The Forgotten -Marvel 2-

Chapter 40

In the weeks that followed, the events of what happened became something of a distant memory. Lydia healed slowly, slower than she initially thought. However, it didn't bother her. There was too much on her mind.

Happy and Lydia moved into a new place. It wasn't nearly as nice or large, but that didn't matter. Most of their belongings had been lost, but that was surprisingly okay. Lydia never had many personal belongings growing up. It didn't bother her then, and it didn't bother her now.

She had memories of what was most important.

The arrow necklace was different. It was an attachment to Natasha. The jacket she once had was gone. The files, their almost new identities, were gone. Everything was gone other than the small silver necklace.

But it didn't matter. None of it mattered. Lydia was alive, and she still had Happy, Ned, and MJ. That was the important thing. Since the incident, the three had grown closer.

She also, oddly enough, had Stephen Strange. Four days after his visit, she found him at the Sanctum.

"So," Lydia clapped her hands together. She stood awkwardly near the door, too nervous to enter fully. She still had no idea what the man wanted to talk to her about. There was an endless list of possibilities. "What did you want to talk about?"

"You can come inside." The man waved her closer. "I promise, I don't bite."

She smiled hesitantly but stayed in her spot. "What did you want to talk about, Dr. Strange?"

"Call me Stephen, please."

"I'll try, but I make no promises."

The man nodded, "right. Well, I wanted to talk about you." Lydia already knew that, but she was curious about where the topic would lead. "More importantly, what you can do. How you've become this." He gestured to all of her.

Lydia's entire body tensed. "I'm not a bad-"

"Lydia, please. I know you're not a bad person. That isn't what I meant." She pursed her lips. "I'm intrigued about how you got them, your abilities, but most importantly, the energy levels they give off. Would you be willing to come by a bit in the future? I'd like to expand on them. Learn about them." Lydia blinked a few times. This was not where she thought the conversation would go. "For the record, this is entirely Wong's idea. He's got a hunch and wants to do some analyzing."

That caused her to chuckle. Lydia didn't want to be a superhero, not anymore, but she didn't see the harm in helping Stephen out. If he was curious about her abilities, it wouldn't hurt to look into them. She also owed him after the recent incident. Maybe they could figure something out. "Okay," she agreed.

That was a few weeks ago. Since then, things have been going great with Stephen. They worked on her abilities. He researched and came to some interesting conclusions, finding answers that didn't make sense. Lydia told him everything about her childhood: what she remembered, what they did to her, that she wasn't the only one there. Things that worried him.

Lydia hadn't thought about Hydra much recently. She had started to remember more around the time Thanos emerged, and after, nothing was the same. Her time in Hydra no longer mattered, but it did to Stephen. He was worried that others like Lydia could emerge in the future. Lydia informed him that everyone correlated to her early years was dead. Maria Hill's team had killed them and erased their research. People still knew about her, but the records were gone. Agatha once tried to convince her otherwise. If there were others like her that were still alive, she feared what sort of destruction they would bring.

But as the research went on, Lydia got to know both Wong and Stephen better. They were great company, especially Wong. They often watched Jersey Shore together while Stephen walked around mumbling to himself. Wong would make comments under his breath, causing Lydia to laugh. Stephen would always glare at them, making the situation funnier.