▌Prologue ─ Crash and Burn ▌

━━━━━ ANASTASIA WALKED NEXT to her brother, there wasn't much talking between the two and she was perfectly happy with that. Her red hair was styled to one side of her head. As they walked closer to another alley the two siblings could hear commotion coming from said alley.

Anastasia exchanged a look with her brother, and soon enough the two were heading down that alley. The sight before her eyes unfolded as she watched a man punch Steve Rogers to the ground. Bucky handed the newspaper over to his sister and went to help rescue Steve.

"Hey!" Bucky shouted, gabbing the man's jacket to stop him from causing more damage to Steve. "Pick on someone your own size." He threw the man towards Anastasia, she moved out of the way as the man turned, swinging his fist back towards Bucky.

Bucky moved back, avoiding the punch. He then moved his hand forward, punching the man in the face. Bucky moved forward, lifting his foot up he kicked him in the butt sending him flying. Bucky turned to look at his friend, while Anastasia walked over to him handing him the newspaper.

"Sometimes I think you like getting punched."

Anastasia walked over to Steve checking his features, making sure there wasn't too much damage. "I had him on the ropes." Steve responded, pushing Anastasia's hands away from his face.

Bucky leaned down picking a card off the ground, Anastasia placed her eyes on her brother. Soon her eyes fell onto the card that was resting in Bucky's hands.

"How many times is this?" Anastasia walked over to her brother, getting a better look at the card.

She understood why Steve wanted to fight in the war, but she wouldn't allow him to do it because of his health. It was a danger to him, and like Bucky she couldn't risk losing him.

"Oh, you're from Paramus now? You know it's illegal to lie on the enlistment form. And seriously, Jersey?"

The two siblings both waited for an answer from their friend but received nothing. "You get your orders?" Steve questioned, changing the subject as he switched eye contact between the siblings.

"The 107th. Sergeant James Barnes, shipping out for England first thing tomorrow." Bucky said, staring back at his friend seeing how upset he had become.

"Anastasia?" Steve questioned, placing his eyes on her wanting to know what she was going to be doing.

"I'm leaving tonight. Mr. Stark is going back to England for a few hours." Anastasia explained to him.

She could see the sadness resting on his face and in his eyes, it broke her heart to see him like this but she had a job to do and so did her brother. And she hoped that her brother felt the same way.

"I should be going." Steve said, clapping his hands together.

"Come on, man. It's our last night. We got to get you cleaned up."

Anastasia smiled at her brother and friend, knowing very well that they might just enjoy this last night together as a family. The three walked down the alley exiting out of it, Anastasia looked to see the car that Howard was in and she knew that it was her cue to leave.

"I have to go meet up with Mr. Stark." Anastasia said, causing the two to come to a halt. "I guess I'll see you guys whenever I have some free time." She added, shifting her gaze between Bucky and Steve.

Bucky sent a smile towards his sister, he then moved away from Steve pulling her into a hug. She of course hugged him back, truth be told she wasn't ready to leave her brother and best friend behind for what she knew would be forever. But it was her job and Howard Stark would need her help in the coming months.

"Be safe, Bucky." Anastasia whispered.

"I always am." He replied.

Anastasia and Bucky pulled away from the hug, she then walked over to Steve pulling him into a hug as well. From there she pulled back and looked at her friend, a smile made its way onto her pink lips.

"Please don't do anything stupid while Bucky and I are gone." Anastasia said.

"I won't, I promise Ana." Steve said using her nickname.

Anastasia smiled, turning away from her family she began walking to where Howard Stark had been waiting. She opened the door and climbed into the car, she then looked over at Howard.

"Let's get this over with so we can move onto the next thing." She watched Howard nod his head in agreement, the driver started to pull away taking them where they needed to be.

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Anastasia walked around backstage making sure everyone was ready. It wasn't her job to do so, but she felt as though she needed to make sure it was perfect. While she spent some of her time doing that Howard was getting ready.

Soon after he came out and caught up with Anastasia who walked with him. There they stopped, waiting for his introduction. Howard briefly looked over at Anastasia, he sent her a smile and she of course returned it.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Howard Stark!"

Anastasia pushed him forward slightly watching him run out towards the front of the stage passing by the red car that laid on stage. Both him and Anastasia had been working on it for a while and this would be the first time they were showing it to the public.

The redhead watched as the Playboy moved towards Mandy, one of the workers. Howard grabbed a hold of her and kissed her in front of the crowd. Lifting her back up, she moved away from him as he pulled a cloth out and wiped his lips clean.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what if I told you that in just a few short years, your automobile won't even have to touch the ground at all." He announced.

The audience seemed to be intrigued with the introduction of a flying car, Anastasia couldn't help but smile. The girls worked together removing all the tires on the cherry red car. Meanwhile Anastasia continued to watch Howard move towards a control panel that had been brought out to the stage.

"With Stark Gravitic Reversion Technology you'll be able to do just that." Howard said.

He placed his hand on one of the knobs to turn it on. Slowly he moved the knob, a small smile fell onto Anastasia's face as the car started to lift up from the ground. She couldn't be more than happy with how things were turning out for the presentation.

However it didn't last, a spark came out of the car causing it to fall back down to the ground with a loud bang. "I did say a few years, didn't I?" Howard questioned. He looked out at the audience who had begun to clap for him. Howard smiled, then turned and walked off the stage.

"Well?" Howard questioned, she had turned around and followed next to him heading back towards his car.

"You still have a lot more to do with the car. But with my help, I think you'll get it up and running."

"What would I do without you Ana?"

"I don't know, crash and burn."