Chapter 1
Ali was bored and tired. With her mum on the run she was staying with Maria but sometimes it was Tony and Pepper when Maria was busy.
Not that any of the three of the adults knew but she had been secretly training herself. She would be lying if she said that she didn't miss her mum but she understood the reasons why her mum didn't want her to be on the run with her.
She knew her mum was just trying to protect her but it had been over a year and they had only been able to see each other in person once.
It was around midnight when Ali packed her bag, left a note on the desk in the room she had been staying in and jumped out the window.
She rolled in order to disperse her weight before walking to the train station and buying a ticket using one of the many dodgy credit cards that she knew Maria had and that she had nicked.
As she sat on the train to the airport she pulled out her AirPods and phone and listened to her music.
She knew for a fact that Maria would not be surprised to find her gone. There was a reason that she was a Romanoff. In the last year she had grown up. No longer was she the girl who was oblivious to the world around her.
Hacking was no longer something she did for fun when she was bored. It was now something she did out of necessity. Creating fake IDs and finding out all of her mum's contacts.
It was one of these contacts that had provided her with some useful information and that was where she was heading now.
The airport wasn't very busy as she stepped into it though she did get a few curious looks since she had no luggage apart from the black rucksack on her back.
Her hair had already been dyed red and now she was almost the spitting image of her mum though the difference in their ages was big enough that Ali wouldn't get stopped by the police and accused of being Natasha.
She bought herself a plane ticket before heading through security and giving her fake passport to the security guard.
He didn't even give her a second glance as she took her passport back from him and walked onto the plane.
It was pretty crowded but she didn't mind. The more people on the plane the harder it would be for Tony or Maria to track her.
She looked over the information on her passport and smiled to herself. A bit of lipstick on her lips and some eyeshadow around her eyes and suddenly she was no longer a fifteen year old but a bright and happy woman who had just turned 18.
The flight didn't take as long as Ali thought it would but she did spend most of it fast asleep. She knew she would need all the sleep she could get since now she was the only one watching her back.
When awake she spend the time fiddling with her necklace. It was the arrow one that her uncle Clint had bought her. Her mum had an identical one. In some ways she was glad that she hadn't been able to stay with her uncle and cousins because she knew that if she had she wouldn't have been able to escape to find her mum. She knew that Cooper definitely wouldn't have let her or would have forced her to take him with her. Over the years he had become a big brother to her and she missed him but at least she knew that he was safe.
Once the plane had landed Ali grabbed her black bag before slinging it over her shoulder and walking off the plane.
When she was out of the airport she pulled out some sunglasses from her pocket and put them on before smiling to herself.
She was finally free to find her mum.
Ali called a cab and booked into a hotel before checking for bugs.
After that had been done she pulled the blinds and dumped the contents of her backpack onto the large bed which was in the centre of the room.
A camera, a phone, charger, portable charger for the phone, a laptop, one change of clothes, five credit cards, a few hairbands, her training suit that Tony had made for her, and two pictures.
She took the pictures in her hands a smiled softly at the faces she was met with.
One was of the Barton family, her and her mum. Clint had tried to take a selfie and the 5 of them had photobombed it. It had only been taken two years ago and they were all smiling happily.
The other photo was older. Ali couldn't have been more than 6. It was of her and Natasha pulling a funny face as they took a selfie. Natasha had her eyes crossed while Ali had her tongue stuck out.
Ali took one last look at them before shoving them into the pocket of her thin coat.
Those two things were the only things that connected her with Ali Romanoff.
As quickly as she could Ali grabbed the rest of the things that she had dumped and packed them back into her backpack.
She then opened the curtains back up and set her camera at the edge of the window just out of sight from people and set it to record. Her mum's contact had been very helpful and helped her to find this flat which her mum had used before as a safe house. Ali also knew that currently it was in use.
After setting the camera up Ali took her back pack and placed it on her back before locking the room with the key she had been given.
Quietly running down the stairs Ali managed to grab the only other key to her room from behind the reception before swiftly walking out the door without giving a second glance.
First things first, Ali needed to find somewhere to eat. She found a nice cafe and spoke in Hungarian to the waiter.
"Umm, excuse me is there any chance that I could get an orange juice?"
Ali batted her eyes and it worked like a charm. The man smiled before saying,
"Of course. I will get it right away."
She knew Cooper would not be impressed in the least but she had found that she had a way of charming people with her eyes. All the person had to do was look into them.
The waiter came back out with a glass of orange juice and Ali handed him some money she had stolen from the reception of the hotel before looking at him innocently enough and saying,
"Thank you so much and well… I was wondering… you know that flat over there?"
Ali pointed towards the block of flats which you could just about make out from where she was sitting.
"Does anybody own it? I am looking for a place to buy you see."
"Ahhh no no no. You don't want to be staying in a place like that. Very run down."
"So somebody does own it?"
"It is full of old people as well as mysterious people who you want nothing to do with."
Ali quickly gulped down her orange juice. He had told her all she needed to know.
"If you are looking for an apartment then…"
"Thank you very much for the orange juice it was lovely."
With that Ali stood up and headed back to the hotel. Instead of entering via the entrance she climbed up the fire escape and headed for the roof.
Once on the roof she stopped and sat down before taking in the view.
The chat with the waiter had only confirmed her knowledge that the place was a safe house. She still had no idea who was inside of it. That was why she took out her laptop and hacked into all security cameras near by.
There were no security cameras near enough to the safe house though for her to be able to get a look in through the window. Not that it really mattered anyways since most of the windows were shut.
Ali took a bite out of the apple she had taken from the fruit shop that had been just next door to the cafe before sighing to herself.
All of this was getting her no where. She needed to find out who was in that apartment.
In her head she made a plan. If she had no more further clues then at 2am tonight she would break in. Almost everyone would be asleep at 2am so she should have to advantage if it came to a fight and she would have the element of surprise.
She continued to sit there and eat her apple until the sun was directly above her head. Only then did she head back to the hotel.
Once in her hotel room the first thing she did was run over to the camera and check the video feed. There was nothing.
Ali sighed before looking over at the apartment that was just outside of her window. She wished she could just open up all of the secrets that it was holding.
A movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention and she whipped her head around to see a figure walking towards the apartment block.
"Gotcha."
Ali quickly pulled on the suit that Tony had made for her under her clothes before flinging the camera into the bag, opening the door to the room and running down the stairs she flung both keys at the wall behind the desk in the reception and they both landed perfectly on the hook for her room.
Some kids had started a bonfire nearby and Ali took out her phone, one of the credit cards and her fake passport from the black bag before chucking it onto the fire. She didn't need any of it anymore anyways.
Instead of shoving the rest of her stuff into her coat pockets Ali quickly bought a cheap army vest which had loads of pockets before shoving the few items she had left in them. This way those items would be way more secure.
She pulled her coat back on over the top in order to hide the army vest before wiping the make up off of her face and walking swiftly and purposefully towards the apartment block.
As soon as she was in the block she quickly climbed the stairs and found the room she was looking for.
There was a crash and then silence which scared Ali more than the noise did.
The door wasn't locked and so Ali silently opened it before grabbing a knife out of the wall beside her and walking towards the kitchen.
She didn't need the knife to kill or seriously injure but it might at least make her attacker take her seriously.
Luckily for her the first figure she came across was a familiar one.
"Ali?"
"It's good to see you too… Mum."
