Hey, sorry everyone! You'd think with summer I'd get more written down, but I'm actually procrastinating more. XD Sorry! I just get distracted so easily by lots of things. But I got the next chapter up, finally! Hope you enjoy it!

My rough and tough street style of living continued for a few more years. Actually, it lasted longer than I had intended. I had hoped to get out of Russia within a few months, but it seemed I was stuck here for a while longer. I found the winters to be especially hard on me. As a fire user, I could never handle the cold very well and would have to bundle up in many stolen coats and blankets to keep myself from freezing, especially during the ruthless, Siberian blizzards. It was during those times that I would be unable to get any food for myself. The outside markets were gone during the winter and I would always have trouble getting food when I was constantly being chased by the police or Hydra. I was at the age of thirteen and I was already a wanted criminal. I chuckled darkly at the mere thought of it, how a child like me could be a threat to the population for merely trying to make a living. The most confusing thing, however, was the fact that whenever I looked at a reflection of myself, I still appeared to look like a little kid. Perhaps it was my body structure, perhaps it was due to periods of malnutrition, I had no clue. It was simply strange and I would leave it at that.

This winter was the hardest on me. There were series of many blizzards, which left me starving in my alley. I had considered making a truce with the other thieves and help each other with mutual survival, but I decided against it. My social skills were immensely rusty and they probably had a grudge against me for all of the times I stole from them. I decided to tough it out and wait until the storm finally stopped. By the time it was done, it was morning and people were already starting to walk around the city again. I shook the snow off of me and looked around. The city was covered in a thick blanket of snow after all of those blizzards, and although it was beautiful, it would mean a lot of cold experiences for me. I sighed and headed out in broad daylight to pickpocket for food. I was that desperate, and it was probably one of the worst decisions I had ever made.

I was tiny, my ribs were showing, and I had an all-out wild look. Just like when I had lived at Hydra. My nails were cracked and bleeding from my drawing, my body was covered in scars from when the Headmaster tortured me, and I had a few cuts and bruises from turf wars when I was trying to defend my home. It was an all too familiar appearance for an agent of Hydra. I paid no heed to where I was going in my rush for food and bumped into a tall, thin man. He whirled around and looked at me with his sharp, brown eyes. I was about to apologize before he grabbed me by the shoulders and grinned, "Ah ha! Got you!"

I let out a squeak of surprise and struggled futilely against him, "Let me go!"

"Not until we take you home, Project Z," he hissed.

I froze, trying to remain calm, "I don't know what you're talking abo-"

"Of course you do!" he interrupted, "Your eyes are a dead giveaway, as well as those scars!"

I flinched, my panic rising. He knew who I was; he knew I was the missing experiment. Gah! Why did I have to be so careless today?! This agent was going to drag me back to hell with him, and to make matters worse, he had to remind me of my scars. What if I got even more when taken back to Hydra? What then? Would I die? Would I live constantly being tortured? I didn't want to find out. "I-I'm not going back! You can't make me!"

He grinned wolfishly, "Oh . . . I'm afraid I can. Now come quietly . . . we mustn't keep our Headmaster waiting. . ."

I shuddered at his sickening voice and struggled again before kicking him in the groin as hard as I could. He let go of me out of reflex and I ran away as fast as possible. Of course! I had to bump into a Hydra agent! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Due to my rushed thoughts, I once again wasn't paying attention to where I was going and bumped into another man wearing a brown jacket. He looked at me in surprise and I looked up at him with wide eyes. That blond hair, those strong facial features, it all seemed familiar to me somehow. I heard a shout from the Hydra agent who was gaining on me and I panicked and ran around the blond haired man, dashing to the nearest hiding spot, an empty alley, and staying there quietly for as long as possible. If I got dragged back to Hydra, I'd die! I'd never be able to escape again! That could not happen! I would never go back, and I wasn't about to let my clumsiness get me dragged back to that hell.

I heard movement near the entrance of the alley and scooted back to the edge of my hiding spot until my back touched the wall as I saw a dark silhouette standing in the entrance. I tried to find a weapon, but there was nothing I could use. Of course, I had to leave my throwing knives at home. Dammit! Wait! Maybe I could use fire! No . . . that wouldn't work, I'm too hungry to waste my energy on that. My punches won't do any good against a full grown man. Well, if worse comes to worse, I can kick him like I did last time and make a run for it. My panic rose further as the man drew closer and closer until I could see his face clearly. Once I saw who it was, I let out a tiny sigh of relief. It was that strangely familiar blond man! Well, it was better that it wasn't the agent, but I was still wary of him. He opened his mouth and spoke, but I couldn't understand him. He spoke a language I had never heard before. What was it? I tilted my head to the side and looked at him in confusion. He placed a hand on his forehead, mumbled to himself in his language, and took out a book from his jacket pocket and read from it slowly in Russian, "Are you okay?"

I gave him a wary look and nodded.

He smiled warmly at me, "That's good! So you can understand me?"

"Yes, but your pronunciation could use a lot of work. . ."

It took him a bit of time to process what I said, but when he understood he chuckled softly, "Yeah, sorry about that. Russian isn't my first language."

I nodded, still a bit wary, "Yeah, I can tell. . ."

"So why were you being chased by that guy earlier?"

I stiffened slightly at that question and lied, "I don't know. He's probably just some street creeper. He randomly started chasing me. Is . . . is he gone?"

The man nodded, "Yeah, he's gone. Are you sure you're okay? You look pretty beat up."

I nodded, "I'm sure. . ." I was confused, why did he care so much about my well-being? It was really odd.

He looked at me thoughtfully and said softly, "You look hungry. Here, take this." He took out a nice, big green apple and held it out for me. I backed up further to try and get spaced between me and the odd man. I didn't trust him, and I wasn't about to start trusting him any time soon. He looked at me in confusion and then said in a reassuring voice, "Don't worry! It's safe to eat, see?" He took a small bite out of the apple and swallowed before holding it out to me again, "See? Nothing happened!" he said with a surprisingly kind smile.

I stared at the apple, then the man, and then the apple again. I slowly inched my hand forward before snatching the apple and quickly withdrawing my hand as if I was removing an ancient, valuable relic from a trapped pedestal. He chuckled softly and smiled as I ate the apple, my stomach feeling much better with food in it. "So," he said, "What's a little girl like you doing out here in the middle of the winter all alone?"

I kept silent and continued to eat.

"Are you lost?"

I shook my head.

"Well, that's good," he said softly, "I'm Steve Rogers. What's your name?"

I looked up at him and considered what I should tell him. I could tell him about the name Anya gave me, but that name held too many painful memories for me. Besides, I didn't feel like having this man call me by that name all of the time, it would only make me feel even more sad. I didn't want to use that name, and I didn't want him to use it either. "I don't have one," I said quietly.

"No name?" He seemed surprised at that statement.

"Yeah, no name. . ."

He sighed and said quietly, "Well, that's unfortunate. . ." Steve looked up as he heard his name being called in the distance, "Well, I'm going to have to go for now, but I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?" He smiled and waved goodbye to me before leaving the alley. I sat there and stared at him in confusion as he left. He just gave a random stranger like me food. What a strange man.