Guardian

Chapter 43

(Liv's POV):
I stepped back out onto the streets of London after my latest job interview, hoping desperately to get some sort of employment. Since the debacle with HYDRA, I had stopped staying in one place as long as I had grown used to. Instead in the past three months, I had lived in three different countries with three different identities. I figured I wouldn't last long running around this much, but no where felt safe anymore.

And this lifestyle was starting to drain my money, so that meant the first thing I did when I arrived at each city was to try to find a job. It was only a position at a bakery that I had just applied for, nothing that would pay much, but at least it was something. Plus I knew there were a few abandoned building in London that I could make my home for however long I felt safe staying here.

That's where I was headed now, having used a public library's computer to look for any structure safe enough to reside in that I would not be found out living in. There was one place a little ways out of the city that I was eying, a former shipping company that had moved their business to a more suitable location. They claimed to be doing renovations, but it didn't seem that there was much work done in a while.

When I arrived the first thing I noticed where the piles of cargo crates. I was sure there was nothing in them and if there had been, they probably would have been pillaged a long time ago. But what stuck out was the three that were stacked, two stuck up from the ground lengthwise with the last one resting across the tops to form an arch. I didn't know much about shipping, but I knew that they never would have been stored that way. Which meant there had been others here. Whether or not they stayed would remain to be seen, but it make me grow a little more wary.

I slipped inside the main building, deciding to scour it out first, and discovered it be exactly what I had been expecting. All of the walls and pillars were painted in an eggshell color, though now much of it was covered in grime. The floors were the worst in terms of filth, but I had slept in much worse places. Most of the doorways were blocked with those long strips of plastic that allowed protection from the elements, but made it easy to go in and out of the room if need be. The only light came from the large glass panels that allowed the sun to stream in through the slanted roof.

I jumped at the sudden sound of birds flapping their wings, turning my head to find a pair of starlings flying by, most likely having a nest somewhere in this building as well. But just as relief began to flood through me that it was just some birds, I tensed up upon noticing a shadow of someone running behind a wall of plastic.

My right hand glowed white as I approached the person I had seen, but I quickly made it go away, not really wanting to out myself to whomever it was. Hopefully, they would not mind another lodger and we could negotiate a peace instead of resulting to violence. But, just in case, I fashion a dagger with my magic and gripped it tightly as I pushed back the streams of plastic.

"Hello, is anyone there?" I asked in my adopted British accent, cautiously stepping into this area of the building.

Three figures emerged from behind pillars and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that they were only kids. They looked frightened to see me and one of the boys asked, "are you the police?"

I smiled at them and shook my head, "no, I'm actually looking for a place to stay."

The girl looked at me in confusion, "why would you want to stay here? You have nice clothes, can't you afford a flat?"

"Well, is this is just so I can look good for a job interview. What potential employers see is your appearance, not where you reside," I explained, hoping I wouldn't have to go any more in depth than that. "You three wouldn't mind a flatmate, would you? Took me ages to find this place."