Crow Man didn't touch the clothes for a few days after Ximena had gotten them for him, and if not for how she now occasionally saw him munching on a granola bar, there was no way to tell he had ever received anything from her at all.

He had said thank you though, and Ximena had felt the sincerity in it as clearly as she had felt it in his apology for scaring her, so she figured he appreciated the gesture. Maybe they hadn't fit him. Not that she'd even seen him try it on, but well. She'd give him the benefit of the doubt.

As far as roommates go he hadn't been too horrible.

Ximena didn't particularly have plans to leave the warehouse that day; they still had food, and she had a stash of upwards to eighty dollars to use on snacks when she did need more food. Maybe, she thought, if she stayed in all day, she'd get an idea of what Crow Man did all day.

She was prepared to be very bored.

But when she rolled out of her pallet of blankets after having slept late into the morning, she found Crow Man standing awkwardly just out from under his stairs for the first time since he had taken residence beneath them. Ximena blinked, clearing the sleep from her eyes, and when she looked at him properly, she let out a delighted laugh.

"They fit!" she exclaimed, jumping up and stumbling a bit when her body decided it was not nearly awake enough for that type of movement. Crow Man took a step toward her, metal arm reaching out, but she righted herself before giving him a chance to help.

"They do fit, right?" she asked, squinting her eyes at him as she neared. He held still and didn't stop her as she walked around him. His left sleeve seemed a little more snug than his right, but it didn't seem like his metal arm would burst out if he flexed. Could he flex with that thing? She wondered if she could bug him enough to show her.

"They fit," he said quietly. Ximena stopped in front of him and threw her arms up in victory.

"Ha!" He lurched back with a wave of alarm, and she drew her arms back close to her body, eyes wide. "Sorry," she said. "How about the pants?" she asked, quickly moving back to a safe topic. "They fit okay?" They didn't look tight, but Ximena knew that with jeans, movement was key. "If you can do a squat without ripping it, I think you'd be good," she told him, giving him the a-okay sign.

He looked at her with a blank expression.

"You know," she said, and did a squat herself. The old overalls she wore - loose and stained and torn at the knees - gave her all the movement she needed. "At least that's what one-ah my foster lady's used to say. She was very into clothes."

She was less into having to deal with a perpetually angry twelve year old.

Crow Man didn't move for a second, and Ximena was about to write it off as a lost cause when he went down and then back up, just as she had.

"They okay?" she asked, and grinned when he nodded. "Why'd you finally change? You get bored with the emo look?" She didn't have to feel his confusion to know that he had no idea what that word meant. She sighed dramatically and let her head hang back. "We need to get you to some internet so you can look through Urban Dictionary, buddy." He continued to stare at her. "Nevermind."

"I have to go," he said, and Ximena snapped her head back down to look at him in surprise. Before anything stupid like disappointment could make its way to her, he went on. "Museum," he added, and Ximena's brows furrowed in confusion. "With the airplanes."

"The Smithsonian?" She had gone once on a field trip when she was still in school, and found the whole thing rather boring. She hadn't even gone into the Captain America exhibit, but that had been mostly spite. "Why?"

He didn't answer, and nothing Ximena felt off of him gave much of an explanation.

"Okay, well. Have fun?" she offered, and something in his gaze shifted. He looked away, and despite the stoney look he continued to sport, she could feel the nerves twisting about him. She drew back to level him with a look. He didn't react to it, though he did glance down at her a bit expectantly. "If you want me to go with you, you gotta use your words, Crow Man."

He scowled at that, and even as Ximena bit back her grin, she wondered if he would just leave her behind. She clasped her hands in front of her and rocked back on her heels, and now it was she that wore the expectant look.

"Come with me," he said finally, his voice quiet. She cocked her head to the side at the order and crossed her arms.

"What's the magic word?" He blinked and Ximena realized the expression on his face was his own weird, apathetic version of alarm. Did he not even know…? She groaned. "Please," she told him. "The magic word is please."

Looking at him work out what she had just told him, she wondered if maybe he had banged his head in the same accident that cost him his arm.

"Oh. Please," he added.

Ximena huffed. "I guess I'll go with you. Gimme, like, five minutes, and we'll figure out how to get there." Crow Man didn't respond, but she saw how his shoulders relaxed as he let out a breath. "You're lucky I'm nice," she told him, turning her back to him to gather her things for the trip.

She felt amusement that wasn't hers, but when she whirled on him, he had the same stoney as always expression.

"I don't actually know how to get there from here," she admitted once she was sure he wasn't about to make fun of her. "So we'll have to get a map or something." She narrowed her eyes as she looked out the window and at the sunlight that streamed in, and then turned her gaze to Crow Man with his own jacket before grabbing her pink utility jacket and throwing it on. It was too big; it had been too big when she first got it, and it hadn't fit any better in the time she had been on her own.

"Alright, let's go before it gets late."

When they reached the door, Ximena pulled it open, and let Crow Man slide it shut behind them. He didn't say anything about the fact that she had been able to open it, and she didn't say anything about the fact that he had been able to close it. Maybe he was more Terminator that he let on.

Crow Man followed her closely as she ducked through the alleys, and she absentmindedly pointed out where she had once seen a rat, or dropped a cookie she had bought with some spare change she had found once.

"Helen and Marty usually hang out there," she said, pointing to their fire escape. "But I think they go to a soup kitchen or something on Saturdays."

"Do you?" Crow Man asked suddenly, and Ximena frowned before realizing he was asking if she ever went to a kitchen.

"Nah. People ask questions when you're a kid by yourself." She shrugged. "It's okay though, I get food other ways."

She wouldn't tell him that those other ways often included a theft of some sort. He hummed in acknowledgement, but somehow didn't sound too convinced. She ignored it. It wasn't any of his business anyway.

They found a free map of the city in a store, and the cashier gave Ximena a dirty look when she grabbed it without buying anything else. She stuck her tongue out at him through the front window when she was safely outside.

She and Crow Man stepped into an empty side alley to examine it.

"Alright, lookit," she said, pointing to the museum on the map. "That's where we wanna go. And this," she said, dragging her finger across the paper to Foggy Bottom, "is where we are. It don't look too far." She hoped it wasn't too far; she didn't feel like spending her whole day walking. She loved her shoes, and they were functional enough, but they were beyond threadbare. "I guess it just depends on which way we take," she went on.

She looked up to see him staring intently at the map, and it didn't help his intensity with how his hat was pulled down half over his face, hiding his eyes in the shadow. It looked as though he was deciphering some secret code rather than reading a map.

"Did you memorize it yet?" she asked, her voice taking a taunting drawl, bordering on mean, and she nearly choked in surprise when he gave a curt nod.

"Yes."

She narrowed her eyes at him, looking for evidence that he was messing with her. Nothing on his face, and nor could she feel any sort of amusement from him.

"Alrighty then. Come on, weirdo, before I change my mind about this."

As it turns out, about forty minutes later, she found herself wishing she had shot down the idea of going to the museum with him at the beginning, before she realized it was too late to turn around.

Next to her, Crow Man had a sort of restless anticipation flowing off of him as they walked, and it only got stronger the longer they walked. She knew, with his longer legs, that he could have left her behind ages ago if he had wanted to. But he let her set the pace, and stayed by her side, walking on the outside of the sidewalk with his hands shoved into his jacket pockets and his head ducked down. People didn't look at them, and she figured that's what he was going for.

"Oh thank god," she said, cutting off her own rant about truancy officers when she saw the Air and Space Museum. "We're here. Maybe we can catch a free tour or-"

"No," Crow Man said. "No tour."

Ximena looked up at him, narrowing her eyes at him. "I did not walk all the way over here for you to just, just, see the building and turn back." She pointed a threatening finger at him. "We are going into that building with its air conditioning or by god I'ma punch you, Crow Man."

She didn't mean it, but she wasn't completely sure she'd be able to control herself if he demanded they go back to the warehouse. She'd probably send him flying into a car.

He stared down at her for a second before answering. "Okay. But no tour."

She eyed him suspiciously. "Fine. No tour."


Bringing the girl with him to the museum had been an obvious choice. She knew the nearby alleys, she knew how to avoid detection, and most importantly, she offered a camouflage of sorts. The city was likely still alert after the resurgence of HYDRA into the public's eye. What was left of SHIELD would be searching for him. Everyone would be searching for the Soldier.

No one would think to look at Crow Man and -

He paused for a fraction of a second, a stutter in his step, but not a noticeable one. He looked down at the girl next to him - struck once again by how small she seemed next to him with her ill-fitting clothes. She must have felt his gaze, and she looked up at him with narrowed eyes, the beginnings of a pout threatening to break out on her face. Dark circles hung under her eyes, and a streak of dirt painted the side of her nose.

She was too young to look so tired.

"What?" she demanded, then left his side to rush forward and catch the door to push it open for the both of them.

I do not know your name, he wanted to say. Who are you, little girl? Why are you alone? Were you left behind, or did you run away?

"Nothing," he said instead. Better for him to solve his own mystery than take on hers as well.

"Weirdo," she taunted, and he did not reply. Entrance to the Museum was, luckily, free, though Crow Man had been prepared to pay. Had the girl thought of that?

He took the lead once they were inside, and his stride grew longer, his pace faster. He had seen a sign that pointed to where he needed to go, and followed it. He felt the girl next to him, and he heard her mutter herself.

"Geez, slow down, you stupid Crow Man."

He did not. The girl must have noticed where he meant to go, and he noticed that she slowed even more, falling behind. When he entered the exhibit, she stopped by the entrance.

He stopped and looked at her. She made a face, crinkling her nose at him, and gave a dismissive wave of her hand. "I'm just gonna - gonna wait here." She gestured to the large entrance. "You'll still be able to see me, I think."

She was right, of course. She chose a spot to stand in which he could easily just look over his shoulder and see her. He nodded. He got to the museum; he didn't need her to actually see the exhibit.

He took a breath and went in without her.


Ximena waited. She wasn't about to go into some stupid Captain America Exhibit when the idiot can't even keep a giant airship out of the river. She watched Crow Man as he made his way to some sort of information stand - she was at such an angle that she could not see what it was he read.

She hummed under her breath, rocking back on her heels as she people watched. The museum was busy, considering it was the weekend. The Captain America Exhibit Crow Man ran off to was particularly full, and Ximena blamed whatever the hell had happened with him and the "bad man" Helen and Marty had told her about. People probably aching to learn about the good Captain's bad luck with all sorts of airplanes.

"Mami, ¡mira!"

A little boy tugged on his mother's hand, pointing to one of the shuttle exhibits. The mother gave a tired sort of smile that mother's often give, and let him pull her along.

Ximena swallowed hard, trying not to think about whether or not her own mother had given her that smile when she was little. Had Ximena pulled on her mother like that in her excitement when they arrived in New York for her birthday? Had she been that happy to see something so new and exciting?

She couldn't remember much of the New York trip with her family before the attack. It was just another thing stolen from her.

"Excuse me, young lady, but where is your group?"

Ximena blinked out of her thoughts and looked up to see a security guard looking down at her, his eyes only just narrowed at her. She frowned, her brow furrowing at how he looked her over, his eyes pausing on the stains of her clothes and the tangles in her hair. There had been an accusation in his tone, and it rubbed her hard in the wrong way.

"I ain't got a group," she snapped, crossing her arms and not allowing herself to take the step back she wanted to.

"Children need to stay with their groups-"

"I'm not a child!" she said, and the man scowled at how she had cut him off. "And I'm waiting for some-" she looked over to where Crow Man had been standing. He was gone. "-one…" she finished lamely.

"Nevermind who you're waiting for; kids can't be here alone, so you need to tell me where to find your group or you'll have to go."

Ximena's mouth dropped open, and she looked around, seeing at least three other groups of kids her age and younger wandering around.

"Why aren't you telling them to find their group?" she demanded, throwing an arm out toward some of the kids. The man followed her gesture, and he got this… dark sort of look on his face that Ximena had seen plenty of times on men that didn't like being told they were wrong. She never worried about what they could do to her, but she still didn't care for it in the least bit.

"Listen here, girl-"

Ximena felt him before he spoke; a quiet anger, feather soft and barely there.

"We are leaving," Crow Man said, appearing behind her, and when she looked up at him, she swore she was staring up to another man entirely. He stared down the security guard so hard, his blue eyes seemed like ice. There was a sharp edge to his voice, one she had never heard him use in the rare occasion he spoke, and his stature had... Shifted. He seemed taller. More squared off.

He looked like he was five seconds away from actually becoming the Terminator instead of the Tin Man.

"Good," Ximena muttered, glaring back up at the security guard who had gone shakey at the knees. Served him right.

She lead the way out, and Crow Man followed close behind. It was only when they cleared the front doors that he returned to his pace by her side, and he quickly adopted his hunched shoulders, lowered head posture. A shadow in comparison to how he had been with the security guard. Ximena looked up at him, frowning. Yes, she wanted to know what that was about, but there were more pressing matters to address.

"Were you really just looking at the Captain America parts of this place?" she asked with barely concealed annoyance. "Is that really the only reason we came here?" Crow Man was suspiciously quiet, and Ximena took it for the answer it was. "Are you, like, a Captain America fan boy or something?" She demanded, and didn't even give him a chance to defend himself before going on. "Nerd. I don't even know why he's in this museum."

"Why?" Crow Man asked quietly.

"Because," she started, stressing the second syllable. "The guy wasn't even a pilot!" She threw an arm out to fully express her disapproval, and Crow Man took a swift step to the side. "We did a whole thing about him in my class in November. He was just in a bunch of shows before deciding he wanted to actually fight. The only time he actually flew a plane he crashed it and got turned into a popsicle."

"What."

"Yeah! They only just fished him out a couple years ago and I guess threw him in a microwave or something, 'cause he's running around fighting aliens now." Ximena shrugged. She didn't want to think about the whole alien thing. Crow Man stared down at her as though trying to puzzle out whether she was telling the truth, and then looked down at the pamphlets he had clutched in his hand.

"Okay," he said finally.

Ximena eyed him, unsure of how to take his reaction. Usually, fanboys were quick to defend their idols. But with Crow Man's sketchy memory…

"You do know what I'm talking about, right? With the… the aliens?"

He stared hard at the street before them. "No."

"Geez, Crow Man, where the hell have you been hiding the last two years?!" she exclaimed. A nearby couple eyed her at her outburst, and she ducked her head. "We need to have a very serious talk about what is and is not in that head of yours, buddy."

He said nothing, and Ximena could only shake her head.

The walk back to the warehouse took longer than the walk before. Ximena was dragging her feet, sore that they were now, and Crow Man let her. Her mind kept wandering back to the little boy and his mother in the museum, and it left a subdued ache in her chest.

Next to her, Crow Man seemed preoccupied by his own thoughts. The quiet about him changed somehow, and Ximena knew better than to try and pry it out of him. She knew, contrary to what previous foster parents and siblings thought of her, when to keep her words to herself.

Her stomach, unfortunately, did not.

Her steps faltered as she pressed her hands to her belly as though she could stifle the sound, and next to her, Crow Man looked down at her.

"Hurt?" he asked, and Ximena wanted to be offended that he would think she could get hurt.

"Hungry," she muttered. "I haven't eaten all day 'cause you wanted to go fanboy over Captain America." There was a food truck nearby, and she looked at it longingly. It smelled like carne asada. She had left her money hidden away at the warehouse. She huffed. "Whatever, I'll eat a granola bar or something when we get back."

She started off again, but stopped at the sight of Crow Man shoving his hand - the flesh hand - into his pocket and pulling out a bill. He held it out to Ximena, and she saw that it was a twenty.

"For food," he said, and had the audacity to wave it at her when she didn't immediately take it. She found herself wishing she hadn't taught him that. She stared at it, and then up at him.

"Since when have you had money?" she demanded, and she swore she saw the beginning of a smile play at his lips.

"I save."

Ximena wanted to call bullshit, because of course it must be, but her stomach let out another rumble, and Crow Man arched a brow at her.

"Well. Thanks," she said, taking the money, and she grinned at him at the thought of something hot to eat. "I'll be right back! Don't wander!"

She all but ran to the food truck. There wasn't much of a line, and Ximena thought herself rather lucky to have missed a rush. When she reached the front of the line, she heard the men inside speaking Spanish. The cheapest thing on the menu were mexican hotdogs, and there was a picture of a hotdog with bacon wrapped around it.

"What can I get you?" the man in the truck said, and his voice had an accent that reminded her of her one-time tio Gustav. She replied in Spanish.

"Two mexican hotdogs, please," she said, and the man looked at her with pleasant surprise.

"Do you want everything on them?" he asked. Ximena glanced back at Crow Man, and then up at the list of things that came with the hot dogs.

"No chile."

The man relayed the price, and five minutes later she was walking back to Crow Man with his change and lunch.

"I got you one too," she said, holding a hotdog out to him. "I didn't put chile on it because I dunno how you like spicy stuff." She took a bit of her own, and a clump of mustard and mayo covered onion fell off. She'd have to get a mouthwash or something to deal with the breath.

"Thank you," he said tentatively as he took the food from her, and as soon as he did, she wiped at her mouth with her free hand. She watched as he took a small bite, and was convinced she had done well. She started off home again, and Crow Man fell into step next to her.