4

Ashlyn's pov:

Ash parked the motorcycle back in the garage and carried herself into the house. As she expected, Maya and Liam were still asleep, but she didn't mind. She walked up the stairs and decided to take a shower before they woke up. She stood in the shower and let her body change back into her normal appearance. Her legs got shorter and she could feel her face changing. Her hair got longer and darker while her eyes turned their normal shade of bright green. She liked being in her actual appearance, she felt more herself.

As the warm water ran down her face and body she thought back to her mission. That man that had shot at her, she was almost sure it was Hawkeye. She recognized him from the news. But if he was there then does that mean that the rest of the Avengers were there too? Why? Did they know about her? Ash shook her head and cleared her mind from these thoughts. There was absolutely no way that the Avengers knew about her. She had been so careful, changing appearances with each mission. There was no way that they had caught onto that. It was probably just a coincidence that they were there, She had seen in the files that Maya had hacked into from Stark tower that showed they were going after Hydra bases, so it makes sense that they were there.

Ash sighed and turned off the water. She got out of the shower and looked in the mirror. Her long hair that was now dripping wet, reached down to her waist but with a blink of her eye, it was no longer wet and in one long french braid going down her back. In another blink of the eye, she was wearing her baby blue bathrobe and fluffy pink slippers. Making her way down the stairs Ash could smell the pancakes and it made her mouth water. Maya must have woken up and started making breakfast. Maya was the only one out of the three of them that knew how to cook. Ashlyn knew how to do simple things like using a toaster or turn on the microwave, but Maya didn't let her go anywhere near the stove or the oven because of that one time that Ash had accidentally started a fire. Liam wasn't allowed to use the stove either because Maya didn't trust him not to burn the house down. So it was usually Maya who made food but the other two didn't mind, her food always turned out amazing anyway.

"Morning Maya," Ash said as she opened the fridge to look for the whipped cream.

"Morning, how was the mission?" Maya asked, not looking up from the stove where she was making pancakes.

"The mission went just as planned. I was in and out in no time," she replied before shaking the bottle of whipped cream and pouring some into her mouth. Maya smacked her hand away and stole the bottle, putting it on the table. "I did meet Hawkeye though," she casually added.

"You what!!"

"Relax, the Avengers have bigger problems than me to worry about."

"Alright then, you'll be meeting up with the client later this evening around 8 to get paid. Do you mind waking Liam?" Ash made her way upstairs and knocked on Liam's door. She heard a groan from the other side of the door and decided that it was safe to enter. She walked into the room and sat on the young boy's bed.

"Hey bud, time to wake up" she gently shook him and he groaned again.

"Five more minutes" he mumbled and she laughed.

"Not a chance" she started to tickle him and he smacked her hands away sitting up quickly.

"Ok ok I'm up" he yawned and threw the blankets off of him.

"Good, cause Maya made pancakes" the boy's eyes widened happily, she chuckled and left the room letting him get changed out of pajamas.

---(time skip)---

Ash was riding her motorcycle, on her way to meet the same client that had given her this mission. She parked the motorcycle and made her way inside the abandoned building. She had changed her appearance so that she looked the same as yesterday. Her hair was darker than usual and was in a tight high ponytail. She had also made herself a few years older and a few inches taller. As she walked in she spotted him standing in the center of the room with a backpack on. She walked closer to him and he looked up at her.

"Do you have it?" His voice was shaky and she chuckled.

"Of course I do" she reached into her pocket and took out the USB that she had collected that morning. At the sight of the USB in her hand, he took off the backpack and handed it to her. She opened it and examined the money. There were at least a few thousand dollars in there all in one hundred dollar bills.

"This is all of it?" she asked, closing the bag and putting it on her back.

"That's all of it, now your turn" He put out his hand and she placed the USB in his palm. He put it close to his face and examined it. Once he figured that it was real he placed it in his pocket.

"Pleasure doing business with you," he said and she only nodded.

Ash rode back, walked into the house, and shut the door. She went to the living room and sat on the couch, placing the backpack in front of her feet. Maya came and gave her a cup of tea which she was very thankful for. Ash turned on the TV and picked a random movie to watch while Maya started counting the money.

Ash was an assassin and she was very good at what she does. After she got her powers, she realized how much easier it would be to do missions, which is when she started working for the highest bidder. Maya had created a website for her on the dark web which allowed clients to send mission requests along with the price they were willing to pay. If she accepted the amount of money, they would meet up at an abandoned building somewhere to discuss the terms. Once the mission was completed, she would meet with the clients again and get paid. Of course, there was always a chance that after she completed the mission the client would refuse to pay, but they always learned their lesson and she ended up just taking the money anyways. This had been her life for the past three years. Maya would hack into different servers and files for her, and Liam would help her create different types of weapons and bombs for her missions.

Avenger's pov:

After lunch, the Avengers tried looking for the mystery girl again. Steve and Nat went back to the Hydra base in hopes of finding her there, although they both knew she likely wouldn't. Tony had filled in Bruce about what happened since he wasn't on the mission because the team didn't call a code green. Tony and Bruce were running through facial recognition with Clint, but so far they had had no luck. Tony had called Peter and told him about what happened and to be on the lookout for any suspicious-looking blonde girls. The rest of the Avengers were just relaxing in their rooms. Pietro and Wanda were sitting in Wanda's room. Pietro was humming while playing different notes on the guitar and Wanda was painting.

"I'm bored," Pietro whined, but Wanda didn't look up from her painting.

"How 'bout you go for a walk?" she suggested, keeping her eyes on the painting.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," he stood up "I'm going for a walk."

Pietro's pov:

As Pietro walked out of the tower, the sun hit his eyes and he squinted. He walked down the main street and turned onto other random streets. He eventually found himself in an area with many shops and restaurants. He decided it would be a good idea to get himself a coffee at a nearby cafe, not because he needed energy but because he was bored and he had Tony's money. He walked into the first cafe that he saw and stood in line to order. In front of him in line was a man with his wife, and in front of them were two girls. They were both brunettes, but one's hair was slightly darker than the others.

 After they ordered they both went and sat down at the booth. When it was Pietro's turn to order he ordered a normal coffee with slightly extra sugar (so it would taste good) and went to go sit down at a table and wait for his drink to be made. He sat behind the two girls who seemed to be having a very interesting conversation. He knew that he shouldn't eavesdrop but it's not like he had anything better to do. As he listened to the conversation there were some keywords that caught his attention and he leaned back in his chair so he could listen better.

"You've got another one for next week."

"How much?"

"65 thousand"

"Damn"

"With that amount, you won't have to work for a while and you could just relax."

"That would be nice, I've been needing a vacation recently."

"But imagine how dangerous it will be if they're paying that much."

"When is anything I do not dangerous?"

"Just promise me you'll be careful, yeah?"

"Of course I will M, you have nothing to worry about."

Pietro stopped listening to the conversation as his name was called and he stood up to go retrieve his drink. As he walked out of the cafe he thought about what the girls had said. What kind of job pays that much money at once (except Tony's) and why would it be dangerous? But he dropped it and focused on getting himself back to the tower.

Ashlyn's pov:

Maya wanted to go to Starbucks and Ash agreed to go with her. Liam decided that he wanted to stay home and work on his rainbow disco bomb which he had added glitter to. As Maya and Ash exited the house, Ash's hair got slightly darker in color and she grew slightly taller. Her eyes turned brown and her face shape changed. Maya noticed this but didn't say anything about it. She knew that Ash had to change her appearance to not get caught and she didn't mind.

 As they walked into Starbucks and stood in line, Maya was talking about a new recipe she wanted to try but Ash was scanning the cafe. She had a tendency to look around every building she entered to make sure she wasn't being watched. Just as Maya was about to order, the little bell rang meaning another customer had entered. Ash turned to see who it was and almost gasped but stopped herself. She turned back around quickly before he could notice her looking. In her mind, she was slightly panicking because a freaking Avenger just happened to walk into the same Starbucks that they were in, but before she could stress herself out, she took a deep breath. She knew she could probably take him if she needed to, and that there was no need to worry. 

After Ash ordered her drink, Maya led her to a booth. Ash sat down and looked back at Pietro who was now ordering his drink. He didn't seem to be in any kind of hurry so she figured it was just a coincidence. She pulled herself out of her thoughts as Maya started talking.

"You've got another one for next week," Maya said as she sipped her hot chocolate.

"How much?" Ash asked, playing with a part of her hair.

"65 thousand" Maya responded and put her cup back on the table.

"Damn" Ash was used to getting a lot of money but that was usually for more complicated missions.

"With that amount, you won't have to work for a while and you could just relax," Maya added and took another sip of her drink.

"That would be nice, I've been needing a vacation recently." That was true, ever since she had seen an Avenger that morning she had been thinking about laying low for a while just in case. It wasn't that she was scared of the Avengers, but she wanted to make sure that Liam and Maya were safe.

"But imagine how dangerous it will be if they're paying that much." Maya's voice was worried.

"When is anything I do not dangerous?" Maya chuckled a little but put her serious face back on

"Just promise me you'll be careful, yeah?"

"Of course I will M, you have nothing to worry about."