ASCENDANCY / P. MAXIMOFF

you didn't see that coming?

Anastazya kept a steady grimace on her face as she trudged through the snow, huffing out a sigh of annoyance, her blue-tinged lips smiled when her breath became visible in the air, rising up to join the clouds in the pastel painted sky.

In Sokovia, it was 5:34 A.M and in Winter, the negative temperatures could possibly freeze and kill a man at this time. Luckily for them they weren't regular men.

But even as trained assassins, mutated beings, gods, and billionaires, walking through 4-feet snow was a difficult thing to do.

Ana cursed loudly when her foot caved into a particularly deep pile of snow, her boot sinking in completely.

"Mother fucker!" She yelled out in frustration. Natasha glared at her.

"You curse like a sailor," She hissed. "I certainly did not teach you that."

Ana rolled her eyes, yanking out her foot abruptly. She winced as the snow in front of them flattened into a thin sheet of ice, causing Captain to slip and nearly face plant. He turned and gave her what they liked to call the "righteous look".

"Anastazya," He started, and Tony feigned choking himself in the background. "You know that losing your temper causes freak accidents like this, you have to keep your emotions in check."

"She's a teenage girl Cap," Tony retaliated, smirking. "To me, that equals hormones and emotions. LOTS of emotions."

Ana clenched her fist and froze the left leg of Tony's suit to the ground.

Tony groaned aloud and tried to yank his foot out of the ground. "And hormones. Can't forget to mention hormones."

"Behave," Thor's deeper voice grumbled, ruffling her hair and Ana rolled her eyes for what must have been the millionth time in the last thirty minutes.

Anastazya could sense the rigidness between the makeshift team of the six superheroes before she had arrived onto the team, but now they acted as if they were one big family, and she hadn't the slightest idea why. Maybe they were just persuaded to cooperate when a minor was present.

Steve held his hand out and stopped moving, signaling the others to do the same.

"This is where the initial plan comes into action," Cap started. "Tony, take down the shield. Clint, Bruce, Natasha, Thor and I will take down ground troops. Ana will back up Tony on the inside looking for the scepter. Are we clear?"

Ana saluted him properly. "You got it old man!"

Tony snorted.

Steve sighed and shook his head, unsheathing his shield from it's holster on his back, and started jogging forward.

"Good luck!" He shouted, and Ana watched as the other four followed after him, leaving her and Tony to do the dirty work.

"Alright, kiddo," Tony started, moving his mask over his face. "I suggest you head to the Northern entrance and clear a way for us to enter when Jarvis and I disable the shield."

Ana nodded and cracked her knuckles, excited to get back into action. She looked behind her when she thought she heard the fight breaking out from where Captain and the team headed off to.

"Sounds good," Ana started, turning back around only to see Tony had disappeared. She groaned loudly, starting her jog to the other side of the Sokovian HYDRA facility, occupying herself by listening to the feed on the coms. Mostly it was just grunting and yelling, and the occasional banter from Tony and Captain.

When the large brick building finally came into sight Ana audibly sighed, and sped up when she felt a chill run down her spine. Someone was near.

She nearly yelled in surprise when a sudden gust of wind nearly knocked her off of her feet. She cursed loudly when a gust of the same magnitude blew on her left side, leaving a strange aura in its path.

This wasn't freak weather, this was a person.

Ana went to press the com receptor pinned on her chest when she was thrown aside by the mysterious force once more, the air being knocked out of her. She felt to the ground with a loud thump and groaned loudly.

The blue aura passed by her again, quickly taking the form of a human. He was a male, with a strong build, silver hair and bright, icy, blue eyes. Her sneered at her, walking tentatively around her.

"What? You didn't see that coming?" He asked, a thick Sokovian accent lacing his words. He snickered before disappearing again, with the same blast of air as before. Ana took advantage of his absence.

Her hand finally found the com on her chest and she spoke into it.

"Tony, carry on without me. I've run into some trouble," Ana breathed into the com.

"Do you need backup? I can come back I-" Tony started, and Ana cut him off.

"No thank you, I can handle this on my own. I'm a big girl."

When no answer came back, Ana shakily stood to her feet, glancing around her.

She felt the same rush of air next to her again and slammed her fist into the ground, watching satisfied as the snow around her flattened into the same thin sheets of ice as before.

"Shit!" She heard the boy's voice curse in his native tongue as he slipped and shot himself into a tree. Ana flexed her fingers and the snow and ice melted around him, before solidifying again, freezing him in his spot. He sighed and blew a piece of hair out of his face.

"Rookie mistake," He grumbled. "Should've waited until you were inside. I'll remember that next time."

Ana chuckled. "What makes you think that there will be a next time? That you'll see me again?"

Ana expected some rant about how he was the spawn of HYDRA and wherever there was good, he would be there to smother it. The cliche mess.

However, he ignored the question, smirking.

"Such an ugly place, for such a beautiful girl," He commented, but Ana wasn't phased by his flattery.

"Such a pretty face, for such a big mouth," She replied, making the boy laugh again.

Ana turned on her heel and decided to start making her way back to the building, when he spoke up again.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"No."

"It's the least you can do," he teased again. "You leave me frozen to a tree, and I can't even know the name of the person who did it? No manners, Miss. No manners at all."

Ana rolled her eyes. She was starting to get annoyed.

"Anastazya," she sighed, and he smirked again. Ana felt the strong urge to slap him in the mouth. Instead, she turned around and walked away. "Tony," she spoke into her mic. "I'm on my way."