Lilliana: The Oldest Maximoff [Discontinued]

Bad News

I see a picture of my street demolished along with my house.

"No, no, no. This is not happening!" I sob, "this is just some terrible dream or something."

"No, this isn't real. My family is okay. There is no way that Stark is responsible for something like this. Him and I are on good terms, now."
I mutter in my native tongue.

"Lilliana, you need to calm down. Take a deep breath." Happy attempts to soothe me.

"No, no, no," I ignore him, "this isn't real, this isn't real. Everyone's fine. I'll get to see them again."
I continue to ramble Sokovian terms.

"Hey, breathe. I can't understand what you're saying." Happy states worriedly.

Suddenly anger rushes over me.
"Come on, Happy, let's go."

"What? Why? Where are we going?" He asks.

"I have a meeting to go to!"

I'm already halfway out the door when Happy catches up to me.

"Lilliana, I don't think that going to this meeting is the best idea. You aren't in the right state of mind." He rambles concerned.

I'm not listening to him anymore. He's been drowned out by my rage.

"I said come on, Happy! I need to go to my meeting- right now- or I'm going to be late!" I command.

Happy hesitates and considers his options. He knows that there's no talking me out of this.

"Fine"

Not one word is muttered the entire trip. As soon as we pull up to the curb, I'm out of the car.

"Hey, Miss Maximoff. It-"

"Not now! I'm late for something very important." I mutter.

I parade the halls until I reach the meeting room.

"How dare you, Stark!" I scream as I slam the door.

"What did I do this time?" he replies.

"Your bombs destroyed my hometown. My parents are dead and I can't find the twins!" tears stream down my face, "I've lost everything because of you!"

"I'm sorry for your loss but you need to get over it because life continues." Stark states.

"Screw you, Stark! I quit!"

"Woah, woah, woah, hold on!" Steve interrupts, "Sokovia was bombed!"

"Yeah! And his genius invention was used to do it!" I point harshly.

"Is that true?!" He asks.

"Yeah," Tony mumbles, "yeah, it's true."

"And you didn't think to share that with the team?!" Steve points.

"Oh come on, this isn't kindergarten. Do you want to share it with the class?" Stark mocks.

"This isn't a joke, Stark! This is a big deal! We are talking about lives that have been lost!" Steve insists.

"I can't believe you..." I hiccup, "I was finally starting to trust you... I guess that was a big mistake."

My other emotions- sadness, betrayal, heartbreak- come into play.

"I trusted you enough to talk me into coming all the way to America! I left everything I've ever known so that I could work for you! Do you know how betraying that is? I will never be able to see my family again. Do you even know how that feels?" I sob.

"Yes, actually I do. My parents died in a car accident. It happened when I was fairly young. They were the only family that I had, but I got over it. You will too." He insists.

"No, that's not the same. My family was killed by someone that I trusted. Your family died in an accident. You don't have to deal with the guilt of leaving your family. You got to have a billion dollar empire when your family died. I have nothing! I can't even go home because my home is destroyed!" I scream, "my little brother and sister will never be able to see the world like they always dreamed. And you took that away from them."

Stark stays silent for a moment because of my outburst.

"Well, if I weren't your boss, I'd be worried that you'd hurt me." He jokes.

"Didn't you hear me? I quit."

"Mhm," he clicks his tongue, "you can't do that."

"And why the hell not?" I question, my voice breaking in between words.

"Because it's in your contract. If you quit you lose your house, your car, your phone, so I don't think you'll be doing that."

"One, I paid for this phone" I gesture to it in my hand, "and two, f***ing watch me."

I grab the door handle, and it crumbles in my grip. The door falls of the hinges when I make my escape. I can hear loud footsteps behind me.

"What do you want, Steve?" I cry.

He just envelopes me in a bear hug.
"I'm so sorry" he mutters.

And I break even more. Steve holds me as we slowly drop to the floor in a huddle.

Steve comforts, "you can stay at my apartment in the spare room for now."

I just give a small nod.

He stays quiet as I sob loudly in his arms. All that can be heard other than my crying is occurring footsteps from two people running down the hall.

'Clint and Natasha'

I pull away from Steve and somewhat collect myself.

"What happened?" Clint asks.

I rise slowly from the floor and wipe my runny nose on my sleeve.

"I don't want to talk about it right now." I sniffle.

They both look to Steve for answers. He just gives them a look that says,
'not right now, maybe later'

"Uh, Steve," my voice breaks, "do you think you could drive me home? I need to get my things from my old apartment."

"Yeah," he nods, "anything you need."

I can hear Nat ask,
"What the hell happened?"

And Clint just responds with a,
"I don't know, but whatever is it, it's really bad."

Steve slowly walks my way, and places his hand on the small of my back, leading me on.

He's very tense and cautious, like he's thinks I'll break into a million pieces if he's not careful.

If only he knew that it didn't matter what he did because it was too late. I was already broken into a million pieces.