Pfft, the title is a phrase I wish I could say.

Anyways, I just wanted to say before we start the chapter that I don't own some of the dialogue below. Credits to the MCU movie that it's from. All I did was edit it a little bit to fit my storyline.

Also, it's probably best if you ignore that dang-awful aesthetic I made for Ashley and just keep on scrollin

"Oh sh-"

    Ashley couldn't even finish her sentence. Her mouth just didn't work properly at this point.

    "Ashley?! What the he** are you doing here?"

    "Watch your language around minors," A man dressed in a dark blue suit with a silver star across the chest snapped, giving Natasha a stern look.

    Oh crap oh crap oh crap, Ashley thought to herself. This was not good. This was very not good. Of all agents to be assisting her on this mission, it had to be the very one that thought that she was safe at home, working on exhausting math homework. Her fright made her not even register who the man standing next to Natasha was.

    "You shouldn't be here," Natasha began, causing Ashley to wince at the oncoming speech. "You should be at home, like you said you were. Is lying to me okay all of the sudden?"

    "Uh... I finished my math homework early?" Ashley scrambled for an excuse, looking down at her feet.

    "I'm just about ready pull you out of S.H.I.E.L.D. in general! There's no way your first mission as a 14-year-old is going to be a dangerous op like this. I mean, what does Fury even have you doing?!"

    "She's our squadron's leader," a voice from behind Natasha interjected, walking out of the shadows. Ashley sighed in relief, knowing that she didn't have to lie to Natasha about her other agenda. He strode past Natasha and went straight up to Ashley, extending a hand. "Agent Brock Rumlow, at your service."

    "Nice to meet you sir," Ashley nodded, taking his hand and shaking it. It wasn't until then, when she looked past Rumlow to find any other of her team's members, did it finally sink in who the man in the dark blue suit was.

    "Whoa whoa whoa," she stuttered, staring at an equally confused-looking man. "You're- he's- WHAT... what's Captain America doing here?!"

    "Do you know her?" Steve asked Natasha, dodging Ashley's question.

    "Unfortunately, I do," Natasha sarcastically sighed, earning a stuck-out tongue from Ashley. "I'm her... legal guardian," Natasha added with playful distaste.

    "Wait a hot second," Steve blinked, his mouth fully agape. He still hadn't answered Ashley's question yet, but she shrugged it off. There was no denying that the one and only Captain America was standing before her.  "You adopted a daughter?! Where in the world did you find the time to do this?"

    "It's a bit more complicated than that," Ashley chuckled, thinking about her entire backstory with Natasha. "But yeah, I guess you could say she's my adoptive mother. I'm also the new leader of the S.T.R.I.K.E. team."

    "You are?" He questioned, gesturing for her to step out of the way so they could close the Quinjet's hatch and start their flight. "But you're so..."

    "Young? Yeah, I get that a lot." Ashley rolled her eyes.

    The captain turned back to Natasha, confusion still written all over his face. "And you just failed to mention this to me?"

    "Eh, you never asked," she shrugged, moving over to the other side of the room to grab a couple of pistols and load them.

    "What else do I need to ask about, then?" He muttered incredulously, loud enough for the two of them to hear. It took some effort for Ashley to be able to stifle her chuckle. "Let me guess, you also have a secret Hungarian boyfriend."

    "Nope," Ashley answered for Natasha, taking this opportunity and running with it. "She's single as a Pringle, and totally ready to mingle." The teenager ended the phrase with a suggestive eyebrow raise.

    "You just met the guy Ash. Don't go embarrassing him already," Natasha facepalmed as Steve's cheeks faintly dusted pink.

    "And miss the chance to give my ship a little push? Nah," Ashley smirked, then walked over to join Natasha in gearing up.

    "Ship?" Steve echoed, his out-of-touch-with-the-modern-world showing.

    "Don't ask," Natasha sighed. "You wouldn't understand. I don't even understand."

    "Yes you do," the teenager taunted. "You just don't want him to know what I'm talking about."

    "Which, by the way, you shouldn't even be talking about! I told you that Beth didn't like that guy!"

    Steve watched listlessly as the two women continued bickering, in a firm but yet playful way, like that for the next five minutes. With the number of inside references they were using, they could've been speaking another language. Like really, who in the world was Bethany? He turned to Brock, who was busy checking some holographic maps.

    "Do they always do... 'this'?" Steve asked, gesturing to their banter at the word this.

    "I don't know," Brock admitted. "It's the first time I've seen 'em together too. But by the looks of it sir, I'd assume so."

    "Well then," Steve coughed awkwardly. "I'm, ya know, just gonna go take a seat over here and let them hash it out..."

    "I'm right with you," Brock laughed, joining Steve on the far end of the Quinjet and watching in amusement as the sarcastic battle unraveled between the two women.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

    "Peter," Natasha finally said, crossing her arms in triumph, knowing that she had won.

    "What does he have to do with any of this?" Ashley fired back, a tint of nervousness laced into her voice.

    "If you want to talk about crushes, then you have it. You and Peter."

    "Wait a minute," Ashley began, trying to comprehend what Natasha was saying. "You think...? Me and Peter? Pfft, please. We're just friends."

    "Mhm," Natasha smirked. "Sure y'all are. That's what they all say."

    "Except we actually are," Ashley groaned. "Seriously, I'm not wanting to date anyone right now. Shoot, I just turned down a guy to homecoming the other day. Well, that actually doesn't count. There was a good reason to that..."

    "Hold up," Natasha interjected, raising a finger. "A guy asked my little girl out?!"

    "Well, I mean, it's just homecoming..."

    "THE NERVE THAT SHADY IDIOT HAS!" She exclaimed furiously, causing Ashley to tilt her head at the assassin.

    "What do you mean? You were literally just trying to pair me up with a friend not five seconds ago."

    "That's different," Natasha insisted. "That's Peter. Whoever the h*ll this kid that asked you out to homecoming is not Peter, and I'm very not okay with that. Next time that happens to you, just give me a ring and I'll deal with the little sh*t myself."

    "None of this makes sense," Ashley sighed, walking away from Natasha and taking a seat by Steve. "Why are you so obsessed with Peter?"

    "Because he's Peter," Natasha blatantly stated. "I trust Peter."

    "You've literally met him once, and you were decked out in a wig and sunglasses. How the heck are you so chill about him?"

    "For starters, first-time impressions are everything. He made a pretty good impression on me. And, for two, you never shut up about him," Natasha rolled her eyes at the last statement.

    "Please," Ashley groaned. "I never talk about him. You must be hallucinating."

    "Say what you want," Natasha finally caved, raising her hands up. "But I'll be waiting when that young man shows up on my doorstep with a bouquet of roses addressed to you."

    "He'll probably just be the delivery man," Ashley muttered under her breath. Even if she did like him that way, there was no way the boy had feelings for her. In fact, she was almost positive that he had a little sugar crush on Liz, her female best friend.

    "If you ever feel like shutting up about your boy talk, we do have a mission to discuss," Steve finally interjected, tired enough to slap the both of them. They had wasted nearly the whole flight to the Indian Ocean with their arguing.

    "She started it," Ashley protested, waving a finger in Natasha's direction.

    "That's such a little kid thing to say," the spy admonished, then slyly added, "Besides, you were the one that brought up me being single earlier."

    "NAT!" Steve finally snapped. "You're just as bad, you know."

    "I know," Natasha shrugged. "That's why we're such a good fit for each other."

    "Not true," he shook his head. "She needs someone more level-headed in her life. That used to be you, but Lord knows what happened. I feel like your mentality has im-matured about 20 years."

    "What? Like you?" Ashley scoffed before realizing her opportunity. "I mean, that could totally be arranged. You know, you, Romanoff, raising me together..." she wandered off and gave the two a smirk.

    "Oh my God Ashley," Natasha groaned, slumping down in her chair and slapping her palm against her forehead. "You really had to?"

    "Duh," Ashley grinned. "Ship's gotta sail, y'know."

    "I'm really starting to wonder what this whole ship thing means," Steve noted aloud, triggering a staredown between Natasha and Ashley.

    "Don't," Natasha demanded at the exact same time that Ashley said, "Do."

    Steve shook his head in amusement at the two women. Yeah, whatever modern culture they were referencing to would have to be answered by Sam later. For now, he had to figure out a way to get them to shut up long enough to discuss the mission. After taking a brief glance at his watch and noting that they would be reaching their target in about five minutes, he stood up and cleared his throat.

    "If the two of you don't mind, we actually have a mission."

    Natasha and Ashley both silenced immediately and snapped their necks around to look at Steve. Both looking down at their own watches, noting that their arrival was in less than five minutes, then smiled sheepishly and turned their attention to the matters at hand. Brock walked up from behind them and opened up a hologram with details of their mission listed.

    "The target is a mobile satellite launch platform: The Lemurian Star. They were sending up their last payload when pirates took them, 93 minutes ago."

    Steve hummed thoughtfully before replying, "Any demands?"

    "A billion and a half."

    "Why so steep?" He questioned with a grim face. Before Brock could answer, Ashley butted in.

    "Because it's SHIELD's, and we're trespassing," Ashley spat, a sour taste in her mouth from her bitter thoughts towards the Director and whatever board he responded to.

    "I'm sure they have a good reason," Natasha tried to convince them, but both of the superhumans just looked at her and rolled their eyes.

    "You know, I'm getting a little tired of being Fury's janitor," Steve grumbled. Ashley added in her 'mhm's as she walked over to the other side of the Quinjet and began loading her suit and hands up with weapons.

    "Relax, it's not that complicated," the red-head joined Ashley and started sifting through the guns, trying to find to ones she typically used.

    Not that complicated, Ashley scoffed in her head. No, I'm totally not doing a secret mission inside of a secret mission right now with whatever the heck that O-8-4 is.

    "How many pirates?" Steve suddenly asked, breaking the silence that had grown after their last argument.

    "25, top mercs, led by this guy. George Batroc," Rumlow answered, pulling up the file on the monitor. Ashley and Natasha finished up with their ammunition-hoarding and wandered over to the area. "Ex-DGSE, action division," he started up again, scrolling through information. "He's at the top of Interpol's Red Notice. Before the French demobilized him, he had 36 kill missions. This guy's got a rep for maximum casualties."

    "Hostages?" Steve quickly asked. Ashley grimaced as she saw the wheels turning in the captain's head.

    "Uh...mostly techs. One officer, Jasper Sitwell," Brock answered.

    "Not to mention Agent Hill," Ashley added, thinking back to her conversation with Fury. "These pirates aren't playing around. They're getting down and dirty."

    "That doesn't explain what Sitwell's doing on a launch ship," Steve dully noted, looking down and tightening one of his straps. "So what was Hill doing then? Having a party?"

    "If you call supervising important and potentially dangerous cargo a party, you can count me out of the next family gathering," Ashley chimed, causing even Brock to stifle a chuckle. "Anyways, let's cut this fiesta short. I'm sure being held at gunpoint isn't very entertaining for our agents down in the ship."

    "Alright. I'm gonna sweep the deck and find Batroc. Nat, you'll kill the engines and wait for instruction. Tanner, you'll sweep aft, find the hostages, get them to the life-pods, get 'em out. Let's move," Steve ordered.

    "Aft... meaning?" Ashley sheepishly asked.

    "It means towards the stern, genius," Natasha answered with a roll of her eyes, playfully flicking the side of Ashley's head.

    Seeing that the rest of her team was just standing around, Ashley sighed and cleared her throat. "STRIKE, you heard the Cap. Gear up."

    As everyone finished getting their tools and ammunition ready, the teenager idly picked up a bullet and held it between her thumb and index finger. Then, with a slow breath, she narrowed in on the piece of metal and surrounded it with her mystical aura. Before she could blink, its weight was lifted from her fingers and was now hovering above her hand. Before anyone could notice, she turned her back to everyone else and decided to eavesdrop while warming up her powers.

    "Secure channel seven," a deep voice began, who Ashley quickly singled out as Steve.

    "Seven secure. Did you do anything fun Saturday night?" Another voice replied, this time much more feminine and familiar to Ashley. She easily recognized it as Natasha.

    "Well, all the guys from my barbershop quartet are dead, so... no, not really."

    The icy-haired girl was barely able to muffle her laugh at the dry humor. Yep, there was definitely some sarcasm bottled up in the captain from the 70 years he had been on ice.

    "Coming up by the drop zone, Cap," a yet again different voice announced, who Ashley guessed was the pilot.

    "You know, if you ask Kristen out, from Statistics, she'd probably say yes," Natasha pointed out, causing Ashley to drop the bullet and facepalm. Really? Was the ginger that stupid? You aren't going to get a man by trying to set him up with other women.

    "That's why I don't ask," Steve replied, causing the girl to grin. Now that was what she liked to hear.

    "Too shy or too scared?"

    By this point the teenager had turned around and was watching the conversation play out. Before she could say anything, Steve had began to walk towards the opened door of the Quinjet and was preparing to jump. Her eyes widened as she realized he didn't even have a parachute on him.

    "Too busy!" He called out. With that, the Captain was gone from the jet and into the dark of the night.

    "Was he wearing a parachute?" A STRIKE agent suddenly asked in genuine concern. Ashley broke out into a smile before she answered.

    "No. No he wasn't."

So, how many of you guessed that it was going to be Steve and Natasha that she ran into?

Also... WE'RE FINALLY IN WINTER SOLDIER OH EM GEEEEEE!!!!