My Soldier, Her Captain

Let's Get started

"I absolutely hate this job," I whispered to my friend, Gina who was flying behind the bar trying to get her stuff together.

"Girl me too, but it pays the bills." She handed me a tray and I cringed.

"Yeah just barely." I took the tray, careful not to jostle it too much, and delivered the order to the table in the back.

I didn't make eye contact with anyone there, I knew I was supposed to because it's good for tips, but I just didn't have it in me to flirt with people who only saw me for one thing.

"Have a nice night," I whispered before hightailing it back to the bar.

Gina laughed when I finally made my way back to her.

"Shut up." I glared before making my way to the back. This was my favorite place in the whole bar, the kitchen. I could spend hours in here just doing the dishes or listening to the sounds outside the door. It was quiet and that was fine with me. I hated constant noise and thrived on solitude. It's why I had been able to survive for so long on my own. Well not entirely on my own.

"Hey," I looked up and smiled when I noticed I wasn't entirely alone.

"Lilja!" She smiled before pulling me into a tight hug.

"I missed you." She whispered when we pulled back.

"When did you get back?" I asked, pulling up a stool before gesturing for her to sit.

"Just now pretty much. I had to check on you." Lilja sat down across from me.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked as I stared at her face.

"It didn't go well. I tried Cora, I really did, but I couldn't find anything. Nothing concrete at least."

Tears streamed down her face as I quickly embraced her.

Lilja had been my best friend since diapers. We grew up in the same orphanage, surrounded by people we didn't know. She was my sister for all intents and purposes.

"Hey, look at me," She looked up, tears still falling from her eyes, "I know you want to find out what happened and I know you want answers, shit I do too, but you cannot keep beating yourself up about this. Lilja-"

"Lily," She whispered.

"What?"

"I want to go by Lily, I know it's the same but I'm not, Cora I just want something normal."

I smiled and nodded. "Lily, okay. But listen I'm serious. We both want to know where we came from and that's fine, but we might never find that out. And that's okay too, but what isn't okay is what you're doing to yourself right now. I need you to stop okay? I need you to just take a break from this. I can't sit back and watch this destroy you anymore."

"Cora, I can't stop." Lily pushed me back and wiped the tears from her eyes, "I know there's someone out there who can tell me what happened. We didn't end up there by accident. We didn't end up alone for no reason. I have a lead, but I don't know the first thing about pursuing it."

I nodded and started pacing. "What's the lead?"

"Shield."

I stopped, staring at her like she had two heads. "Lily, Shield is gone. The Avengers made sure of it."

"I know, but their records, their information, that stuff is still out there. Someone has it. And everything I have found points right to them. Cora our files at the orphanage said we were given to them by government officials. Government Cora and Shield were the government. It's the only lead I have."