Aspen grinned at Bucky and gave a small curtsy.
"Winter," she said walking towards the blue vehicle, "It's great to see you."
The man in the front seat of the car stared at her in confusion, so she figured she would probably introduce herself.
"I'm Aspen Blue," she said smiling at the man before turning and gesturing between Steve and Sharon, "you two can finish what you were doing, I'll wait."
The two glanced at each other before backing away and continuing to sure at the mysterious teen in front of them.
"What are you doing here, Penny?" Bucky asked her, coming around towards her.
The nickname Penny made her smile. When Stanley Blue didn't want to refer to his daughter as Hemlock, he would call her Penny, and soon enough Bucky picked up the habit himself. The Winter Soldier was one of the only people in the Hydra base that knew the girls name was Aspen, and she only found out that his was Bucky when he came back to rescue her. He explained that his old friend Steve had helped him realize what his name was and that he was slowly making progress towards healing his tormented mind. Aspen wanted nothing but happiness for the man, and it pained her to know that he is once again being chased by the government. She had seen the news saying that the Winter Soldier was responsible for a bombing in Vienna, but she never believed it. She knew that Bucky didn't do that anymore, and she wanted to help him get to safety.
"I'm here to help you escape the wrath of Tony Stark and the world," she said smiling brightly and doing jazz hands for effect.
Bucky looked at her with a blank expression for a few seconds, causing her to slowly lower her hands and stand still.
"No." He said turning around and walking back towards the vehicle.
"Um, yes!" Aspen said, following the man at a brisk pace. "Bucky you and I both know that I owe you that much. I can never fully repay you for what you did for me, but if I can help you now it will be a little better."
"Can someone explain to me what is going on here?" The man that was previously in the car asked.
Aspen recognized him as Sam Wilson after seeing his entire face. She found his file to be interesting because of his military background and entirely amazing winged combat gear--you could even say she was a fan of the hero.
"I'm Aspen Blue, I'm here to help Bucky." She said leaning against the wall.
"How do you know him?" Steve questioned, confused as to how his best friend knew this teenager.
"We were next door neighbors back in our Hydra cells," she paused and looked up at the sky, "Ah the good old days."
"How did you find us here?" Sharon questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.
Aspen pursed her lips at the woman's distrusting glare and gave a sarcastic smile, "Well, you lead me here, sweetheart. I tracked your phone."
"How did you-"
"That's not important," Aspen cut the woman off with a wave of her hand, "What's important is that I know that Stark is after you, and I know y'all are about to fight. I'm here to fight with you."
Aspen could feel all of their eyes scanning over her and she put her hands on her hips, "Look I may be young, but I was injected with a serum that gave me abilities similar to yours, Captain. I am doing this and no one is going to stop me." She looked at Bucky at the end of her sentence, giving him a pointed glare.
"I owe Bucky a debt, and I'm here to pay up. I hope you all can respect that. Plus I really want to punch Tony Stark in the face right now."
"Fine." Bucky spoke surprising them all. He knew how good of a fighter she was, and he also knew how stubborn she was. There was no way he would be able to convince Aspen to leave, so he might as well allow her to come rather than having her just follow and show up at the fight like he knew she would. "But you stay away from the fight as much as you can, I'm not having you get hurt."
Aspen gave a small fist pump before strutting over and plopping down in the back seat of the blue vehicle. Bucky got in next to her and avoided her smiling stare. The young Blue reached over and poked him on the cheek with a laugh, saying a small thank you before turning and facing the front of the car.
If you weren't watching closely, you wouldn't notice, but in response to the girls actions, the corners of Bucky Barnes' lips twitched up slightly. It only lasted a second, but the teen had managed to make him smile, and Steve Rogers definitely noticed. The Captain had, of course, been a little reluctant to let the kid fight along side them, but upon seeing that interaction he felt reassured. If Bucky trusted her, so would he.
So, Steve Rogers got back into the drivers seat of the car, and began to drive towards the appropriate airport.
It was time to get his team together.
☾
"Cap," Clint Barton greeted as the four stepped out of the tiny car. They all walked towards the large gray van and watched as Steve spoke with the bow and arrow wielding man.
Aspen chose to stay towards the back of the group, near Bucky, in order to just observe. In the car, the three men had explained to her exactly what was going on, for she obviously didn't get all of the information she needed from the Stark files, and she was happy to learn that her gut was correct: Bucky wasn't the person who bombed the building in Vienna--he was being framed.
The young Blue watched as a beautiful woman walked behind Clint and she immediately recognized her as Wanda Maximoff. She didn't need Tony's files to know Wanda, for her face had been all over the news recently after a mission-gone-wrong in Lagos.
"You know I wouldn't have called if I'd had any other choice," Steve said to the man as they met halfway between vehicles.
"Hey man, you're doing me a favour. Besides, I owe a debt." Hawkeye told him, and Aspen smiled slightly.
She really admired Clint Barton. Even though he has a family, he still continues to help fight for what he believes in, no matter the risk. Aspen thought that he was incredible and aspired to be as good a person as him.
"Thanks for having my back," Steve said looking over at Wanda.
"It was time to get off my ass," she said with a shrug.
Steve then asked about a new recruit and Clint explained to him that situation. Aspen watched as the metal door slung open and a man popped up, blinking rapidly.
"What time zone is this?" He questioned, still in a daze.
Clint helped him out of the car and Aspen watched amused as the man Steve called "Mr. Lang" stumbled forward and shook his hand rapidly.
"Captain America," he started, "It's an honour. I'm shaking your hand too long. Wow! This is awesome! Captain America!" He then looked at Wanda and nodded, "I know you too, you're great!"
Lang leaned forward and squeezed Steve's shoulders, "geez," he mumbled, "Ah, look, I wanna say, I know you know a lot of super people, so thinks for thanking of me."
"Hey, man!" He said to Sam Wilson.
"What's up, Tic Tac," Sam responded sassily.
"Good to see you. Look, what happened last time when I-"
"It was a great audition, but it'll, it'll never happen again." Sam said with a smile, bringing a confused look on both Lang and Aspen's face.
She would have to look that up later.
"Who's this?" Clint asked pointing back at Aspen, who's eyes widened.
Hawkeye just noticed her existence. Remain calm.
She stepped out from behind the car and walked forward, excited to meet her favorite superhero.
"I'm Aspen Blue," she said sticking her hand out for him to shake and holding in a small squeal the he shook it.
"She's going to help us," Steve started before taking a step back and pointing at both Mr. Lang (she still didn't know his first name) and herself. "Anyone tell you two what we're up against?"
"Something about some psycho-assassins?"
"We're outside the law on this one. So, if you come with us, you're both wanted criminals." Steve spoke, glancing more at the young girl than the man beside her.
"Yeah, well, what else is new?" Lang said honestly.
"Pretty much everything I do is illegal anyways so," Aspen said with a shrug.
"We should get moving," Bucky called from his position behind the blue car, catching everyone's attention.
"We got a chopper lined up," Clint spoke up and Aspen nearly fainted.
She really, really liked Hawkeye.
Before anyone could respond, a voice came over the airport speaker and spoke in a language Aspen didn't understand.
"They're evacuating the airport." Bucky translated, and Aspen clenched her jaw tightly.
"Stark," she and Sam spoke at the same time.
"Stark?" Lang questioned only to be ignored.
Steve turned toward the group and nodded, "Suit up."
Aspen looked down at her outfit: her blue sneakers, leggings, and a simple black t-shirt. Everyone else around her began preparing to fight, and she felt left out, so she opted to make it look like she was getting ready by pulling her long hair back into a braid.
"You sure your ready for this, kid?" Clint questioned the girl, reaching up to adjust his hearing aid.
After taking a second to realize that Hawkeye was speaking to her, Aspen gave the man a smirk.
"Hell yeah."