✦✧✦✧✦✧

DESPITE THE OVERCAST SKY, IT WAS VERY bright when Anastasia and Steve broke free of the compound. The air was sharp and invigorating, but tasted overwhelmingly of metal and ash instead of snow. Bitter winter wind blew her breath away in a billowing cloud, but she couldn't have felt more exhilarated.

"I hate it." She breathed, as Steve came to stand beside her, making a sound traceable to a quiet chuckle.

"Not a fan of the outdoors?" He asked, scanning the horizon.

Anastasia shrugged her jacket further over her shoulders as a response. "You could say that." She said. "It's just I expected something far uglier– a moat filled with fire, or a dragon perhaps. Not... this..."

The compound was surrounded by mountains, and winter-stripped trees, stone roadways sliced through the face of the summit in cross-cross patterns. Snow stained the cliff-sides, shockingly white against scores of gray. It was the kind of image from a children's book, a false eighth Wonder of the World. In the distance, something caught her attention.

A large, black helicarrier was landing amongst the trees in the distance, crushing foliage and forestry as it descended. It was an unfamiliar design, though she prayed it was not reinforcements of the bad kind. The last thing they needed was more of Strucker's high-tech equipped soldiers to be flouncing around in the battlefield.
"Friends of yours?" She inquired.

Steve nodded.
"Just in time– it's getting a little busy out here." He replied. "We better get going."

A set of steps opened to their left, disappearing into a complicated series of flights down the side of the compound. Steve took a few paces towards the top stoop, and upon starting his descent, seemed to recognize Anastasia had not followed.
She'd hung back, staring at Steve apprehensively. He'd taken nearly an entire flight before realizing she no longer matched his pace.

"Are you coming or not?" He asked, halting precariously on the next set of stairs.

Anastasia took a deep breath, holding it down in her chest. With a timid glance back the way they came, she chosen her words carefully.

"How do I know you're being truthful?" She crossed her arms, sending spirals of gold over the cuffs of her jacket. "Trust is not readily earned around here. Who is to say you and your team won't hand me over to the first bidder that raises his hand?"

The whirring blades of the helicarrier echoed from the forest, and strange bolts of light pulsed periodically above the trees nearby. Life in her cell had been sheltered and tedious, but it had been relatively safe from the other evils of the world. If she stepped aboard that helicarrier, who was to know that she wouldn't be sold to more people like Strucker, or punished for being one of his "illegal experiments"? How would she find her family then?

How would she find Pietro? In all the chaos, she realized she'd forgotten him, and his vow to return for her. What would he do when he returned for an empty cell? Would he fear she'd been taken– or would be believe he betrayed his faith?

Steve paused, he too glancing out against the battlefield.
"You don't know that." He said. "But you're going to have to extend a little bit of that trust."

She remembered Pietro and his pledges, how he'd been so confident that they would scuffle out of this alive, and that things would be better again. She'd couldn't rely on every single person that begged for her assurance. Hope was too weak of a word.

With a frown, she jogged down a few steps, and placed her hand against the metal railing. Gilt shot from beneath her fingers, and up the banister, disappearing up the top step.

"I've been treated like monstrosity, a– a cretin, for six years, and you still speak so lightly of my trust." She sounded desperate if anything, not remotely angry as she wished. "I want to be promised."

"Promised?" Steve echoed.

"Yes, promised..."

Promised. Promised of what, she wondered, grudgingly. That you won't have chains around your ankles for the rest of your life? Promised that they won't see you in the same light as List and Strucker? She needed to remain practical.

"I want to be promised that I can make my own choices from now on." She stated. "I've had enough of men looking over my shoulder for me."

A distant boom, and the crackle of lightning reverberated underfoot. Anastasia's heart picked up, and she nearly flattened herself to the stairs. Still, she remained rooted to her spot, trying to appear resolute in her decision. Steve stared at her for longer than she liked, before nodding.

"If you come with me now, I will promise you." He said. "But you have to promise me something in return."

She stared decidedly back at him.
"What?"

"You're going to be afraid." He replied. "But through whatever happens from now on, you have to promise me that you will keep a clear head. You'll be able to help us."

Anastasia shifted her weight uneasily, but the cold was beginning to get to her, seeping beneath her clothes and freezing her joints. If this was to be her downfall, then so be it. She'd been afraid for as long as she'd been shackled up in this hell pit, she could manage a little more.
"Ai o afacere." She responded.

In a few steps, she had joined him at the next flight. Together, they raced down the remaining clusters of staircases, and finally dropped down onto a snow-beaten path that disappeared into the courtyard.

Soldiers were running in every which direction, the violet glow of their equipment weaving between trees.

"Run." Steve instructed, before taking off. If Anastasia thought his gait down the stairs had been worrisome to keep up with, it was nothing close to his sprint. He'd made it nearly half-way across the courtyard before Anastasia had lurched forward to follow.

He slowed only for her to catch up, deflecting blasts from enemy fire, and keeping their path clear with his shield. His stride outmatched hers easily, but she held her own against the soldiers, quickly dodging beneath fists and outreached guns. She caught one man by the barrel, and watched briefly as he swore and threw down his weapon before the gold touched his hands.

Her sides ached within minutes. The stress she was exerting on her legs was almost excruciating– wadding through snow that was nearly knee deep, across a courtyard nearly as long as football field, was not as easy as Steve showcased it as.

The helicarrier became visible in a clearing ahead, gated by burnt trees, and the scattered bodies of Strucker's men. A catwalk was extended from the side, welcoming she and Steve's arrival from far away. Some tangled sliver of hope fluttered in her chest– she might be free, and it was awaiting for her only yards ahead.

A dazzling blue blur ripped past Anastasia's vision, and yanked her off her feet. She was throw sideways, driven nearly face first into the ground, skidding to an icy halt. Her cheek felt skinned and raw when she picked herself up, gaze obscured by the golden snow proliferating beneath her.

Ahead, Steve too had been blown off course, but with practiced ease, had landed in a crouch.

A man had stopped a few feet from where Anastasia had been discarded. Silver hair fell over his brow, a self-proclaimed smirk fading rapidly from his face when their eyes met. For a moment, he might have appeared incredulous to see her, but the expression was short lived. She was traveling with the enemy.

Betrayed. She decided. He would look betrayed.

"You don't understand–" she started, but Steve's shield cut her short. With a great whizzing noise, it flung over Pietro's head, a hit that would have been devastatingly painful if Pietro had not ducked away. The shield struck a tree and bounced off, but it's target had already zipped off.

"Anastasia, move!" Steve yelled, catching up his shield as it returned to him.

She stood, but her legs refused to move her any further. Her surrounding shifted on their axis, the horizon tipped on ungodly angles. The fall had smarted, but Peitro's dejected countenance had nearly ripped her heart out.

Glove-studded hands gripped her shoulder, stumbling along as Steve dragged her towards the helicarrier. Words died on her tongue, but she knew what she meant.

I can't leave him.

Anastasia took one last look over the courtyard as they reached the catwalk, but Pietro was no where to be seen.

Then the runway lifted, and the helicarrier swallowed her up.

✦✧✦✧✦✧

Nausea gripped at Anastasia stomach as the ship rose. Steve led her to the back of the unit to sit down, but the eyes of his crew were already persistently glued to her.

"You brought one of them along?" A stoic-eyed woman with red hair was the first speak up. A raised brow completed her unnerved expression. Anastasia noticed the gurney she stood over– one of their team had been injured in the fight.

"You said you disengaged her." Snapped a man at the head of helicarrier. When he turned, a glowing circle lit up the center of his chest.

"And here she is, disengaged." Steve said. The man across from Steve threw up his hands. "I thought she might be useful."

"Useful?" The man replied. "She worked for that punk and his men, you can't just strut a prisoner up here and expect a welcoming party."

"She's just a kid." Steve held up a hand. "And she made her decision. She's under my jurisdiction until we get back to headquarters, Stark."

"Then you're dealing with Hill when all of SHIELD comes out crawl all over her case." Stark mumbled, turning back to the control panel he was seated before. "JARVIS, man autopilot incline for a bit."

A cool, male voice alit at Anastasia's ear. She nearly jumped.
"Yes, sir." JARVIS responded. The ship had replied back.

She cast a quick glance around the ship, trying to keep to herself as much as possible. Besides Stark at the panel, and the redheaded woman with her injured companion, there were several other new faces to look at.
A barechested man sitting across from her was shrugging a shirt over his head, a pair of headphones balanced in his lap. He seemed to be avoiding everyone else's eye as well. Beside him, a large man wearing armor and a long red cape stood, a friendly grin aimed in her direction.

In attempt to ward off his attention, she turned away, but found herself focusing on a table propped up near him. A long, shimmering staff were its only contents.

"You stole it?" Anastasia nearly shrieked. The nausea peaked, and she though she might be sick. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that thing is?"

"That exactly why Baron Strucker wanted to keep it a secret so badly." The red haired woman said. A smooth, charismatic tone inflicted a conflict within Anastasia– whether to be comforted, or nervous. "To make people like you. To create wars, and make people suffer."

"I never wanted a war." Anastasia deadpanned. "I never wanted anything Strucker gave me. That bastard deserves to rot."

To her surprise, the injured man gave a small chuckle, which quickly turned into a painful hiss.

"I can't tell you don't get out often." The woman said, appearing fleetingly worried over her partner's disarray. "Men like Strucker exist everywhere. War isn't exactly something you can avoid."

"So is that your job then?" Anastasia glanced up to Steve, who still stood beside her. "You fight the bad guys, America's Avengers?"

"Some deserve a little more recognition than others, but yes." Stark called from the front. Any hostility seemed to be momentarily forgotten.

Anastasia faced the scepter again, a tight-lipped frown tugging at her lips.

"And what exactly do the Avengers want with the Scepter?" She asked, bitterly. "Better plans than human experimentation, I presume?"

"My brother used that Scepter to terrorize thousands of innocent lives." The armor-wearing man said, with a booming voice that Anastasia had whole-heartedly expected from such a figure. "Your German scientist used it on far less with similar results."

"Whose your brother?"

The man looked horridly confused, then uncomfortable as he tried to regain his composure.

"Loki, the god of mischief, as he's been called." He responded, as if Anastasia was supposed to know him personally. "My brother, of course."

"Then who does that make you?" Anastasia asked.

His face dropped, and for the first time Anastasia realize he was carrying a large hammer in one of his hands.

"The mighty Thor, of course. God of thunder!" He rumbled. "Son of Odin... Prince of Asgard...? ... Is none of this ringing a bell?"

"Not one." Anastasia said.

"Don't get too worked up, bud." Stark added, offhandedly.

"Supposedly I've been living under a rock for the last six years." Anastasia paused. "Or a cell for that matter."

"And you've never heard of the Avengers before?" Steve asked.

"Mentions, really." Anastasia bent her head from everyone's stare, pretending to be interested in her fingernail. "Strucker warned us you would try to kill us. You became a sort of 'kill-on-sight' negotiation..."

"Us?" The woman echoed. "The other enhanceds?"

"Yes." Anastasia peeled off the edge of her thumbnail, pausing to add a sort of disdainful tone to her voice. "Only he didn't exactly tell us what you all looked like. At least not me."

A spell of silence crested over the aircraft. The beat of twin engines thrummed beneath her feet, and Anastasia recognized exactly how exhausted she really was. If anything, she wished to lie down, and drift away– away from everyone's wary gaze, that was.

"He didn't want me to fight." She chimed back in. She finally tilted her head back up, meeting red haired woman's eye. "Sometimes you can be a part of a war, and play no role. I was useless to him."

"He did this to you." The man beside Thor finally spoke up, his headphones draped around his neck. "And he had the luxury to toss you aside? That doesn't make sense."

"No, it doesn't." Anastasia agreed. "But, perhaps it saved me in the end. He left me alone."

She braced her hand against the edge of her seat, avoiding the curious stares of her new companions as gold crept up the panel behind her. Instead, she glanced around the nearest window, and tried to figure out how she'd fix this mess.

AUTHOR'S NOTE !
hello my lovelies !

thank you for reading this chapter, and welcome to a well-deserved and long-forgotten update to gold rush.

i may or may not have forgotten to update, but my marvel phase keeps kicking in and out, so it's been awhile since i've visited this book (look at me i have actual motivation)

this chapter's a long one, but i plan for most of my chapters from now one to be this length, so forgive if it feels like a scene drags in for too long !

love you all, enjoy <3