"I'm criticized but all your bullets ricochet

You shoot me down, but I get up"

- David Guetta ft. Sia, Titanium

Washington D.C., A Few Months Later

The ground rushed up to meet her, shoulder blades aching as they hit the padded floor of the training room. Anna groaned. It was as if she could feel the bruise forming. She ached all over, wondering if it was normal to feel like a train had hit her during combat lessons. Slowly, the young Stark rose to her feet, ignoring the snickers of the rest of the class.

SHIELD's offer to join the Avengers was quickly losing its appeal.

It had been weeks since she and her father met with Director Fury, who offered Anna Stark the chance of a lifetime. The brunette was not stupid by any means. When she accepted the offer, she knew that she would be tested like none other. It was not that she was out of shape. In fact, when the Ten Rings took her dad hostage, she turned to exercise, particularly boxing, as a means to distract herself. Even Nat had given her a few lessons when posing as Natalie Rushman.

But now, the young Stark was convinced that the Russian redhead was taking it easy on her. She never left their sparring sessions with bruises like the ones she had been collecting since her academy began. Thinking about that soured her mood. The redhead assassin was more badass than anyone in the room with her was and yet Nat took it easy on her. How was that supposed to help me? Anna thought.

Finally pulling herself into a standing position, Anna turned her head away from the target of her ire. Ryanne Weston had it in for the Stark since the moment Anna walked in on the first day. The brunette did not have to guess why. It was the same bullshit she had been dealing with her entire life.

Anna knew she was privileged. Being a Stark opened certain doors and allowed her to live a relatively charmed life compared to a large majority of the world. She had received the best teachers, an immediate acceptance to the college of her choosing, and now a first-class ticket into Earth's newest super squad. Except there was one obstacle, training.

Fury could not allow himself to bring a complete civilian with no combat experience into his team. He had a vision, a vision that included the best of the best and did not include an eighteen-year-old girl with no applicable skills aside from her immense intelligence messing everything up. Therefore, training was mandatory for the Stark girl.

Anna understood. She knew to play along. It was all temporary. Once she finished her SHIELD academy, she would be free to do whatever until Fury called her in his times of need.

Her classmates, though, were not very forgiving. It was not hard to see that each of them had worked very hard to get where they were. Some were ex-military or federal agents looking to move laterally into SHIELD after already being years into their careers. Others held PhDs in varying fields.

Anna did not even have a Ph.D.

They were the best of the best, yet Anna was the one with the golden ticket.

She felt a twinge of guilt in her chest when she thought about it, but she was not going to squander this opportunity. Realistically, she knew that even if she turned down the Avengers offer, Fury would not just choose another promising agent to take her spot. His decisions were methodical and strategic. It just meant that she had to live up to the expectations that everyone had for her, and she would.

The other recruits would not make it easy. They were already testing her every step of the way—Ryanne leading the charge.

It was the fourth time that day that Ryanne had already sent Anna to the ground and each time the mat separating the Stark girl from the concrete seemed to get thinner and thinner. Each time, Anna would pick herself back up, ignoring the scathing remarks whispered around her and Ryanne's malicious smirk.

It's all temporary. Anna thought. The pain is temporary.

Whatever they did to her, whatever was thrown at her, Anna would persevere. Get knocked down, get back up. These were all mantras she repeated to herself repeatedly, willing herself to become one of the best.

"Great job, Weston. Strong work as usual," Anna said. She was not trying to come across sarcastically. She genuinely wanted to get along with these people. The Stark girl wanted them to see her as an equal. She did not see herself as better than them because of who she was, so she just wanted the same treatment.

"All right. I think that's a wrap everyone," their instructor informed them, the group collecting their water bottles and heading back to the locker rooms. Anna sighed, walking to the edge of the mat to grab her own bottle. "Hold up, Stark."

Anna hesitated, rolling her aching shoulders as she turned toward her instructor. "Yes, sir?"

"Good job today. I can see some improvement," Agent Riker stated.

The dark-haired girl gave him a strained smile. "Thank you."

"Listen. I know that they've been giving you a hard time, but you've done a solid job of not letting it affect you. Keep doing what you're doing." Anna nodded and gave her thanks once again. "You're dismissed."

The Stark girl wandered to the locker room, secretly hoping that the other girls had not hung around so she could shower and change in peace. Her wish was granted. Not a soul lingered in the locker room, everyone eager to get on with their days. Quickly showering, although she wanted to stay under the water forever, the heat soothing on her sore body, she changed and headed back to her apartment.

She walked in the door, dropping her bag by the door and walked straight to the fridge. Grabbing one of her meals she prepped a couple of days beforehand, she tossed it in the microwave. Once it was done, she plopped down on the couch and started channel surfing.

Anna sighed as she ate her chicken alfredo, wondering when her life became so menial. It did not seem like that long ago she was fighting robots and terrorists alongside her dad, kicking ass and taking names. Now, her suit was packed up, untouched since the Stark Expo disaster months ago.

Even Jake had been more unavailable than usual as he was at a different stage in his own academy and had since gotten a girlfriend, making his time to spend with his best friend scarcer.

Her family was on the other side of the country.

The person she seemed to be seeing the most out of her loved ones was Rhodey who frequented the DC area, but even those visits were few and far between.

To put it simply, she was lonely.

Settling on some murder show on the ID channel, Anna finished her food and moved to lie down on her sofa, making sure her alarm on her phone was set in case she fell asleep. She had been sleeping a lot recently, whether it was because she was exhausted from her academy or just bored.

It did not take long for her eyes to flutter shut and for her to drift off into a restless sleep.

"Hey, kiddo!" Tony greeted his daughter on the other end of the video chat.

Anna forced a smile, "Hey, dad! How's everyone back home?" She was eager to keep the topic off her for as long as possible.

"Ah, everyone's fine. Pepper is still keeping me in line. Happy's blood pressure has gone up a bit. I teased him saying it was because you were gone and he's worried about you, but he keeps brushing me off. Easy to say everyone misses you, but Rhodey gives us updates in addition to your calls."

"Glad to hear everyone's doing well. Has Pepper officially moved in yet?"

Tony glanced behind him briefly, "Why don't you ask her yourself? She just walked in." Tony moved aside letting Anna see that the strawberry blonde woman had just entered her father's workshop.

"Oh, Anna!" Pepper happily exclaimed. "I didn't know you were calling today. Tony never tells me anything. I'm so sorry I haven't been in touch recently, sweetie. This company is driving me just a little crazy."

Anna gave the woman who was like a mother to her a genuine smile. "It's alright Pepper, I understand. It's nice to see you though."

Pepper smiled as she sat next to Tony. "So, your dad and I were thinking that we were going to fly out to visit next month too! I know we originally said that we were going to come out for your graduation which is still a couple of months out but it worked out schedule-wise so… if that's all right with you?"

Anna perked up at the thought, eager to have company and a piece of home in DC with her, if only for a little while. "Of course, yeah! I'd love for you to come to visit!"

"Oh, good! Great! I'll make the arrangements then," the strawberry blonde answered with a bright smile.

"Anyways, how's academy going?" her dad asked the dreaded question.

"It's good," she answered shortly.

Tony laughed. "Good. Aw, come on. Tell me how you're kicking ass! You gotta be top of the class, right? You always were an overachiever."

In a way, she was. She was excelling at all the written work and tests. It was the more physical work she was struggling with. Anna forced out a laugh. "Oh, you know it! Yeah, everything is going well. I'm passing my tests with flying colors and my combat instructor said that I've shown improvement and to keep doing what I'm doing, so…" she answered giving half-truths.

"That's my girl!" Tony exclaimed proudly.

Before he could say anything else, Anna's phone rang, displaying Jake's name on the screen.

"Hey, guys. I've got to go, Jake's calling me and I haven't spoken with him for a while with our opposite schedules, do you mi—?"

Before she could even finish the thought, Pepper waved her off. "Oh, no. Go ahead, Anna. We'll talk to you later this week once our travel plans are set."

"Thanks. Love you guys!"

"Love you!" they chorused before the video projection disappeared from the table in Anna's apartment. Thankfully, Tony had managed to help Anna rig her apartment with the latest tech so she could feel more at home.

Looking down at her phone, she quickly answered her best friend's call. "Hey, Jake! What's up? I feel like I haven't seen you in forever."

"I know! I miss my partner in crime. Life hasn't been the same. Anyway, that's why I wanted to call. So my academy is wrapping up in the next month, so they let us have an extra day to study for the next exam, which means we have today off… together… for once!"

"Really?!" Anna answered excitedly. She was actually going to see her friend!

"Yeah! So, I was thinking we go out to that Thai place near headquarters for lunch and then we can catch a movie or something before coming back to my place for dinner. You in?"

"Hell yeah!"

"Awesome! Besides, I really want you to meet my girlfriend," Anna tuned out what Jake said after the word 'girlfriend' left his mouth. It was not just a day for the two of them to go out and wreak havoc. No, instead it was a day where Anna has to be the third wheel as the couple went on a lunch date, and a movie date, and an intimate dinner date. She was starting to regret agreeing to this outing already.

"Anna? Anna?!" Jake called when she did not respond.

"Huh?"

Jake laughed. "I asked if noon was good for you to meet at my place."

"Uh, yeah. That works. I gotta go then so I can get ready."

"Sounds good. See ya soon!" Anna hung up the phone and tossed it onto the couch beside her.

The Stark girl picked up a throw pillow and held it up to her face before screaming into it. The one day she gets to spend with her best friend and she has to share him. Her luck.

She was not one to get 'friend jealous' but she really did not think it was that much to ask that the two of them had a day just to themselves. Especially, when he and this new girlfriend of his already saw each other more that she saw him.

Getting a good scream out, she set the pillow down and stood to begin getting ready. Even if this girlfriend was going to be there, she was going to make the best of it. Anna wiped her eyes, which had begun to well with tears, and steeled herself as she sifted through her closet.

It would be okay. Everything would be. This was only temporary. Jake was just in the honeymoon phase right now. Soon, it would all equal out. They would both graduate the academy and then their schedules would work out and they would see each other more. She would not be alone anymore.

Anna knocked on Jake's door and heard him call out, "One minute!"

After a few seconds, the door opened and brightly smiling Jake stood on the other side. "Hey!" he exclaimed pulling the smaller girl in for a hug. He squeezed her so tightly that the bruises from combat training jumped to the forefront of her mind.

"Easy there, big guy! You don't know your own strength since you bulked up," she joked, gesturing to Jake's large arms. He had always been fit, but while at MIT, he was more lanky than anything else. Since joining SHIELD, the Hall boy had beefed up considerably. He almost gave Steve Rogers a run for his money, and Jake did not even have a super-soldier serum.

"Oops, sorry! Combat training, right? Not used to getting your ass handed to you?"

Anna shook her head. "Not at all. I've always been more of a book smart kind of person."

"More like a smartass kind of person," he teased.

"Haha," Anna deadpanned. "It's just… Without the suit, I'm realizing just how fragile I am."

"Have you taken it for a spin recently?" Anna shook her head in response. "Why not? It'd probably feel good to get out and feel the wind on your helmet."

"Yeah… but there are quite the handful of powerful people here in DC that aren't very happy that I even have the suit. I figured it was best not to push my luck. Plus, I'm tired all the time."

"I feel that," he said as they sat on the couch.

The two sat around and made conversation while they waited for Jake's girlfriend to show up. Apparently, she was running late, which was fine by Anna as she enjoyed the alone time with Jake while she had it.

It felt like old times, except this time they were in his DC apartment, not her home in Malibu or his dorm at MIT. They caught up, complaining about certain instructors, giving advice, and swapping 'war' stories.

Before they knew it, almost an hour had passed and a knock sounded on the door. When Jake got up to answer it, Anna fiddled with her phone until he came back with the mystery girl in tow.

"Anna," Jake started, causing the Stark girl to look up. Although, Jake did not need to say anymore. Unable to help it, the smile on her face dropped as Jake continued the introductions. "This is Ryanne. Ryanne, this is Anna."

Ryanne. Ryanne Weston was standing in front of her. She was Jake's girlfriend. Anna really did have the worst of luck. The same girl that showed no mercy in combat training day after day and single-handedly led the anti-Anna club was dating her best friend.

Ryanne's face dropped too when she saw Anna, also not realizing who Jake's best friend had been this whole time. She was quicker to fix her face though. "Hi Anna," she greeted with a fake smile, before turning to Jake. "We actually know each other. We're in the same academy class."

"Oh, really? What a coincidence," Jake said.

Anna forced out a chuckle, "Yeah… Haha, what a coincidence." Fuck my life, she thought.

So, the chapters from now on are going to be around 2500-3000 words long because it's much easier for me to crank out chapters of that length regularly than 6000-word chapters.

Finally back to updating this story. Hopefully, I can keep with this updating schedule through the holidays, but once Christmas is over I'll have fewer obligations and won't be as easily distracted by other issues.

ANYWAY!

I am reinvigorated to write for Anna and Steve so I want to finish this and Kelda as quickly as possible to get on to the Avengers. I just saw Knives Out, which was sooo good! But, Ana de Armas, who I imagine as Anna, plays Marta in the movie and has several scenes with Chris Evans, so seeing them on screen together made me so happy!

I hope you enjoy. Next update should be 2 weeks from now.