It's Been A Long Long Time

Chapter 20

Lily glared at the slimy man in front of her with disdain, not even trying to break free of her bonds,  knowing they would only grow tighter if she did. She had the faint circular scars around her wrists from last time to prove it.

"What do you want from me?" She spat at her ex-mentor. How had she ever looked up to that man?

He leaned back slightly as if offended, "my dear! You came to us. It's not what we want from you, but what you want from Hydra. Acceptance, love, a purpose in life.. the adrenaline of running from mission to mission. You miss that."

She simply stared at her old "friend", not knowing how to respond. Her mind slowly began to soften towards the the man infront of her, as fonder memories came back to her mind from somewhere deep that she couldnt quite explain. The man continued, "after you realized you couldn't have what your heart so longed for with Steve and the others, you lost all desire to keep going." Lily gaped in shock. She didn't understand why, but his words rang with a truth that even she was afraid to admit to herself. Grant just chuckled at her expression, "yes yes Lily my flower, we know all about your tender little moments with Steve, Kita, Peter, and even Winter. How is he by the way? Civilian life suits him, as does that new haircut. Brings out the blue in his eyes wouldn't you say?"

After more silence from Lily, the man sighed and stood up, "My dear girl, the bonds aren't even on. Get up, walk around, and familiarize yourself with the place." The girl got up and followed him out of the room, "I'll give you a tour of our facilities and show you where you'll be staying for the time being. We can't have you going back to the avenger's tower to sleep every night now can we?" Her eyes sparkled slightly at his flat attempt at humor. She appreciated his obvious attempt to sound warm and welcoming after all they had been through together.

It was a slightly larger base, still standard floor plan but it was more open and breezy than she had remembered the others being. The hallways and rooms had a modern, minimalistic theme to them with large windows and clean white and pine furnishings. Whoever was in charge of this base had definitely hired a decorator. Andrew stopped in front of a large office, complete with a desk, several computers, and a potted plant in the corner. It was neat, simple, and obviously newly furnished.

"This will be your office sweetheart, the door to your left is adjoined to your bedroom, and that room across the hall," he motioned to a sturdy, official-looking door, "is my office. We'll be working closely together so it's important that you come to me if you need anything okay?" Lily eyed her old mentor suspiciously. "Well! I'll leave you to get settled in" he patted her on the shoulder and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Immediately you walk over to the computer and log into your email, cringing at all of the unread messages from the avengers that flooded your inbox. You click the 'New Message'  button and copy all of the avengers in the address box, hands hovering over the keyboard as you tried to think of what to say.

You started to type a quick message, half expecting someone to burst into the room and pull you away from the machine. When no one showed up, and apparently no training wheels programs installed on the device to prevent you from betraying them, you began to grow suspicious. 

Why would they trust me so much? Maybe I should stay and find out what they're up to. I managed to escape them once, I can always do it again.

She turned back to the email in front of her, erased what she had so far, and began to type a different message.

___________________

Hey, Buck! 

Just wanted to shoot you a quick email and let everyone know I'm completely fine, it wasn't Hydra actually just some creepy business dudes who didn't bother me at all.