Rising from the Ashes

Old "Friends"

Takes Place in Winter Soldier

Ash's POV

It was the middle of the night and I was sitting at my desk carving another wooden statue of a cat, wearing a t-shirt, dark blue jeans, red sneakers, and a dark blue flannel sweater tied around my waist when I asked,

"JARVIS?"

"Yes Ms. Ash?"

"Can you turn on the tv and put on the news please?"

"I would not recommend that at this moment."

"Why not?"

"I'm afraid it would upset you."

"JARVIS, I can handle whatever nonsense the news has to offer." I assured him as I put the finished statue down and started cleaning up the wood shavings from the desk top.

"Very well..." The tv turned on and instantly the line of text on the red Breaking News bar caught my attention, "Captain America; Public Enemy Number One."

"What?!" I bolted up from my seat and turned the volume up, listening as the news described how Steve Rogers was involved in the death of Nick Fury, fled from S.H.I.E.L.D., and has not been heard from since.

"This can't be..." I put a hand to my mouth in disbelief when a beeping alert broke my attention away from the screen.

"There is someone who wishes to see you in the labs." JARVIS informed me and I asked,

"Who?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D. authorities." I left my room walking rapidly and was met with four armored soldiers with a man leading them in the lab area.

"What's going on?" I demanded to know and the lead man asked,

"Are you Ash?"

"Yes, and, with all due respect, you didn't answer my question." I did my best to maintain a composed appearance but my hands started to heat up anyway.

"My name is Brent Hallaway and we believe you are in danger. I've been sent by Alexander Pierce, the Secretary of the World Security Council, to bring you to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters in Washington D.C. immediately."

"I'm not sure about this..." I told him warily, slowly backing away from them.

"Please, we don't want to have to bring you to him by force, but we have been authorized to do so if you don't come quietly."

"True words of an authoritarian..." I quietly pulled the phone that Tony gave me before he left in case I needed to contact him or the others out of my back pocket and was about to hit the extra panic button he had installed on it, when I felt it being taken out of my grasp forcefully before my arms were grabbed and held behind my back.

"We didn't want to have to do it this way, but the hard way it is." Hallaway gave a signal to the man holding me and I was forcefully moved along until I shouted,

"JARVIS, activate Protocol 3 7 9!"

"Protocol 3 7 9 activated." All the tower lights went out and my natural night vision activated, surprising the men long enough for me to wrench my arms out of their grip and fire several blasts of flames to keep them away.

"Protocol Override Accepted." JARVIS's systems were hacked to where the light came back on and I no longer had the element of surprise in the dark.

"Oh boy..." I looked at the men as they pulled their weapons out and red lasers were aimed right at my core.

"Now how 'bout you come quietly and not give us any trouble this time, hmm?" Hallaway asked with a condescending tone of voice.

"No!" I fired a blast up at the wall to ceiling window, breaking it and giving me an opening to escape by flying out into the open outside.