take the chance. I couldn't just let them find me here because I passed off a similarity, even if it was actually from a gang. I ran out of the alley and down the sidewalk, accidentally ramming into a nearby cop on patrol.

"Hey!" he said, looking at me irritably.

I stared at him with wide eyes before I continued running, not even checking to see if he was following in pursuit due to my somewhat suspicious behavior. When I did hear the sounds of pursuit, I dove to the nearest hiding spot and made myself as small as humanly possible. I waited a few moments before I heard his footsteps pass my hiding place. After I waited in silence a moment more, I crawled away from the pile of empty boxes and walked down the sidewalk again. I stopped when I saw the sign for a hair salon, my eyes suddenly lighting up with an idea. I needed a disguise to properly hide myself from Hydra, and I knew just how to get it.

The lady at the counter raised her head in question, and then had a scowling expression on her face when she saw me standing there, a grimy, dirty, homeless kid. "Whaddaya want, kid?" she asked, "I've got customers coming and I don't need your filth all over the place."

I rolled my eyes, "What if I said that I'm a customer?"

She stared at me in silence before she laughed, "Yeah, right, and I'm a millionaire. How about you scram so I can work in peace?"

I stalked up to the counter and slammed money on the table, "I'm serious!"

The woman stared at the money, taking it in her hands and counting it before she looked up at me again. "Whaddaya need?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"A haircut," I said flatly, "and a dye job."

"What color?"

"Black."

"Okay," she said with a sigh, "right this way." I followed her to the back of the room and she seated me in one of the chairs. "Ugh!" she scoffed, "Your hair is filthy! We'll have to wash that before we can do anything else."

I rolled my eyes in frustration, "Just do whatever the hell you gotta do."

"Hey," she said, "No back talkin' me, kid!" The woman then took the time to shampoo my hair and wash it out, and then painfully brushed all of the knots out of it. She didn't brush hair gently, that was certain. I couldn't help but wince a few times when she was working at the more difficult knots. "Okay, how short you want it?" she asked when she was done washing and blow drying my hair.

"Shoulder length," I said.

"Okay," she said briefly before snipping away at my extremely long hair. I normally only trimmed it, but I did need to make myself look different than who I used to be. As she cut away the strands, I felt my head become significantly lighter than it used to be. It was a really weird feeling. And then she started applying the dye. It seemed to take forever, but once she was done, she did a few extra touch-ups and then showed me what my hair looked like in the mirror.

I widened my eyes at the girl before me, not quite recognizing myself aside from the two scars on my face. I inspected the hair, satisfied that the cut and color change would make Hydra have difficulties trying to find me. And I couldn't help but think that I actually looked pretty cool with black hair. I smiled, pleased with the job before getting out of my chair and fully paying the woman before I left the shop. I was one step closer to invisibility.