There was a deep flash of blue, and her eyes opened. Anya blinked several times, trying to shake away the dreams from her head. The room was dimly lit, with a lamp in the corner, and a curtain pulled across next to the bed. She realised she was still in the medical bay. The glass ceiling above her showed the sky to be the lightest touch of navy, as the morning seemed to be approaching. Rubbing her eyes, she pushed back the covers and found she had the striped hoodie draped over her as well. Pushing them both back, she found an IV line in her arm. Her other arm had a small pinprick and a bruise, suggesting they'd managed to take the blood she'd protested against.
She hated giving them blood.
They always took some, every day, but she still hated it.
Slowly, she disconnected the IV and pulled it away.
Her socked feet gently touched the floor, and she peered around the curtain. The medical bay was dimly lit, but unoccupied. She collected the striped hoodie and tugged it on, and in her thick pink socks, oversized tee and shorts, Anya crept through the bay and out the door into the corridor. She couldn't remember which way she had come with Nat, nor were there any signs. On instinct, she turned left and walked up a small flight of stairs. She found her fingertips tracing the walls, the artwork hung up and the strange assortments on tables that ran through the base. In the early hours, she didn't come across a single soul as she explored. She walked past large windows and saw the grassy landscape, and the waters edge. She had this urge to leave the base and run to the edge and jump into the water. She didn't know how to swim, but she wanted to feel the water all around her.
She'd spent maybe a good hour exploring before she even came across the first person. She'd explored the main compound building, but was wary of leaving to explore the other buildings, should the doors be alarmed. After a while, she found the main living quarters; a large room with tables, chairs, a kitchen area and books everywhere.
She found food in the cupboards she'd never seen before; a strict diet of two meals a day and one snack was all she knew – oatmeal at seven, one hour after lights on; one piece of fruit and a cracked after morning tests; then a plate of greens and cold meat that all tasted dusty to her, two hours before lights out. Everything she ate was measured and calculated; she'd seen some notes before a doctor had scurried away with them a while ago.
She pulled box after box from the cupboards and read the names. It was the colourful boxes that drew her attention. She found a box marked Fruit Loops, and decided to explore the base again, carrying the box with her, reaching in and eating the sweet hoops as she walked, leaving a trail behind her.
The first person she came across was a red-faced man wearing knitted jumper and slacks. He was reading a book, mouthing the words as he walked a corridor, and Anya stopped with her food. He stopped and stared at her.
"Hello," he said. He was the strangest looking man she had seen; and she'd seen some strange people. She said nothing, but clutched the box of cereal in her hands.
"You must be Anya, the young girl they found in the base in Gran-Slavionia." She frowned at him, "Yes, I'd never heard of Gran-Slavionia before, but I found this book on Europe and thought I would educate myself." He held up the thick book, which had a picture of a faded globe. "A small country on the border of Russia, Estonia and Latvia. With transport links to St. Petersburg, it is primarily occupied by Russian settlers dating back to the 1700s…"
It felt like a history lesson she'd sat through before. She reached in and took a handful of the Fruit Loops to chew as she listened to the red-skinned man talk from his book. He seemed harmless enough, but she kept her toes curled.
"I do believe it is quite early, and I do believe you were housed in the medical wing over night by Dr. Cho. Perhaps we should go and speak to her?"
"Net," No. She said. The man peered at her.
"Is Russian your main language? Do you speak others?"
She peered at him. He was strange. And not just the red and gold head. His whole persona was strange.
"I speak some others," She spoke slowly and the man smiled.
"English and Russian. Very interesting, Latin and non-Latin based alphabets. Any others?"
She shrugged at him. She could speak several languages. Half from her teachings, half from the various nationalities of doctors, scientists and guards at the base. She'd picked up phrases and words that were regularly screamed at her. She didn't know what they meant, but she remembered them all.
"Well, I am fully briefed on how you don't seem too keen on the medical facilities. Perhaps we can adjourn to the living space? I do believe the others may soon be waking up and we can see what the day has in store for you?"
The fact he wasn't forcing her to go back to the medical bay already made him a little more likeable. She gave him a slight nod and he lead the way back through the base.
"My name is Vision. I do believe yours is Anya, is that correct." Again she gave a silent nod as she ate more of the cereal. As he walked, he clearly did not need to see where he was going, as he re-opened his book and began to read passages from the book on the country where she was from, but never actually knew its name.
As they past windows, the sky had become a light shade of watery orange as the sun made its way up. Once they reached the living space, Anya found a dark-haired man looking at the floor, where she'd left all the boxes out on the floor, and trails of the cereal.
"Seriously, it's like I'm running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang or something." He mumbled as he picked the cereal off his shoes.
"I think I found the culprit, Mr Stark." The man turned to see the child in oversized clothes eating his cereal. He hid that here so Pepper didn't find it – she always banged on at him about nutrients and vitamins. That cereal was one of his secret treasures, and now a kid with sticky fingers was pawing her way through the box.
"Well if it isn't our own little breakfast thief. Seriously, they not feed you in that place? You gotta steal my cereals? You couldn't have taken Thor's Pop Tarts instead?"
Anya could already feel like she was going to butt heads with this one. She liked Vision. She liked Steve. But this one just rambled on and on, until she turned away and sat herself on a couch with the cereals. Vision sat down beside her, and continued to read from his book, but silently. She watched as Tony made coffee and played around on a small handheld device. She soon got bored of the cereal, feeling funny from all the sugar, but she kept her tight clutch on the box.
Soon, Steve came into the kitchen, clearly soaked from a run as he made himself a glass of water.
"Hey kid, how you feeling this morning?" He was referring to the incident the previous night. She had clearly not wanted her blood to be taken. Her reaction had pushed himself, Nat, and Dr. Cho across the room. The effect itself had rendered her unconscious. Him and Nat stayed as the doctor drew some blood and assessed her condition. Clearly, she didn't know how to fully control her abilities, and they seemed to be tied pretty close to her emotions.
He'd watched as the doctor took several vials of blood, a familiar scene he himself went through at one stage. Nat had stayed, draping the hoodie over her and standing at the kid's besides like a guard dog. She didn't understand the powers the kid had, but Steve knew she understood what it meant to be a kid thrown into a new world that was unfamiliar and threatening.
Tony rambled on about the state of the kitchen, and how they were not a home for troubled kids. He smirked as Anya just kept hold of the box.
Steve had briefed the team last night, once Dr. Cho was certain that Anya was stable and not likely to wake up before morning. He'd explained what he had found; a small locked room with the girl handcuffed to a bed, still in the throes of sleep. How she'd managed to move the debris blocking their path, how uncertain she seemed of everything around her.
"If she has these powers, why was she handcuffed to a bed? She could break someone's neck, but not a handcuff?" Tony had said.
"It wasn't there to keep her there, it's a mentality." Natasha had pretty much whispered in the briefing room. Clint had noticed how she unconsciously rubbed her own wrist. "It was a reminder. Besides," Nat had snapped from her trance. "She clearly knows nothing of the outside world. Where would she go, it was miles before the sign for the nearest town. She'd have died from exposure before she'd met another soul."
That morning certainly was an experience for the Avengers. Tony grumbled all day that he was cleaning up after the kid – Anya had taken to carrying the box of cereal with her, as if she would lose her only food source. Steve took the girl for a tour round the base, rambling on as best he could to fill the silence. He walked her from one building to another, going the long way to allow her some fresh air, which she clearly enjoyed.
Not long after lunch – Anya still gripping the brightly coloured cereal box – Steve walked her down to the water's edge. It was right by the special training building. He looked up and could see Nat besides one of the windows, and gave her a small wave and smile.
Anya had yet to change her clothes from the thick socks, oversized purple tee and surf shorts, despite a good search in cupboards and finding some more suitable replacements. But she peeled off the pink socks and sat next to the water and dipped her feet in. Steve crouched down, and stayed silent next to the girl.
"I like it here," she said, her feet kicking the water.
Steve tried to contain his surprise. The few words she'd said were in Russian, he'd never heard her speak a word in English, let alone start the conversation.
"Do you?" He asked. She nodded, and placed the cereal box down to allow her hands to touch the water.
"Can I stay before I go back?"
Steve frowned. "Anya, you never have to go back there," She looked at him with a confused stare. "Would you like to stay here?" He asked. He knew that a military style base was certainly not suitable for a child. She should be with other kids, hell she should be with her parents. That thought hadn't crossed his mind – where were they?
Was she an orphan, or were her parents Hydra scientists? He repressed a shudder at the thought – who would have a kid just to experiment on them? No, he tried to firmly believe that she wasn't the child of scientists who were cold. He stared at the kid next to him, wondering where she came from.
Tony had found piles of data. Heavily encrypted, which he believed would take a couple days to break into. That would give them some clue as to where Anya came from. Would she even have a family to go back to?
He stood back to his height, and asked if Anya would like to continue their tour. She jumped to her feet and walked along side him. As they walked back up towards the main building, Steve's eyes shot down to see a small hand gripping his own. He didn't voice anything about it, but gave it a small squeeze as they came back up towards the Avengers Compound.
By the evening, Steve had shown Anya every corner of the base. He certainly got the opinion she liked to explore. He wondered how much freedom she'd had at the base – if she was handcuffed at night, he supposed she wasn't allowed to freely move around. So even when he became tired of it, he still showed her every corner and let her walk where ever her feet took them.
Out of all the Avengers, it became clear who Anya would warm up to and who she wouldn't – she liked Steve most. Sam commented that the little girl was seeing him as her rescuer, which he smiled and felt a warmth about. Next she liked Vision – he didn't ask her questions about where she came from, but he would share his knowledge with her, as he himself was still learning about the world. Next was Wanda. The two young girls took a liking to each other. Steve supposed they could maybe sense that they'd both been in a similar situation. They could have been sisters, the way Wanda treated her. Steve silently thought it might have been Wanda's way to help fill a little bit of the hole her brother had left.
The only thing that seemed strange, was that Anya did not seem to follow Nat around the same way. Perhaps because she was older, but Steve had caught the girl staring at her, whenever Nat was in the room. He'd heard Clint mutter about something being strange, and he agreed – the girl seemed fascinated, but terrified of Natasha at the same time. She stuck to Steve or Wanda like glue. At one point, she'd even hidden behind Sam when Nat had walked past.
Steve could tell Nat was trying not to let it bother her, but she had a strange feeling about the way the girl looked at her – like she knew all her secrets. She put it down to the girl not being used to the outside world, and decided to leave it a couple days.
Anya took to following Wanda around when Steve was gone, which the older girl did not seem to mind. Whatever activities Wanda did in the evening, Anya seemed happy to follow. Which allowed Steve to attend a meeting with Tony and Clint later that day. Sam had needed to head back to Washington, and Rhodey was called away. Steve was pretty sure Nat was in the training rooms again, which he knew she frequented when something was bothering her.
"Ok, so now the babysitter is here,' Tony smirked at Steve. "F.R.I.D.A.Y., where are we at with the kid's blood analysis?"
"I'm still working on it, but I have managed to extract the DNA composite if you would like me to search any databases."
"Great, search them all. God I feel like Jerry Springer. Reckon the kid has any folks alive, or did they buy her off Miss Hannigan?"
"Seriously Tony?" Clint sighed, rubbing his eyes.
"What? Ok maybe a little less pop culture. But who knows, maybe there's a lovely little hick family out in Nebraska or Texas or something that had a kid taken years ago, and they will happily take her off our hands?" Tony shrugged as he loosened his tie.
"You really think it'll be that simple? That we can just dump her into normal life? Tony, the kid has powers I don't think she even understands," Steve sat straight in his chair. He felt defensive for the girl, though going by the coffee mug that had exploded in Tony's hands earlier, she could fight her own battles if she needed to.
"Well who knows, all I can do is search every database we have access to and-"
"Genetic match found, sir!"
Tony turned his head. "Well that was quick F.R.I.D.A.Y., someone had their coffee this morning. Which database we talking here? Missing kids, organ doners, New York drama society?"
"I found a match on the Avenger's own private database sir. You told me check everything." Tony stared at the screen, before looking back at the two Avengers before him, all mouths agape.
"Either of you two gentlemen want to tell me anything? No dark, secret flings from years ago?"
Clint narrowed his eyes, whilst Steve looked a little lost.
"Tony, if anyone was going to have a secret kid, my first guess would have been you." Clint said, and the archer watched as the colour seemed to drain from Tony's face.
"Um, F.R.I.D.A.Y., uhhh…"
"Sir the match is maternal, not paternal. I double checked on your behalf."
Clint grinned as Tony seemed to breath a little more normal, before thinking who on their database – maternal meant mother? Who…?
"Clint?" Tony snapped the archer's attention back to the room. "Maybe you should go get, um…well that is a turn of events," Tony gestured with his finger and the display screen turned and showed them the profile of the genetic match.
Clint left the briefing room in a mad rush. Tony and Steve were still sat in there, Steve in silence. Even Tony was struggling to come up with some smart arsed answer.
"Vision, you seen Nat anywhere?" He came across the synthetic android in a corridor, carrying another thick book. "Or the kid for that matter?"
"I do believe Miss Romanoff was walking down to the shooting range for practise. As for Anya, I believe she's with Wanda somewhere."
"Thanks Buddy," Clint patted the android on the shoulder as he left at a sprint. He ran from the main doors and across the grounds to the indoor shooting range buy the waters edge. He could hear the bangs from downstairs as he quickly rushed in. He found the redhaired agent firing at three targets pinned to the wall. He was unsurprised to see the centre of the target completely demolished.
"Nat!" He called over the gun shots. The firing stopped, Nat pulling her headphones and safety goggles away. "Nat, you need to come now, I…"
He didn't know what to say. His friend looked at him with wide, confused eyes.
"It's the kid, Nat. It's Anya. You need to know…"