𝐖𝐀𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒━︎━︎ S. Rogers 【︎ 𝐨.𝐡.】︎

𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
LAST ONE STANDING

LILIYA PETROVA WOKE UP WITH a groan falling from her lips. She slowly came to, quickly sitting up when she discovered she was in unfamiliar surroundings. She sat in a cell inside of the Avengers facility. Her eyes narrowed, almost in amusement. Did they really think that this cell could keep her contained? She was a deadly assassin that knew how to flirt her way out of any situation. The blonde ran a hand through her hair, looking around the room before her eyes spotted the security camera in the corner, the red light indicating that it was live. She smirked slightly, lifting a hand and wiggling her fingers in a wave.

Steve Rogers stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, shaking his head slightly. Natasha entered the room with a sigh, slapping a practically empty file down on the table in front of him. Steve glanced at the woman before turning back towards the file, reaching a hand out to grab the file. He started to flip through it and was extremely disappointed although not surprised when he found there was barely anything on the girl. The only thing they had was her name, and her family. It was like she had disappeared from the face of the earth.

     Steve shook his head. "This is it?" Natasha nodded. "The last anyone has heard from her was when she was five years old. That was at least two decades ago, Natasha." He looked back towards the file. "Liliya Katerina Petrova, born June 11th. Daughter of Gabriel and Irina Petrova━︎both of which were found dead in their homes with gun shot wounds to their chests." He closed the file, handing it back to Natasha.

     "I can keep looking, but something tells me we won't be able to find anything." Natasha told him. She paused, staring at Liliya through the screen before shaking her head in denial. Something about the features of Liliya looked so familiar―︎almost like they had met one another before. Like she'd known her from somewhere and they'd had a conversation. The assassin stared at the woman for a long time, several thoughts running through her mind, none of them making sense except for one. She pursed her lips. "It can't be." Steve immediately turned his head to look at her.

     "What?" He questioned her. "Do you know something?" He was determined to figure out who this Liliya character was and why it was that she was trying to kill him. Steve stared at Natasha, he could see it in her eyes. A flicker of recognition and questioning flashing through her green eyes before it faded again, almost as if she were unsure if her thoughts were correct or not. He didn't care. If he had the slightest clue that led him to figure out this mystery, then he would take it, even if it did lead him to a dead end. "Natasha?"

     Natasha opened her mouth before closing it again. She sighed. "This could be a long shot, Steve. But, when I was with the Red Room, there was this other organization that was mentioned. They weren't our rivals per say, in fact they were more out ally then anything, believing in the same thing as we did, training their children just as harshly as the red room did. I think I only saw them one time, and that was on a visit when I was really young." Could there be a possibility that Lilianna was that same little girl that had come and talked to her? 

     "Natasha, you're killing me." Steve was anxious, waiting for Natasha to reveal the name of this other organization that she was talking of. The thought of there being another version of the Red Room out there made not only Natasha shutter, but Steve as well. Child cruelty was nothing to play around with. Steve just couldn't understand how there were such evil people out there in the world that would take helpless kids and craft them into such monsters to do their bidding.

     "The Murder House."

The name brought Steve not comfort. Instead it made him straighten up, tensing slightly at the name. There was an organization called The Murder House? He didn't want to think about what went on inside of the so called house, but he had a feeling he already knew. Why would they call it that if not make the name mean exactly what it says? He almost didn't want to ask. For a second, Steve wanted to stay in the dark, not knowing about what went down in this Murder House. Then that other part of him was desperately begging for him to ask, to know, to figure out this mystery.

     "I have a feeling I'm not going to like this."

     "You're not." Natasha agreed, switching her eyes from him and over to the blonde that was boredly walking around her cell. "That place might have been even crueler than the Red Room, maybe they were tied. I don't know much about it, but I do know is they took children―︎helpless or not―︎and they brought them to this house filled with several other kids. The goal? They had to kill each other and the last one standing wins. And apparently Liliya Petrova was the last one standing."

     "The put kids against each other and make them kill one another?" Steve asked, disgusted. He clenched his jaw for a moments before nodding his head. "Alright, see if we can find anything else about this Murder House. In the meantime, I'm going to talk to her. See if she'll reveal why she was trying to come after me."

     Natasha almost rolled her eyes. "Please, you're Captain America. Everyone's going to be coming after you." She patted his arm as she walked by before leaving the room and leaving Steve to his thoughts. He watched Liliya and all that he could think was the way she looked at him on that roof. That moment of hesitancy. He decided that was where he was going to start and then he walked out, preparing himself for a colorful interview.