Chapter Text
Timeline: (Post Age of Ultron)
3rd pov:
It felt like Lilly had been walking in the woods for hours. Every step felt heavier than the last. It probably had something to do with the fact that her leg was actively bleeding beneath her black leggings.
“You think he’ll ever stop?” Lilly turned her head and moved her gaze upwards to reach Evelyn’s white eyes.
“I think he’ll get bored, eventually,” Lilly shrugged, and Salem gave a meow from in front of them, disagreeing with the young brunette. Lilly rolled her eyes but smiled softly. She tugged on her black satchel and pulled out a small pocket knife. “Next time he won’t get a hit,” Then she put her knife in her hoodie pocket.
Ev’s white dress flowed in the wind as she kept her gaze on the younger girl. Lilly had signed a contract not that long ago to become an assassin. Despite her young age, she proved to Ryder, her boss, that she was capable, and able to handle the pressure and whatever else came with the job.
“Out of all the jobs, why assassin?” Ev asked Lilly for the millionth time.
“You know why,” Lilly sighed. It had been 4 months. 4 months. And Ev was still asking.
“‘I was born for this’ isn’t an answer,” The ghost shot back dryly.
“Well there aren't that many other options,” Lilly mumbled looking down, her hair falling over her face.
“Sure there are,” Ev threw her hands in the air. “There’s foster care,” She began listing off. The black cat gave her a bored look.
“Salem’s right,” Lilly motioned toward the cat. “How long would it take until I’m back in a cage? I’m holding bets,” Lilly said with a bit of dramatic flare. “Face it, Ev. I’m better hidden as a killer, then a 4th grader,” her tone was firm, but not unkind as she shifted glance back to the older ghost.
“Fine, but try to lay low,” Ev conceded. “We don’t want you to become famous, ruins the point,”
“I’m good at staying in the shadows,” Lilly replied grimily.
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It took a while until the trio spotted the forest's end. The light spilled through the trees as they walked through, only to spot a small farm up ahead. And people. One of which was heading straight for them. Evelyn snapped her fingers toward it.
“That’s not good,” Ev stated the obvious. “We need to leave,” Lilly didn’t need to be told twice, but before she was able to even turn around the person spoke up.
“Hey!” It was a woman's voice, and when she got closer Lilly could only identify her as Black Widow.
“As if it couldn’t get any worse,” Ev muttered tiredly. Salem hissed at the red head. Lilly looked a second from bolting.
“I didn’t mean to startle you,” The hero's voice was gentle as she crouched a few feet away. Lilly didn’t trust heroes.
Lilly looked past Black Widow and could hear muffled voices from way back in the farm. They were curious. Curious people were dangerous.
“Whatever you do, don’t say a word,” Ev knew Lilly was a very defensive person. She hated when people assumed stuff about her. But right now, talking was not that right way around this.
“Are you here by yourself?” Black Widow’s question was clearly just for the point of trying to get the girl to speak, since it was clear there was no one else in sight. But Salem still felt the need to feel relevant, so she hissed again, this time drawing the assassins attention. “Except for the cat of course,” She smiled in an attempt to make Lilly more comfortable.
That attempt failed, and Lilly’s face stayed neutral. As long as it’s just her, I think I can get away with the silent treatment. Lilly thought to herself. I mean she’s bound to get bored at some point…right. She thought hopefully, though something told her it was not going to end up like that.
Black widow’s face twisted into concern. “Kid?” Lilly blinked a few times as she snapped out of her thoughts. “I’m not going to hurt you,” Her reassurance went straight through Lilly. “You see that house over there,” Black Widow pointed behind her, at the farm house. “My friends and I are there, and we can help you if you come with me,” She didn’t sound threatening, the offer didn’t sound dangerous, but there was no way in hell Lilly was going to follow her anywhere.
“We need a distraction, so you can shadow travel out of here,” Ev said to herself anxiously. The ghost began to pace in a circle trying to think, when another one started coming toward them.
“What’s going on, Nat?” Lilly looked up to see none other than Captain America, in jeans and t-shirt. Aka The Captain of America. Aka The Captain of Capitalism. Aka Mister Capitalism. Aka–
“The worst fucking man to show up right know,” Ev hissed, her face shifted to disgust the moment she locked eyes with him.
“Hey there,” His voice turned soft like Black Widow’s did. “Where are your parents?” His concern didn’t faze Lilly, but something in her eyes flickered and Black Widow caught it. Lilly saw it. A slight shift in the woman’s face indicated she saw something and put it away for later. “Who is this kid?” Captain whispered to Black Widow.
“I just saw her walking out of the woods,” She reported as she stood up. “She’s hurt,” her voice dropped lower as she vaguely motioned to Lilly’s leg, where there was a dark spot that looked suspiciously like blood. Shit. She internally cringed remembering where her brother stabbed her.
“That looks like it hurts, huh?” Mr. America said gently, almost condescendingly. The tone made Lilly want to gag, but she held it in. Barely.
“Can we go? Screw being discrete," All of Evelyn’s advice, out the window.
“How about you come inside with us, and we can get that cleaned up for you,” Lilly knew he was being nice and trying to be gentle, but to Lilly he kind of sounded like a creep. Did he think just because he’s an Avenger, it makes him automatically trust worthy?
“I don’t think she wants to, Steve, look at her,” Black Widow was assessing her. Waiting. Waiting for Lilly to slip her guard. “She’s scared,” Lilly hated that she was right. But she wasn’t scared of them, she was scared of where she would have to go back to if they looked too deep.
“Who are you two talking to?” A tired voice of a man appeared. The tired man being Iron Man. Lilly mentally groaned. Salem looked a second away from scratching one of the adults as they started multiplying. “What’s with the kid?” His eyes found Lilly’s, then moved to Salem’s purple ones. “And the weird looking bodyguard” He gestured to the cat's eyes.
“I don’t know Tony, why don’t you ask her,” Black Widow said dryly. She was starting to get frustrated with the whole situation.
“Alright, kid, what’s your name?” Ironman crouched down to her level and Lilly simply blinked at him. “Does she not understand English?” he glanced up at his co-workers, unimpressed.
“She understands us,” Black Widows said calmly. “You can see it in her face,” Lilly had to fight the urge to flip them off, and kept her expression blank.
Lilly started taking slow steps back and put her hand in her pocket. “Easy, we didn’t mean anything by it,” Captain raised his hands, and shot a look at his friend. Tony stood straight and took one last glance at her.
“Just let her go, Cap, she clearly wants nothing to do with us,” Yes! Finally someone with a brain. Lilly thought to herself.
“She’s a kid, Tony. We can’t just leave her,” he pointed out and Lilly mentally groaned, while Ev groaned out loud.
“This guy needs to learn when it’s time to shut up,”
The three started arguing and Lilly used that as her distraction and bolted back into the woods. Lilly heard footsteps after her, but she didn’t stop. She moved through the trees and let them be her cover. She made a right and immediately shadow travelled, Salem right behind her.
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Steve was a fast runner, but somehow the kid out ran him, and when he turned the corner, she was gone. “What the hell?” he muttered to himself.
[Edited: 07/25/2026]