This one-shot is based on Kangaroopaws' prompt.
This is going to be a part one pairing with another one-shot I've been planning on writing. :)
Anna's Age: 12
Anna loved museums. Steve, Natasha and Anna (Sometimes accompanied by other Avengers) would go Washington DC to visit friends and what not. Anna would always beg to go the Smithsonian, which they always did. Her favorite exhibit was the Captain America exhibit (naturally). Finally it was time for another visit, but it wasn't going how Anna wanted it to.
"But we always go to the museum!" Anna complained, sitting on her parent's bed. Steve still had his old DC apartment for whenever he or Natasha needed to be in the capitol.
"No dice kid, your mom's got a meeting with Agent Hill and I really want to see Peggy before we go. I haven't gotten to see her in person since you were 10."
"But it's our last day! What if I go with you to see Peggy, then we go." Steve shook his head. He wished Anna could meet Peggy, but new people tended to trigger her Alzheimer's, making his visits difficult.
The 'tween' crossed her arms angrily and in a huff stomped out of the room.
Steve rolled his eyes before getting an idea. He grabbed his phone and called Tony.
"Capsicle! How's our nation's capital?"
"The same as always Tony, large and… capitol like... What are you doing?"
"Banner and I were just going to go catch a movie, why?"
"You still got that private jet?"
"Yeah… why?"
"I need a favor."
"Where to first kid?" Tony asked looking down the DC mall.
"Hmm… How about… Air and Space?" Anna pointed towards the large glass building.
"Alright, let's go." Anna led the way towards the building, Bruce and Tony following behind her. It didn't take long to notice the way other people reacted to Anna. She couldn't go unnoticed the same way Tony and Bruce could, not when the first things you see are forearm crutches and a nasal cannula.
Anna continued along, pretending not to notice the people staring and pointing. When they got into the museum Anna immediately headed straight for the outer space exibit.
"Wouldn't space be cool Bruce? I could float around and actually pick things up super easily and I wouldn't have to wear the cannula because everybody's got space suits!" Bruce smiled. The last part wasn't exactly correct, but her passion for space was something Bruce had always found cute.
Anna looked up at the WW2 fighter plane hanging from the ceiling.
"I wonder if that thing still works…"
"Tony, no." Bruce said rolling his eyes. Anna turned, walking away from the men and looking around at the rest of the exhibits. She pulled her hood up as she walked into the Captain America exhibit. No one outside of the Avengers and SHIELD knew about Anna for privacy reasons and SHIELD policy. To everyone at school she was Annalise Rushman, the daughter of two civil lawyers. But that didn't mean people didn't notice her likeness to the spy and soldier. Especially in a massive exhibit dedicated to one of them.
She read all about the Howling Commandos, Steve's childhood years with Bucky and started to walk towards the "Before and After" display.
She'd noticed everyone watching her, talking about her. Anna constantly heard the same things they were saying…
"The poor dear…"
"What do you think's wrong with her?"
"Ew… look at that thing in her nose!"
Anna leaned against the railing, looking the life sized photo of her father's pre-serum body. She was about eyelevel with it. Looking into her father's eyes she wondered if he'd heard the same things and gotten the same stares when he was young…
"Pretty crazy huh?" A voice beside her said. Anna turned to see a girl looking up at her. She couldn't be a more that 2 years younger than Anna, 9 or 10 maybe.
"What?"
"Pretty crazy that he was all tiny and now… you know." Anna laughed as the girl made exaggerated flexing motions with her arms.
"Yeah. It's pretty crazy." The girl stuck her hand out.
"I'm Jenny." Anna smiled
"I'm Anna…lise! Annalise… That's… me."
"Pretty name."
"Thanks." Anna reached her hand out to shake Jenny's when a woman's voice grabbed their attention.
"Jenny!" The girls hands dropped as they turned towards a middle aged woman walked towards them. She wrapped her arm protectively around Jenny. "Jenny sweetie, let's go find Dad in the Apollo exhibit."
"But Mom-"
"Come on Jenny." Anna watched them walk away with a raised eyebrow.
"I was talking to somebody mom, she was real nic-"
"Jenny, she is obviously very sick." Anna's eyebrows furrowed.
"Sick?"
"Yes, didn't you see the tubes in her nose? She could have gotten you sick too. I don't want you to get sick." Jenny looked back at Anna, the look in her eyes broke the 12 year old's heart. Jenny looked at her like she was some sort of monster, meant to be feared.
Anna bowed her head, turning slowly back towards the display. Looking up she saw what she already knew, everyone was staring at her. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up quickly, it was Bruce..
"She's person not an exhibit." Tony announced frowning. "Move along." The people dispersed, pretending they hadn't just been watching Anna like she was one of those rare animals in the zoo.
"Thanks." Anna said quietly. Bruce wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"You wanna go check out the Museum of Science?" She nodded happily.
"No way…" Anna's eyes widened.
"What?" Tony asked, seeing Anna's face. She pointed towards the blonde across the room. Tony raised an eyebrow when he saw a rather husky girl almost a head taller than Anna leaning against the wall.
"That's Olivia Wilbers. She goes to my school." Tony's eyebrows furrowed. He remembered hearing that name every so often… Usually on the days Anna came home with a black eye…
"What's she doing in DC?" Bruce asked, watching Olivia play with one of her rings.
"No idea…" Anna shifted nervously on her crutches. It wasn't going to be easy to go by without Olivia noticing her.
"Don't worry about it kid." Tony said motioning her towards one of the rooms away from the bully. "Just stick with us, it'll be fine."
Anna looked around nervously. Somehow she, Bruce and Tony had all gotten separated in the crowd. She was standing in a corner next to the water fountains, trying to spot the billionaire and scientist.
"I can't believe it." A familiar voice said, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She turned slowly to see Olivia looming over her. "Hi Rexie." Anna's stomach flipped.
"Hey Olivia. What brings you to DC?"
"My stupid stepmom dragged me out here. So Rexie" She stepped towards Anna, who backed up against the wall. "Are you here by yourself? I doubt the doctors let you walk around alone. The wind might pick you up and you'd just-" Olivia grabbed Anna's crutches, dropping them just behind her. "Fly away."
"I don't have doctors… I've told you before I'm not Anorex-"
"But you've got the name for it 'Anna'." Olivia leaned foreward, her face just inches from Anna's.
"It's Anna. Like the Disney princess. Now leave me al-"
"Disney princess? What are you 5?" The bully mocked. Anna tried to step forward, to walk around the girl. But Olivia grabbed her arm, twisting it back and slammed her into the wall. This caught the attention of the crowd, who turned towards the girls. Anna heard a few gasps as she scrambled to put her nasal cannula back into place.
"Do you want me to hurt you again? Are you really that stupid Rexie?"
"Hey!" Anna stood up on shaking legs, putting her weight against the wall. She turned to see Tony and Bruce, arms crossed.
"How's it goin?" Tony smirked, raising an eyebrow.
"Alright… What do you-"
"What're you doing?"
"Nothin."
"Ah, 'nothin'… Good. Please leave her alone."
"What?"
"I said leave her alone."
"You can't-"
"You heard him." Bruce stepped forward, glaring Olivia down. "Leave. Her. Alone." Olivia swallowed nervously.
"What're you two gonna do if I don't?" Olivia's eyebrow's raised as a low grumble echoed in the room. She watched in horror as Bruce's skin ever so slowly faded into a greenish color. Gasping she ran away, tripping in the process before bolting out the door. Bruce laughed a little as his skin quickly faded back to its normal color. The crowd around them applauded loudly for the 'heroes' that had saved the 'poor girl'. Anna laughed easily.
"Thank you." She said, her voice barely louder than the cheering. Bruce smiled handing Anna her crutches and the three hurried out of the museum, knowing it wouldn't be long until they were fully recognized.
Well. I tried. I've actually been working on this for about a month, but I kept getting stuck with writer's block and leaving it alone.
PLEASE LEAVE ME REVIEWS AND PROMPTS! I love to know what you think :)