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          ━━ A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER, Vision, Nat, and Steve first flew to Ukraine on the S.H.I.E.L.D's jet, and after asking S.H.I.E.L.D to borrow their SUV, the Avengers headed to Aleyna's house, Steve driving.

The blond was always insistent on having the male— or the closest thing to male, in Vision's case— drive. He was only a product of his time period, so of course, when Nat offered to take the wheel for once, he refused, for it was a "gentleman's job" as he claimed.

As Steve pulled into the driveway, the three Avengers looked up at the house, Steve's lips pursing slightly.

"Vision, are you sure this is right? This is a civilian household. The sheer amount of vibranium that you and Steve found couldn't have come from the house." The redhead looked to the synthezoid.

"I assure you, Agent Romanoff, this is the correct location." Vision confirmed with a nod. "We can't be too raucous; we needn't any more bad speculation on our names."

"Right. Maybe the vibranium is around the area. We could split up." Steve suggested, parking before taking the key out of the keyhole. "Vision goes east, I go west, Nat goes north. We all meet in the car in twenty minutes, and try not to make a scene and pull your gun out unless it's absolutely necessary."

"I have no gun."

"...Then don't blast anything, Vis."

"Understood, Captain Rogers." Vision nodded. "Everyone has their earpieces?" Nat looked to the other men's ears, the two nodding. The three Avengers stepped out of the SUV, going their own ways.

Nat almost knocked on the front door, but decided against it. They needed to stay low, at least for now. She decided to go around to the back and check the family's backyard.

She felt odd, being out in the open at two in the afternoon. But, most of the civilians have work on the weekends, and she was dressed like them. Besides, who the hell roams around the woods for fun?

Looking around the woods for a while, the redhead found nothing until she saw a girl standing in front of a tall, white metal... thing... that stood at five feet.

The girl seemed to be working on it, perhaps corrupting whatever it was? Nat carefully crouched behind a tree to get a better look without getting caught.

"I found something. Over." She whispered, praying that Vision and Steve could hear her.

"What is it? Over." The blond man replied.

"I'll send the location. It's a... a metal thing."

"A metal... thing?" Vision repeated as Nat looked at the high-tech wristwatch on her right wrist. A hologram lit up, bursting to life. After sending her location to the other two, she turned the wristwatch off and began to cautiously approach the girl.

As she got closer, details became even clearer; there were tools like a small blow torch, a metal welding mask, and a few gloves.

"Hands where I can see them!" Nat called out, aiming her gun at the girl's back as Aleyna turned around with her hands in the air. "I'm Agent Romanoff with S.H.I.E.L.D, and-"

"You're one of the murderers from the Sokovia battle." Aleyna finished, slowly putting her hands down, her accent sounding foreign to Nat's ears. "What have I done?"

"Dangerous, surplus amount of vibranium traced from the remains of Ultron." Nat answered, her face as tolerant as normal.

"Well, Agent Romanoff, you're a bit too late. I've had this for days, and I've already used it. What are you gonna do, make me unbuild everything?"

Nat cocked a brow without lowering her gun. She knew this child wouldn't do much; it's a child. "Do you wanna find out, or just show me what your plan is?"

Aleyna sighed. "Then you have to promise not to shoot me."

"You have to promise not to try anything. I'm not lowering the gun."

"Water." The brunette placed her hand on the large machine. "A massive water filter. It can take a bunch of water and filter it. It'll save the world without destroying people's homes." She hinted.

Nat only listened, not finding any criticisms as Vision and Steve approached the two, confused. "A machine?" Steve questioned. "You got all of this vibranium for a vacuum?"

"Ok, no, I'm not stupid. And tell your agent to lower her gun. Unless she's scared of rain, I have nothing here." Aleyna argued.

"It's true. I see no weapons." Vision confirmed after scanning the area.

"I'm still not lowering the gun."

"Fine. Well, Aleyna, we didn't come all the way out here for fun. Before we take you into S.H.I.E.L.D, show us what you needed the vibranium for."

"Wait- S.H.I.E.L.D?!" The girl gasped. "In America?! Why?! I didn't do anything wrong!"

"You have a great deal of the world's strongest metal that you got from the scraps of an android that tried to destroy the entire human race." Vision reasoned in a calm tone, Aleyna sighing.

"I got it from freaking eBay. Do you think I went all the way to Sokovia for this? No. I'm not stupid. Besides, I'm not quite sure you all are the ones to get on me for dangerous work. Your little boss man made a murder robot and it backfired. Bad. You're... you're like whores for homicide. But if I have to prove that I'm not a criminal, so be it." She groaned, looking to the side of the filter.

"Dirty water comes through here, and clean water comes through the other side." She explained, pointing to the other side.

"How do we know you're not lying?" Nat challenged, Aleyna grabbing a gallon of creek water that she had laid between the branches of the tree. "Pour it." She held it up to Nat. "If I'm such a shitty person, then do it."

"No one said you were-" Steve began, only to be cut off by the teen.

"Insinuation. Look, all of us are smart. We all know this is completely out of protocol, alright? I should be on the way to America by now, but I'm not, because you don't need a high-profile case like this on your records. So, I'll go with you easily on a few conditions; I get to bring my phone and laptop, but you can look through both of them as much as you please."

"You don't make demands." Nat snapped.

"You Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D are in absolute ruins right now." Aleyna crossed her arms. "I never said I wouldn't go. I just said that I would go under some conditions. You can't force me to do anything if there's no proof that I did anything illegal. Hell, I'll let you search my room right now."

Vision, Nat, and Steve shared a look before turning to the house. "Fine." Steve agreed, the three Avengers making their way to Aleyna's house as the Ukrainian followed.

Nat put the gun in her gun holster, but her hand never left it.

After searching the girl's room, the Avengers found nothing that seemed suspicious (Although, poor Vision found Aleyna's maxi pad stash, and the synthezoid thanked God that he struggled to feel human emotions.)

"Well, what now?" The girl questioned sitting on her bed.

"We go to the compound. We go talk to Fury, and we get to the bottom of this. The vibranium could be smuggled. How did your parents not see the big box at the door?" Steve explained, crossing his arms.

"To be a thousand, I don't even know." She shrugged. "They're not very... observant."

"To be a thousand?" Nat questioned. "What is that? Is that code?"

"It means I'm being honest. People say 'one thousand percent honest.' I say 'being a thousand.'" She explained. "Now, let's go. I don't like my mom, and I don't think she'd notice if I left."

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word count: 1,307

author's note:

... So I know S.H.I.E.L.D would literally never do this BUT in this book they do <3

-v