Lilly's POV

We all just stood there for a moment taking in everything that had just happened, before I snapped out from my little bubble, "we need to get out of here now." I nodded to Steve's comment, "and unseen, I can assure you some of the police out there will be Hydra, any press we can deal with later" everyone nodded in agreement and we headed out the back. Me leading followed closely by Bucky, Steve, Tony, Bruce then Thor with clint bringing up the rear. Stepping out into the ally we were met by three more men, one of whom I recognised. "Agent Connors, how pleasant to meet you here" he smirked lightly "wish I could say the same, I have to say all of us feel quite betrayed by your abandonment" i smiled falsely stalling for time "wish I could say I was sorry." I didn't want to fight him he was one of the men who helped train me and though that meant I knew his fighting style it also meant he knew mine, it wouldn't surprise me if he had volunteered to help kill me, he never liked me and took glee in hurting me. Before I could do anything however something huge rushed past me at colossal speed. It was Bruce in Hulk form he charged at Agent Connors hitting him backwards sending him flying. Connor's back up began firing but bullets did nothing to harm him but I swept out the feet of the one nearest to me moving my knife from it's sheath and twisting behind him in one fluid motion and slit his throat. Connors was recovering from his trip and I watched as he grew a damn grenade towards us. To say I was shocked was an understatement, grenades were something I was ever comfortable using after seeing on many occasions seeing the damage they could cause. I stopped dead the Hulk and I were a fair distance away from all the others however there was nothing to protect us.

I hit the ground hard landing on the same side as I had been shot I grit my teeth and opened up my eyes and everything around me was dark, there was also a weight above me. Slowly the weight moved, everything became clear again and I realised what had happened the Hulk had save me, he protected me with his own body when my own wouldn't have survived the damage. I looked into his huge eyes startled by his act and smiled lightly at him, we both stood up slowly, I knew it was dangerous but I felt it needed to be done I slowly raised my hand and placed gently on his, looking into his eyes to try to portray my gratitude to this more violent side of Bruce that had just saved my life by risking his own. To my surprise he placed his hand delicately on top of my head I smiled, the huge creature returned the gesture. "Well that's sweet, I see you didn't escape uninjured though." That was it, I slipped back into the role I had played at Hydra, as though the mental part of me I had kept locked away came back to the for front of my mind, I turned away from my friends as if walking back into the role I used to play. I started to laugh softly strutting over shaking my hips and saying "and haven't I been before, you raised me more than my father did, trained me, watched me grow, and now you get to see me all grown up" I shrugged lightly and raised my hands up. "You show them what you are they'll hate you" I turned to them and said sadly "maybe it's time they saw the real me." I turned back to face him and he had a gun raised at my head. I swung my leg up and around kicking it from his hand my dress letting out a rip as it did, he lunged at me and I allowed him to he straddled me holding me down he dug his finger into the bullet wound expecting me to flinch, the pain was excruciating but my training over road the pain my mind continuing to work focusing so as to continue processing thought that wasn't on the pain. "Hurt does it" "yeah" I gasped, he smirked but I added quickly, "but there are worse things than pain." I brought my knee up into his back and raised my head hitting his head with my own, rolling us over. I took his neck in my hand and continued "like losing those you love, Hydra murdered my brother, you made the person who means the world to me forget me, you stole my memories" I released my grip on his throat and punched him hard in the face, dazing him. I clambered off of him and grabbed his gun from the floor and walked back but caught Bucky's eye "Like I said you might not want to know me anymore, I'm not the same." I shot him in the shoulder, making him grunt, "you went through the same pain training as I did, but heres the secret to why I am so good, you didn't do it as a child, I was born in that hell and I would do anything to get out, endure any suffering and I did. You do not know the extremes that I would go to that I did go to, to free myself from it all" I dug my heel into the bullet wound on his shoulder and he let out a yell. "Something I also learnt was something you could never teach me, you can teach me how to kill, how to fight but you never taught me how to live, these people have, they taught me to value life, so I'm giving you a chance you tell me what Hydra is planning." The idiot laughed i dug my heel in further. "What are they planning?" I snarled at him "the end of the world" he ground out attempting to smile as he said it "Not talking hu? ok then tell me who killed Marcus?" "I did" I placed the gun on his forehead breathing heavily trying to contain my rage at his actions everything was screaming at me to pull the trigger but another part of me was asking myself what killing the piece of shit would achieve. I pulled my heel out of his shoulder quickly and lent down to him "I would have, the person you created would have, but you know what I am taking control of me from now on!" I turned and walked back to the group not bothering to look at them I didn't think I was ready yet to see their reactions. Then Bucky's Voice called out "Lil!" I turned on the spot leaning to the left my arm extended knowing my trainer was up and ready to kill me, with my gun ready I pulled the trigger killing him instantly.

The others had returned back to the Avengers tower, I had too but had ignored any of the efforts the others to talk to me, returning to my room. I had stripped off and cleaned the wound with the first aid kit that I had in a set of drawers then came the tricky bit, removing the bullet, I had no proper tools but that wasn't unusual, sometimes you had to make do with what you had and a pair of tweezer were to hand, I had to upgrade them slightly but with a few tricks I learnt from time spent in Russia the problem was quickly remedied, I had to use the mirror in the bathroom to get it out but after three attempts and loosing the hold I had on it as I pulled it out I had it removed. The blood loss I had wasn't significant and from the placement of the shot it wasn't life threatening, but there was blood all over the floor. I put the bullet on the side of the sink with the tweezers, everything I had touched had blood smears on them and as usual it looked like a lot more than there actually was. Placing a dressing over the area I then wound a bandage tightly around it to keep a slight constant pressure on it. I then pulled on a plain tank and sweats. I looked at the blood soaked dress and threw it in the bin, some christmas, I faced part of my self I really wasn't ready to face yet and everything in my mind was whiting round and around. I paced from one side of the room to the other, I was a monster a caged animal pretending to be the good girl who wanted to help. That wasn't me though, I could never be that, what's more I was falling into a trap I swore I never would I was becoming complasent. Then my mind drifted to Bucky, he truly deserved better than me a woman that could give him everything I couldn't, but I loved him with all I had every fibre of my being and I would be damned if I let him die because of me putting him in danger. As well as all the people who had taken me in, Hydra thought they had made me weak they were wrong, they made me pissed.

Bucky's POV

I sat with a glass of Scotch which Tony had poured for us all, Lilly had ignored us all and wouldn't even look at me. This was hardly the christmas any of us had envisioned. "she didn't shoot him" it was Tony who spoke up. "I mean she could have, I would have" I stood up and looked at him. "Don't you get it, her not shooting him was her telling them that they no longer had any power over her, that she actually valued lives despite what they taught her" "calm down buck" I looked to Steve and back at Tony "Sorry" i said to Tony, he clapped me on the back "no worries winter." "What do you make of the big guys reaction to her?" Clint asked. Bruce looked up "what did I do?" Steve was the one to answer him. "He saved her, protected her from a grenade, and she well she thanked him, he kinda accepted it" "what do you mean?" questioned Bruce looking confused "it would appear are resident green rage monster had a soft spot for our young Lilly." I decided to elaborate on Tony's explanation "after he saved her, she looked up at him and placed her hand on his and smiled at him, then he placed his hand on her head gently" Bruce shook his head almost in disbelief. Steve spoke up next "i'm going to go check on Lilly see if she's ok" "i'm coming with you" I said standing up and following him to the lift. The lift was there almost instantly and telling Jarvis our destination we were soon whizzing down to the floor where our rooms were.

Steve's POV

I knocked on the door to Lilly's room there was no answer so I cautiously pushed the door open revealing the room in pitch black darkness, I ran my hand over the smooth wall fumbling in the dark for the light switch, finally my fingers brushed over the switch on the wall and i flicked it. The room lit up and revealed Lilly sat in the centre of the double bed staring at the wall the double bed which were standard in all of our rooms, apparently apart from Tony who had a queen sized bed, room was immaculate and I saw it was kept military tidy. She had no personal items adorning the room at all, the walls still plain white matching the furniture, all of us had been here so long that we had changed our rooms to make them more to our likings. "Lilly?" I asked gently she didn't respond apart from her closing her eyes. We waited for a while I looked to Buck wondering if he had ever seen her like this before he looked alarmed, at her actions, I stepped into the room and asked again "Lilly, are you ok?" her big green eyes opened "I'm sorry, you must all be so disappointed in me" her eyes flickered to meet Bucky and then I knew what was happening she was upset at what she had had to do tonight and worried how we would react to her after the incident. Apparently she wasn't taking in to consideration that she had saved all of our lives, mine specifically and nearly died in the process. "Lilly you don't have to be sorry, you saved our lives" "in the process of taking five" she whispered. "Five lives that were being used to forward the cause Hydra are fighting for" Bucky corrected and strode over to her confidently, sitting beside her on the bed. He lifted her shirt to reveal a bandage, "you see this" Bucky said firmly pointing at the dressing "that bullet would have killed the man standing there in the door way" he pointed at me before taking her face in his hands and forcing her to look into his face "and despite the fact that it could have killed you put yourself between him and the bullet despite what it might have meant for you, you hear me? You saved us all, you spotted what none of us did." "Only because I am one of them" she muttered her eyes looking away from his "Never, will you be one of them, you never were." The look in Lilly's eyes as she stared at Buck was filled with wonder, gratitude and love, I walked over to the other side of the bed and sat down, changing the subject "Lilly, we really should get Dr Banner to look at your injury." She turned her head to me but her arm rested on Bucky's leg, "it would make me feel better to see that your alright" "why are you worrying about me i'm fine" Bucky laughed softly "because you idiot, he cares about you, we all do as much as we care about each other" she looked confused for a moment before looking to accept Bucky's statement as being true. "Can I call doctor Banner then to come and check you over?" she smiled very lightly and I could still see there was a lot she needed work through but then we were all scarred in different ways and we help each other with them. "You worry as much as my brother used to Steve, I'm fine I removed the bullet and cleaned the wound" I gave her look that told her I wanted proof. She chuckled "in the bathroom" I wandered into the bathroom and nearly yelled out there was blood everywhere and on the side of the sink was the bullet and a pair of tweezers I watched the bullet and walked back out. With it in my hand, "there is blood everywhere in there" I said walking out, Bucky glared at Lilly and she looked up sheepishly at Bucky "you always were better at cleaning up after a mission."