Nightingale | An Avengers Tale

Flashback

Lily trembled as she was shoved forward into a dark room. The door slammed shut behind her, signaling a temporary loss of her freedom. The six weeks in the pink cast had gone by quickly. She had been so busy learning how to be a perfect spy, that she had almost completely lost track of time.

During the day, Grant had trained her in new languages, the art of observation, and basic fight moves. Grant had told her that she may even be as good as he was one day. Lily was confident that if she worked hard, she may even be better than him. But Grant wasn't here anymore. Garrett had come to the Purple Flamingo and had told them that they both had new missions. But sadly, this meant they had to be separated for now.

Lily had begged Grant not to leave her; they were partners after all, but he had said something about owing Garrett everything. Lily had been very confused about that; she had even tried crying to convince Grant not to leave her. He had looked very sad, but he left anyway.

After Grant left, Garrett told her that she needed to be brave because he had a special mission just for her. He then took her for a ride on a plane. He had called it a Quinjet, but it looked just like a fancy plane to her. The trip had taken a long time, but on the way there, Garrett had been briefing her on her new mission. She was going to be going undercover.

Garrett told her that she was going to be working with a man named the Winter Solder. He was a very good spy, but in the past he had been a very bad man. Garrett had explained that he had tried to help the Winter Soldier, by making him forget that he used to be a bad person. Now the Winter Soldier was afraid of Garrett and all of the people trying to help him. Garrett said that he needed Lily to act like she was afraid of him and all his friends to see if the Winter Soldier would trust her.

He explained that there was a very important mission coming up for the Winter Soldier, and Garrett needed to be sure that the Winter Soldier would follow his orders exactly. If he didn't, the mission might fail, and Garrett said that would be very bad. Lily didn't particularly like Mr. Garrett, but he was friends with Grant, and Lily trusted and liked Grant, so Mr. Garrett must be ok.

Lily retuned her attention to the cell she had been placed in. This was all part of her mission; she needed to be brave to show Mr. Garrett and Grant that she could be a good agent. Mr. Garrett said that if she was successful, then he would take her to get ice cream. She secretly hoped that he would let her get a double scoop so she could get cookie dough and the ice cream with the pop rocks in it. She began to play with the hole in her sky blue sweater as she began to focus on her surroundings.

The cell  she had been placed in was damp and dirty. There was a single bare lightbulb which hardly offered any light. In one corner there was an old worn mattress, next to which was a rickety, old door that led to a small bathroom. Lily glanced to the other side of the room where she saw a man huddled in raggedy, old clothes. The Winter Soldier. Lily held back a gasp. Suddenly, she was very afraid and wished Grant was here to protect her.

"Are you going to hurt me?" She asked as she continued to stare at the man. As she walked closer to him, she could begin to make out his features. He wasn't so scary looking now. He had long, brown, greasy hair and a scraggly beard. His eyes were light blue, and while there was a sad almost vacant expression within them, Lily decided that the faint glimmer she saw must indicate that he was kind. He didn't seem as scary or as bad as Mr. Garrett had claimed. Maybe Mr. Garrett was wrong about him.

"You're not my mission."  He flatly said without raising his eyes to meet her own.

The little girl nodded her head. She didn't understand what that meant, but she didn't want to press him and make him angry. After all, what if Mr. Garrett was right? "Are you my friend?" She finally asked. Garrett and Grant had both told her that they were her friends; so maybe the Winter Soldier would be her friend too.