36

---(time skip - next morning)----

Steve's pov:

It had been about twelve hours since Nat had talked to Ashlyn. It was about five in the morning and Steve had just returned from a run. Steve thought the only other person awake would be Tony (because he never sleeps) but when Steve walked into the living room and looked at the TV which was projecting the view of Ashlyn's room, he saw her sitting in bed playing with her hair, wide awake. He wanted to talk to Ashlyn again but he wasn't sure what to say. What do you say to someone after you tell them that their mother died? Was Steve supposed to comfort her? Or maybe he just shouldn't mention it? He didn't know.

Steve took a glass and filled it with water. Just as he was taking a sip, Tony walked into the kitchen and grabbed another cup of coffee. Tony was telling Steve about a new enhancement he wants to make to his iron man suit when suddenly JARVIS started talking

"Sir it appears your guest is requesting to stretch her legs"

Ashlyn's pov:

Ashlyn was bored.

Very very very very very very very bored.

She had been sitting here for God knows how long and her legs were starting to cramp. Ash looked around the room and her eyes landed on the camera in the corner. Steve had told her to call if she needed anything, and at the moment she needed to stretch her legs.

Ash cleared her throat awkwardly. Was she supposed to just... start talking?

"Hello?" She asked awkwardly, Ash cringed at the fact that she was most likely talking to herself at the moment.

"Good morning"

Ash spun her head around, unsure of where the voice came from.

"Who are you?" Ash asked when she was unable to find the source.

"I am JARVIS, Tony Stark's artificial intelligence. Mr. Rogers had asked me to assist you with any needs you may have"

"Can you get me out of these chains?" Ash asked hopefully

"Unfortunately, that I cannot do. Would you like me to send a message to Mr. Rogers?"

Ash hesitated, she wasn't sure if Steve was even awake at this time and she wasn't sure if she even wanted to talk to him after the events of the previous day.

"Just tell whoever's awake that I want to stretch" Ash wasn't sure if she was supposed to thank the robot guy because after all, he wasn't even a person so Ash just went with a "thanks."

Steve's pov:

"Sir it appears your guest is requesting to stretch her legs"

Steve knew that JARVIS was talking about Ashlyn.

"Steve can take her to the training room or something, let her blow off some steam on the treadmill"

Steve was taken aback by Tony's words. If he took Ashlyn to the training room then he would have to talk to her, what was he supposed to say?"Can't you take her Tony? I've got... papers to write" Steve said in what he hoped was a convincing tone. Tony eyed him up and down and let out a little chuckle.

"No Steve, go fix your daddy-daughter problems"

Tony gave Steve a pat on the back and left the kitchen. Steve sighed and set his cup on the table.

-----

Steve was standing outside Ashlyn's room. He had a pair of power-dampening handcuffs in hand that Ashlyn was going to have to wear if he undid the chains. Steve slowly pushed the door open and took a step inside. He didn't even look at Ashlyn as he closed the door behind him. He felt her eyes on him so he slowly looked up and met them.

"You can run on the treadmill for a bit if you want," He said

"Good enough" was her answer. Steve took a few steps forward and began untying the chains. When the chains were untied, Ashlyn stood up from the bed and stretched her arms. She did a few jumping jacks and cracked her neck. For a second Steve was worried that she was going to fight him but when she didn't he thought it safe to bring up the handcuffs.

"You have to wear these" Steve held out the handcuffs. Ashlyn scoffed but didn't say anything. Steve put the handcuffs around her wrists and tightened them, not too much though because he didn't want to hurt her.

"How's your stab wound?" He asked casually as he led her out the door.

"Probably already healed."

Steve was pretty nervous. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to say.

Should he talk about... the weather?

Steve mentally slapped himself, she hadn't been outside since they locked her up. Steve didn't even notice where he and Ashlyn were walking until Ashlyn cleared her throat.

Ashlyn's pov:

Steve and Ash were walking down the hallways toward the elevator. Steve seemed to be deep in his thoughts and Ash didn't bother to snap him out of it. As they stepped into the elevator, Ash expected Steve to push one of the buttons to get to a different floor however Steve stayed still. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to press the button or if this was some kind of test? Ash cleared her throat in an attempt to get Steve to snap out of it. Steve seemed to wake up at the sound and looked over at her with a... relieved expression???

"Are you going to press them or should I?" Ash pointed at the different buttons and Steve just blinked. After a few moments, Steve reached out his hand and pressed one of the floors.

Ash cringed at how awkward this was. She wasn't sure if Steve was thinking about the conversation they had or maybe he was just tired?

When the elevator doors opened again, Steve led her down another hallway. He seemed so out of it that Ash could definitely just turn and escape, but she knew Oliver was going to attack, and what better protection than the world's mightiest heroes? Of course, she didn't need their protection but it definitely wouldn't hurt. Ash looked over and saw Steve who seemed to be having a debate with himself.

If awkward was a person, it would be Steve.

Steve suddenly stopped in front of two double doors. He pushed them open and Ash walked inside.

It was a very big room, on one side there were at least twenty treadmills along with other cardio machines. On the other side, there were different arm and leg machines along with bench presses. On the back wall of the room was a large shelf with different kinds of weapons including guns, swords, knives, bows and arrows, tasers, etc. In the very middle of the room was a boxing ring.

Steve's pov:

Steve was brought out of his thoughts when Ashlyn cleared her throat. Was she about to say something? Did this mean she wanted to talk? Maybe she wanted to scream and yell at him? Steve wouldn't blame her if she did. Steve looked over at Ashlyn, expecting her to start yelling at him and blaming him for her mother's death. But Ashlyn was looking at him with a confused expression. She pointed at the buttons of the elevator,

"Are you going to press them or should I?"

Steve blinked. He hadn't even realized that they had entered the elevator. God this was so awkward. He pressed the button to the correct floor and let himself sink back into his thoughts. He needed to pull himself together, that's what Katherine would have wanted, maybe? No, Steve knew that what Katherine would have wanted was for her daughter not to be a freakin assassin but what was done was done. Steve pulled himself out of his thoughts just in time to stop in front of the training room. He pushed the door open and Ashlyn walked inside.

----(time skip - one hour later)-----

Ash and Steve spent the next hour in the training room, Ash was running on the treadmill and Steve was doing a combination of different weights and exercises.

Steve jumped slightly when suddenly a very loud alarm started going off. Steve saw Ashlyn jump off the treadmill and make her way over to him.

"What's going on?" she asked

"I'm not sure," he admitted "JARVIS what's going on?"

"It appears Hydra is attacking sir"

"Alert the other Avengers," Steve said

"It appears the other Avengers have been taken, sir"

"Well, shit" Steve muttered. He looked around the room for something to use as a shield since he had left it in his room. "Why are they even here?" He thought out loud.

"Yeah, that might be my fault..." Ashlyn said awkwardly

"What do you mean?"

"There's this guy, the leader of the orphanage, he kinda hates me at the moment" She admitted.

"Is that why you didn't try to escape?" Steve asked, coming to the realization "because you knew they would attack you?"

"In all fairness, you're the ones that kidnapped me. But no, I didn't think he'd attack so soon."

Ashlyn's pov:

Ash felt very much that she had the underhand. She was still wearing the power-stopping handcuffs and she hadn't even had any coffee today.

"So would now be a good time for you to take these off of me?" She asked Steve, holding out her wrists.

Steve seemed to hesitate but after a moment of the alarms blazing loudly, he unlocked the handcuffs. Ash stretched out her wrists and neck. "Do I get one of those?" she asked hopefully, pointing to the rack of guns on the far wall.

"Not a chance," Steve said sternly and she rolled her eyes.

The door of the training room suddenly burst open and about thirty Hydra agents stormed inside.

"Are you ready to fight?" Steve asked and she scoffed.

"Oh please, who do you think I am?"

The Hydra agents ran forward and Steve and Ash began throwing and dodging punches and kicks. Ash grabbed two of the agents by the wrist and twisted them over so that they landed on their backs. She turned invisible for a second, which was long enough for her to kick another agent back. The agent knocked down two other agents.

Steve was mostly dodging punches. He picked up a weight that was laying on the floor and used it to knock out a couple of agents. Ash was going from visible to invisible as the number of conscious agents went down.

Finally, there were only a few agents left, Ash had knocked down the two that came toward her but Steve was fighting the last three. He landed some solid punches to two of the agents but he hadn't seen the last one that was coming up from behind him with a gun in hand. Ash sprinted forward and kicked the back on his knee, making him fall forward. She knocked him to the ground and places one foot over his neck, ready to step down at any moment.

"Did Oliver send you?" Her voice was dark and filled with danger which made the agent shiver slightly.

"He said you murdered our leader" The agent breathed out since Ash was slightly blocking his airway.

"Yeah, that was me," She said proudly with a smirk.

Ash delivered a hard kick to the head of the agent and he was passed out cold. She stood up and looked around. There were unconscious bodies everywhere and some of the training equipment was thrown around.

"Well, that was dramatic" Said Ash casually brushing herself off.

"We should get out of here, I'll get some SHIELD people to clean all this up" Steve gestured around the room. 

A/N: 

Awkward Steve.

That's all I have to say, 

Thank you and goodnight.