"Are you absolutely positive that there's no way to contact anyone?"
"Yes, I'm positive... We can go into town tomorrow. I need to go to the market anyway. We'll find something for you there." He replies smoothly.
A little too smoothly if you ask me. It seemed too rehearsed.
"Ok," I say.
"It's getting to dinner time, would you like something to eat?" Will asks.
"Uh, sure"
"Ok, then. Follow me." He waves.
We make our way through the halls until we reach a kitchen.
"There's food in the pantry," he points to the side, "I'm sure that you can help yourself."
"Yes, I can"
He clasps his hands together, and walks back down the hallway.
Once he's far enough away, I open the pantry.
It's quite full to be needing to go to market.
There's plenty of things to make, but I think I'll stick with a pb&j.
It is a delicious first dinner back with the living.
Once I'm finished, I head back to the room I'm staying in.
I'm unusually tired considering that I've been asleep for 3 months.
I'm out minutes after my head hits the pillow.
----------------
I've woken up at around 7:30 the next morning.
I kept having memories replayed whilst I was sleeping. Weirdly enough they were all about Tony Stark, but I can't figure out why.
"I'm getting ready to make breakfast if you would like to come downstairs." Smith states.
"Ok," I follow.
"I've made waffles with peanut butter." He announces.
That's my favorite- but wait how would he know that?
"Uh thanks," I give a fake smile.
Once I'm about halfway finished, I figured why not get to know the guy?
"So, have any family around here? It's just that you seem pretty alone."
"Yes, I do. I have a few sibling, nieces, nephews." He lists.
"Hmm, how long have you been in the Netherlands?" I question baiting him.
"I've lived here my whole life, but my recent stay has been about 5 months."
I knew he was lying.
"But you said that you left for the states 3 months ago...Who are you really?" I question stepping closer.
"What do y-you mean? I-" he stammers.
"Who are you?!" I repeat.
He remains silent.
I quickly take him off his feet, and remove a leftover knife from the countertop. It's mere seconds that I'm standing over him with a knife placed at his neck.
He raises his hands up in defense.
"I won't ask again." I grumble.
"Fine, my name is Dr. Walter Simmons." He rambles off quickly.
At least he's really a doctor and I wasn't just left with some random person.
"Alright, Walter. Was that so hard?" I fake a sympathetic expression.
"I-"
"I. Don't. Care." I interrupt aggressively.
I press the knife closer, it's placed only centimeters from his Adams apple.
My eyebrow raises warningly.
"I work..." He starts, "I work..."
"Just spit it out already. Whater' you five?"
"Mr. Stark," I admit for him, "You work for Mr. Stark."
"Uh, yeah. I do"
"Tony f***ing Stark. Argh, that bitch!"
I rise from my position and reach for his unlocked phone on the counter.
I search for the number of the Stark Residence. Once it's found, I hit record. It's facing Walter on the floor.
"Anthony Stark, you little shit. Seriously?" I let out a dry laugh, zooming in on Simmons terrified face, "did you seriously think that I wouldn't find out eventually? God, just leave me the f*** alone! You messed up, so incredibly bad, Tony. I cut you out of my life for a reason! Just accept it! Never try to pull anything like this shit ever again, or I will do a lot more than just threaten your employees."
I angrily hit send, before tracking Steve's phone and sending an encrypted message.
"Meet me at your apartment, Big Guy. We need to talk"
To: Steve Rogers From: Unknown Number
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
My phone buzzes,
"Excuse me," I remove myself from the group.
There's one new notification, it's a text message.
Reading "Meet me at your apartment, Big Guy. We need to talk"
I just stand there in utter shock.
"There's no way" I mutter.
"What is it, Steve?" Nat asks me.
"It's a text message." I meet her gaze.
"Oh, from who?"
"I'm not really sure." I announce, "but if it's who I think it is, we really need to get to my old apartment."
-+-
Natasha and I are on the highway headed back to my old New York apartment.
"So let me get this straight," Nat starts looking at my phone, "you got this message from an unknown number and you think that it's Lilli?"
"Yeah, I do. I really do." I exclaim.
"Why? This message could be from literally anyone. Hell, we could be driving straight toward a trap... Steve, nobodies seen Lilli in 3 months. We had a funeral. She's dead. " She states.
"But we never found a body, and look at the context they used," I point, "Big Guy? Come on, she was the only person to ever call me that. Nobody- but her- in over 100 years."
"I don't want you to get your hopes up and have the message not be from her." She reasons.
"I know, I know. But Lilli was my best friend. Even if there's the tiniest silver of a chance that this message is from her, I'm going to go."
She hesitantly says, "alright, but if it's a trap. I'm blaming you."
"I can live with that," I smile.
-------------------
I left that message hours ago. What's taking so long? I've just been standing here in an empty apartment, looking out at the city. The place that I used to call home.
'Steve'
'Nat'
"I don't live here anymore."
"I figured that when I found the apartment empty... You're late." I mutter, keeping my gaze out the window.
"You're dead..." Nat starts, "or you were"
"What happened?" Steve asks, "why have none of us heard from you since the attack on HYDRA?"
"Do you want to whole story or a summary?"
"Whole story, we want to know everything." Nat replies.
"When I fell in the water, I wasn't saved by the Winter Soldier-"
"Wait how do you-" he starts.
"I was saved by Tony Stark, specifically his droids...He kept tabs on me, fairly easily, because I bought a house from him. Tony Stark was Howard Potts... After he had me rescued, Tony hired someone by the name of Walter Simmons to take care of me. Although at that time, he used a different name and had a different story... I was in a coma from 3 months. I just woke up yesterday... Things seemed normal, at first, but then things didn't add up. All I had to do was threaten the poor guy, and he spilled his actual name and who he worked for," I take a seat on the kitchen counter, "I easily put the other pieces in place."
"Wow," Nat mutters, her gaze at the floor.
"I'm so sor-" Steve begins.
"Don't, Steve. Your best friend beat me to an inch of my life and then left me for dead." I interrupt, my legs hanging from the countertop.
"Look, I understand that you're upset about him saving me..."
"I'm not upset that he saved you, Steve... Even if he was a brainwashed man, he was still your childhood friend at heart." I state.
"But you are upset that he didn't save you." Steve finishes.
"You spoke so highly of this man, since the day that I met you... I just figured that after you had talked some sense into him, he would also save the not-so-innocent bystander." My breath shakes.
"Lilli I-" it's Nat that begins this time.
"I said Don't. I just wanted to let you guys know that I was alive. It was the right thing to do, but I need a little time, and so do you... Even if you won't admit it, you do."
They know that I'm right about this.
"Where will we be able to find you?" Natasha asks.
"Well, my phone's always available." I let out a laugh, "If you decrypt the message that I sent, you'll have my new number... If you ever need any help, call."
I begin to walk towards the door.
"I know that you said that you wanted space, but do you think that you could at least give me a hug goodbye?" Steve asks.
"I'll give you a for-now hug because this isn't goodbye. Not for good anyway."
I wrap my arms around his neck, and he gently picks me up off of the ground. We stay like this for a few moments.
"Don't hog her, Steve. She's my friend too." Nat jokes.
We all share a needed laugh.
"I'll see you later, Nat." I whisper into the hug.
"I'll be waiting."
I don't leave a second for hesitation. I'm out of the apartment building in moments.
Author's Note:
Lilli was too smart for a Tony Stark employee. She busted him, and left quite the message for Tony.
She was able to contact Steve and Nat, but everyone needs a little time to process things.