A few quiet days had passed since the incident. Ashley had been 'given some space', and she'd mostly spent that time in her newly refurbished room, curled up in that soft queen sized bed. She'd had some small conversations with Pepper here and there, but only when she left her bedroom for food. It was still…awkward.

Whilst she had her few days off, Tony and Bruce spent a lot of their time in the lab downstairs, working on something they'd classified as 'top secret'. It was clearly related to Ashley, but she never asked what it was. She was just relieved to have a few days of silence.

But it was over all too soon.

This was the day that she'd agreed to speak to Bruce, and it was obvious that she was still anxious about it. She dressed herself in a long grey woollen cardigan, black leggings and a tight black tank top - feeling comfortable but not confident. Then she hesitantly made her way over to Banner's quarters, but once she knocked on his door and waited for him to answer, she was surprised to hear the PING! of the elevator. She glanced across the hall to see Steve step out in grey sweats and a navy blue t-shirt, there to support her as promised. Ashley beamed up at him, having not seen him for a few days. "Wow - so you actually turned up?" she giggled, taking the leap of faith and giving him a hug which he returned. His arms were so broad and his muscles were prominent, but his hugs were still gentle and warm - it was such a comforting feeling.

"Of course I turned up," Steve frowned once they broke apart, "I promised I would - and I never break my promises."

"Oh? You know I'll remember those words, Rogers!" Ashley trilled, just as the door opened to reveal an awkwardly standing Banner.

"Ashley, Steve…please, come on in," he gave them a polite but tight lipped smile, stepping aside.

"After you, ma'am," Steve hummed to Ashley as he gestured for her to walk ahead.

"Aw, cheers, Steve," Ashley smirked back before stepping through. Bruce's apartment was much more 'homely' than Tony's modern style upstairs; there were large houseplants dotted about everywhere, a beige fluffy rug on the floor, the sofas were plush, his working desk had notes everywhere and small 'thank you' trinkets from Calcutta. "Your place is so cute!" Ashley cooed, jutting out her bottom lip.

"Thanks," Bruce chuckled awkwardly, "I mean it's nowhere near as cool as Tone's, but if we're being honest, it's a lot nicer-"

"Um, ouch?!" came the sudden sarcastic drawl from the man himself, causing both Ashley and Steve's heads to snap over towards Bruce unexpectedly.

"Oh yeah, Tony's…uh…observing," he shrugged as he made his way into his kitchen. Ashley crinkled her nose up, unsure if she was comfortable with Tony having audio and visual access to everyone's rooms.

"Don't worry Red, I don't sit in my room and watch you sleep at night - although knowing you, I probably should," Tony's tired voice crackled through the speakers again, "I have to ask permission first. But I thought I'd stream this little therapy session directly to my gym - FOMO is real." Steve rolled his eyes, totally unsurprised, whilst Ashley just raised a disbelieving brow.

"I thought you had CCTV footage of the incident? Whose permission did you have to record that?" she scoffed sarcastically.

"Um, humanity's?" Tony shot back. "I'm sorry - have you forgotten why we have to have these counselling sessions in the first place?" Ashley opened her mouth to argue back, but Steve got there first.

"Can we just get started, please?" he moved them along swiftly.

"Good idea, Cap. Um, Ashley, you can lay on the sofa," Bruce nodded as he passed them both glasses of chilled water. Ashley gave a slow nod and did just that, stretching her legs out and laying her head back with her eyes focussed on the ceiling. Steve sat on the sofa opposite whilst Bruce pulled his swivel chair between them both with his notepad and pen at the ready.

There was a slightly awkward silence before Bruce finally spoke up.

"Alright," he cleared his throat uncomfortably, "so! Your powers, when did you get them?" Ashley frowned and turned her head to blink at him.

"When did I get them?" she repeated in uncertainty.

"This is gonna take a while if you repeat everything he says, Red," came Tony's already bored drawl.

"Tony, back off," Steve growled quickly, shooting the ceiling a glare.

"Guys?" Bruce coughed loudly before the bickering could continue. Steve fell silent and Tony murmured out a reluctant 'sorry.'

"My mutation…well, I was born with it," Ashley mumbled as if it were obvious, redirecting her gaze back to the ceiling.

"Okay, so what age were you…made aware of them?" Bruce continued on as he scribbled away.

"Well, my mum said it was suspected from when I was a baby-"

"Right but how old were you when you fully figured out that you were magical, Red?" came Tony's sarky voice once again. Ashley bit down on both her lips to ensure no profanities slipped out in response. She glanced over at Steve and was genuinely relieved to see him shoot her a comforting smile, giving her the strength to continue. So she leaned back again and her eyes fluttered closed so that she could take herself back.

"I was very young, maybe five or six, which is unusual because most mutations are discovered during puberty. It was about July time and I was getting ready to play in the paddling pool…"

Little Ashley ran out of the patio door with a giggle, feeling the unusually scorching heat of the British sun on her skin. The heatwave had been accurately forecast for once, and it gave her the chance to play in the brand new padding pool that their Aunt Meredith had bought for them last Christmas. It was a beautiful crimson red, and it sat prettily amongst the juicy blades of grass at the furthest end of the garden. "Ashley, sweetie, no heads underwater, okay?" her mother Mella called from inside the kitchen from where she was preparing lunch.

"Yes Mummy!" Ashley giggled back toothily, her deep red curls bouncing behind her as she skipped down the garden. But before she could reach the pool, she felt two tiny hands grab onto her waist and tickle her, a cheeky little giggle following suit. Ashley squealed and fell to the ground, receiving a generous mouthful of soil and blades of grass in her mouth. She spun herself around and spat out the dirt to see the little girl standing over her, grinning down at her with those large silver eyes sparkling in the sun.

"Ugh! Christie!" Ashley pouted, crossing her arms in stubborn defiance-

"Christie? Hey, we know someone called Christie!" came Tony's light voice, rudely interrupting Ashley's story. Her eyes flew open again.

"Tony, I swear to god," Bruce growled with warning tones.

"That wasn't even a necessary interruption," Steve also rolled his eyes in blatant irritation. Obviously he was still oblivious towards the revelation of Christie and Ashley being sisters - so he completely missed the motive behind Tony's comment. "Carry on, Ashley."

"Christie! I'm telling Mummy - she said you're not allowed to be sneaky!" Ashley scolded her with that sweet voice of hers, wagging her little finger in her little sister's face. But Christie was unbothered, starting to giggle carelessly at her sister's frustration.

"Ashee got scaaaared!" she teased, lunging towards her to do it again. Ashley opened her mouth to squeal again, raising her hands in defence. But instead of screaming, she let out a sneeze - and then it was Christie's turn to squeal instead. "Owwww!" she moaned before bursting into tears and falling onto her bottom. Mella overheard her cries and immediately dropped her dishcloth before running out into the garden to see what the commotion was. She gasped once she saw Christie in a heap on the grass and Ashley cowering opposite her with her mouth open in shock.

"Christie! What happened, sweetheart?" Mella cooed, bundling her youngest up in a hug and pressing kisses onto her forehead.

"Ashee fru wocks at meee!" Christie wailed into her mother's crackly apron, clutching onto it for dear life with her little hands. Mella glared at her oldest daughter, shaking her head disapprovingly - but Ashley's deep green doe eyes grew wide in response.

"No!" she huffed out, "NO, MUMMY! I didn't do it, I didn't throw anything, I promise!"

"Show me your hands, Ashley," Mella instructed her, still rubbing Christie's small back in smooth, soothing motions as her cries subsided. Ashley shoved out her palms obediently and Mella squinted her eyes to inspect them - but no dirt. Her mouth parted open in realisation, eyes darting from her child's palms back up to the sincerity in her face.

Her daughter never lied.

"Ashley, honey…you promise me you didn't throw it?"

"No, Mummy! I didn't, I just sneezed cos the grass gives me the sniffles and an-a-a-a-ACHOOO!" Ashley sneezed once more, head flinging forwards violently. Mella gave a gasp as another pebble shot directly from Ashley's palm, bursting through the skin but leaving no damage or scars behind. This pebble looked hot. When it landed, wisps of steam came from it, leaving both Mella and Christie staring in awe.

"Wowwww! Ashee can do MAGIC!" Christie gasped brightly, clapping her little chubby hands over and over again, making Ashley giggle in confusion.

"Yes, baby," Mella murmured with a pleased smile playing on her lips, "yes she can."

Steve smirked at the story as he crossed his arms, whilst Ashley's thick eyelashes fluttered open once again. Bruce gave her a slow nod, still scribbling things down - whilst Tony was nibbling his bottom lip from his home gym, deep in thought.

"So, I take it your mom told your dad what happened and you went from there?" Bruce blinked once he'd glanced up from his notepad. Ashley slowly nodded in confirmation.

"Yep. She told him when he came home from work and he was over the moon, being a mutant himself. Since then it was just a matter of figuring it out and as I got older, I got a little better at controlling them, but…" Ashley trailed off uncomfortably and bit down on her jaw. The timeline was re-approaching that deadly day, and that was exactly what she'd planned to leave out.

"So what's the big deal? I mean, sneezing rocks is hardly life threatening," came Tony's breezy voice once more, making Steve roll his eyes.

"Well we know she wasn't just 'sneezing rocks' forever, Tony," he spoke carefully.

"Exactly. By the time I hit puberty, those weren't the kinda accidents I was having," Ashley mumbled back, feeling her heart begin to pick up the pace. She was internally wishing, praying that they wouldn't ask her to elaborate.

No luck there.

"What kind of accidents were they? Was there ever a…bad one in particular?" Bruce asked as tenderly as possible, leaning forward a little. Steve kept a firm eye on Ashley too, concerned that the conversation looked like it was now making her uncomfortable - and that was the last thing he wanted.

Ashley sat herself up properly to take hefty gulps of the water until there was only a little left.

"There…w-was a time in particular," she finally croaked out nervously, looking at the floor as they all listened in. "It was an accident, I-I…"

"June 22nd 1999."

The sudden voice wafting through the speakers shut Ashley up immediately. But this voice wasn't Tony - it was Fury instead. Steve frowned over at Bruce and he returned the frown without hesitation.

"Tony?" he suddenly groaned as he swiftly realised this must've been down to him.

"Oh Bruce, relax," Tony tutted back.

"Ashley we just wanna work out what's going on with you. The quicker we can get this under control-" Fury attempted to start off as politically as possible - but this was clearly a poor choice of words as Steve's head jerked backwards.

"Under control?" he repeated loudly with a scoff, "She's not a damn wild animal, Director." Ashley ran her tongue over her teeth and stayed quiet.

"Tony, are you and Fury together right now?" Bruce asked irritably, snapping his notepad shut.

"Actually, no!" Tony scoffed jovially.

"So where the hell did he come from, Tone? This wasn't what we agreed and, more importantly - this isn't what Ashley agreed on either!" Bruce continued to rant, sounding more and more irate.

"Yeah yeah, it's an ethical mess - I get that. The boss was watching from the Helicarrier so I-"

"June 22nd 1999," Fury spoke again a little louder, regaining their attention again. Ashley felt the tears well up into her eyes before she could stop herself, a regretful shiver going through her entire body.

There was no turning back now.

"I know what happened, Ashley. I spoke to your father."

"My father?" Ashley spat the words out as if they were venomous. Her entire demeanour was changing, her body was going rigid and her palms were starting to feel hot.

"Ash…" Steve spoke cautiously, seeing the flush in her cheeks. But she couldn't hear him.

"Is that why you said you had to control me? I should've known, only my father referred to me like something he was afraid of-"

"Nobody's afraid of you, Ashley-" Fury began with a sigh.

"Wait wait, what happened on June 22nd 1999?" Bruce revisited his point with a frown.

"Uh, Bruce? Take a look," Tony mumbled, not sounding amused anymore. Bruce's head snapped to the beeping tablet on his coffee table and he immediately pressed the button to expand it. Before Ashley knew it, the huge distressing crime scene photos of the destroyed supermarket were floating in the air. Rubble everywhere, everything was smoking, crushed lifeless hands dangling out of the ruins, some of those hands rather small. Pools of blood on the floor, pictures of crying relatives outside the police tape - pure chaos and devastation. Steve slowly stood up and walked over to the pictures, and Ashley could physically see him gulp.

"38 deaths - all caused by one little girl," Fury told them solemnly. Ashley felt those hot prickly tears trickle down her face and run straight into her mouth.

"How the hell did that happen?" Bruce murmured, taking off his glasses in wonder. Ashley licked her lips again and opened her mouth to reply; but, to her immense frustration, Fury got there first.

"According to her father, Ashley has difficulty controlling her…gift. The moment she feels negative emotions - fear, worry, nerves, anxiety…she goes into an uncontrollable state. Like the mutant version of a panic attack or seizure. In this case - it was a tantrum," Fury recited perfectly - and Ashley knew they were her father's words because she'd grown up with them all. Steve's concerned blue eyes darted over to her, seeing her hollow expression as the tears streamed down her face.

"You took the entire supermarket down? But you were so young… are those the nightmares you're having?" Bruce concluded, blinking over at her. Ashley glanced over at Steve for support again - but to her horror, he wasn't looking at her anymore. He was staring at the harrowing holograms in front of him instead, seemingly transfixed. It was as if she'd lost his support too - he was the one person she was praying wouldn't look at her differently.

So without another word, Ashley leapt to her feet and blustered out of the apartment, dropping the glass that she'd been clutching all that time in the process. Steve gave a let out a long sigh once Bruce's front door slammed shut.

This wasn't how he saw this going at all.

"Fury, how the hell did she manage to get away with that?" Tony broke the silence, sounding a little freaked out for once.

"Same way we all 'get away with it'?" Bruce blinked back obviously.

"We do that whilst saving lives," Tony muttered through gritted teeth.

"We save lives through trial and error," Bruce argued. "We were all wobbly at first-"

"This is a little more than wobbly, buddy," Tony scoffed.

"So what, you wanted them to send a little girl to prison?" Steve grumbled.

"She was young, and it was an accident. Apparently her mom got as many people out as possible, so only the only people that could hold her accountable would've died in there anyway - the survivors still insist that it was just a sudden change in weather," Fury filled them all in. "Her dad pulled some strings with the government to cover for her." Steve couldn't comprehend how that same little girl who sneezed out pebbles would somehow become the death of many just a few years after. The worst thing was that he could tell she was that same little girl on the inside, the frightened child who had no idea what she was doing and how to control it. And all they had done was provoke her and make her show it off as if it was some sort of magic trick.

"Alright, what exactly is this mutation? Does she control weather, does she make nature - I'm lost?" Tony muttered curiously.

"No idea. All I was told is that she can't control the elements already in front of her - she creates them," Fury recalled Charles' words. Steve glanced absentmindedly at the rug underneath the coffee table before noticing something peculiar about the glass that Ashley'd dropped. He picked it up gingerly and showed it to Bruce, shaking his head. Bruce's eyebrows shot up once he laid his eyes on it and ran his knuckles across his forehead, now totally confused.

"Yeah…I wouldn't be too sure about that," he winced as he stared at the glass of ice that now replaced the water.

Ashley stormed out of the lift, straight through the living room and back into her bedroom, locking the door behind her. She slammed herself onto her bed and released a muffled scream into the pillow. Her father had been meddling yet again. She didn't know how many times he would try and push his agenda onto Fury in an attempt to get her home - but she had to put a stop to it.

She whipped out her phone and dialled his number, impatiently awaiting his response whilst her knees vibrated out of frustration.

"Ashley?!" came Charles' relieved voice. "You-"

"Why the hell did you tell that sh*t to Fury?!" Ashley yelped out furiously.

"What are you-"

"You told Fury about France? Why do you continue to try and ruin my life even when you're nowhere near me?!" Ashley hissed down the line. Charles let out a deep sigh.

"Ashley, calm down. He every a right to know what he was dealing with-" he tried to explain as tactfully as he could. But it was apparent from Ashley's reaction that this was nothing but inflammatory.

"What he's dealing with?" Ashley repeated, before letting out a disbelieving laugh. "I'm not a virus! Stop making me feel less than human, Dad! You'll be lucky to ever see me again." She cut the call so abrasively that it left Charles in a state shock, unable to do so much as blink.

Ashley chucked her phone down and burst into tears, completely fed up. She was now convinced that her team saw her as a murderer, or 'too dangerous' to join them. Her mind was already running wild with possibilities of what they were saying about her behind her back. She kicked off her shoes and jumped into her soft bed, huddled in her duvet with her heart pounding - but before she could cry herself to sleep, there was a rapid knock at her door.

"Ashley?" Bruce's soft voice floated into the room. Ashley clenched her jaw and said nothing. "Ashley? You can talk to me-"

"Please go away," Ashley called out miserably, hoping he'd register her not-in-the-mood tone.

"Ashley, I just wanted to say that I understand," Bruce attempted to console her. Ashley lifted her head towards the door with a sniff. "You are aware that you're talking to the infamous Hulk, right? Do you think that when I turn into…him…I tiptoe around and wait to cross the road with everyone else?" Ashley felt a small involuntary smile grow on her lips and Bruce pressed on. "I've…he has killed many. But Ashley, I don't mean to, and I'm a grown man. So you must know that you, a child, definitely didn't mean to. Accidents happen, but that doesn't mean we're bad guys - particularly if we're not in control." Ashley wiped her eyes. Her mother had consoled her with those very words plenty of times, but this was coming from an Avenger. He had taken the time to come upstairs and speak to her - that was a big deal.

So she threw her duvet off and rushed over to the door before Bruce could leave, flinging it open with the hopes of him still standing there.

And there he was - with Tony and Steve right beside him. Ashley's shoulders drooped slightly at the sight of Tony in particular.

"Thanks for seeing us, Ashley," Bruce smiled at her warmly before sharply elbowing Tony's side. Tony winced and cleared his throat.

"Red, I just wanna apologise for involving Fury without asking. He just couldn't keep his mouth shut over that intercom," he sighed a little reluctantly, like a child being forced to apologise. "And for what it's worth, I still think you're pretty badass. We just gotta figure out how to use it without you losing it."

"Nailed it," Bruce murmured out of the side of his mouth, his smile still fixed in place.

"Thanks, I thought so too," Tony hissed back just as discreetly. Steve shot Ashley a silent smirk and she bit back her smile and ducked her head shyly. Maybe these guys really did want to help.

"I accept your apology, Tony," she told him gracefully. Bruce released a sigh of relief and Tony shot her a smile whilst Steve nodded proudly. "But-"

"Not a but, no buts!" Bruce groaned, covering his face with his hands.

"We were doing so well!" Steve couldn't help but frown along.

"And before you ask - no, Steve isn't in love with you any less," Tony mock-whispered, making Steve's eyes widen and Ashley's cheeks flush in embarrassment.

"No, I mean I just don't know where we'd even begin to control it. My father tried everything, but he failed," she explained tiredly. "What do you guys have that he didn't?" Steve bit back a smile, whilst Tony and Bruce glanced at each other before bursting into laughter simultaneously.

"Oh Red - we have everything."

...

Next chapter is Ashley's training with the guys! One of my personal faves, tbh! x