Awkward Introductions
Lilith awoke to an all-encompassing warmth and comfort that she had only vague memories of ever feeling before. Keeping her eyes closed, she ran her hands over smooth fabric and rolled her face into something soft. It took her sleep addled brain an embarrassing amount of time to realise that she was lying on a bed somewhere and an even longer time to remember why she would be in one at all. Groaning, she finally opened her eyes and sat up, blankets pooling around her waist.
The room she was in was bigger than she had expected. Shucking the blankets, she shimmied to the edge of the enormous bed and swung her legs over the side, smiling to herself as she wiggled her toes in the plush, grey carpet. She spotted a small study nook nestled in one of the corners of the room and wandered over to it, stopping to stare wide eyed and slack jawed out the wall of glass that bathed the room in the mid-morning light and revealed the sprawling city below her. When she did make it to the dark red-brown desk she found a small yellow paper sitting atop it.
‘Gone to find food. Will be back. Don’t run off. Please.
Spidey.’
Scrunching the note, Lilith strode toward the door. She was grateful that Spiderman had helped her but she wasn’t going to stick around. Nothing good ever happened to her without someone wanting something in return so why should now be any different. She had to leave before anyone else knew she was here.
Lilith had her hand on the door handle when she heard two voices arguing and shoes stomping on along the floor from the other side of the door. Pulling her hand back like it had been burned, Lilith spun and tried to find anywhere that she could hide in the too bright room. Palms sweaty and body shaking, she raced to the walk-in robe the bed sat in front of and shifted, body dissolving into the shadows of the darkened corner she pressed herself into.
“Mr Stark. There’s no one in there, maybe FRIDAY lied.” Spiderman squeaked
“Really, so my highly advanced AI who has not once made a mistake about who’s in the building and is coded to be completely honest with me is lying?” The bedroom door clicked open and a strange high pitch whine filled the room.
“Yes?” There was silence.
“Okay. Fine, I brought someone here last night but she’s cool and she needed somewhere to sleep so I thought y’know why not. I was coming here and you have these spare rooms and…”
“Whoa. Kid slow down. So you brought a girl here. I don’t condone you using my tower to impress people but…what’s her name?” the other voice was getting dangerously close to the entrance of the walk-in.
“I don’t know. I found her in an alley last night when I was on pat…”
“What the hell!” The owner of the other voice stepped into the walk-in and glared at the bright red eyes that peered from the corner of the room. He raised his hand and pointed a glowing metal gauntlet at Lilith.
“What the hell are you? Show yourself. Unless you are just a pair of eyes then I guess you already are.” He mused as Spiderman came barrelling in, slamming into and cracking the wall opposite the door.
“Wait! That’s her. That’s the girl.” He yelled as he dashed in front of Lilith
“Hey, don’t worry about him. Just come out and we’ll sort all of this out.” He smiled and Lilith took a minute to appreciate that he looked a lot like a small puppy before training her eyes on the bearded man behind him and slowly let the shadows surrounding her take shape. They twisted and contorted as they slowed, never fully stopping, and gave the appearance of a woman with long clawed fingers, no mouth and hair that constantly swayed and dripped like slowly running water. She watched as the bearded man smirked.
“Is that supposed to scare me?” He asked airily. Lilith’s eyes widened as she stared in shock. People were supposed to fear her. Even her old captors had been afraid of her and what she could do. Now she had meet two people who didn’t seem afraid at all. Still wary, she shifted back to her normal form. She tilted her head like a confused puppy as the bearded man blanched and tore his gaze away from her. His metal covered hand lowered, shaking. She focused back on Spiderman when he tapped her hand with something. It turned out to be a pair of dark sunglasses, which she slipped on.
“Peter, I told you not to bring ‘friends’ over unannounced.” The bearded man muttered as he tapped the centre of his chest.
“Tony, you don’t understand just let...uhh...” Peter turned to Lilith waiting for something and, after a frankly embarrassing amount of time, she realised that she never told him her name.
“Lilith”
“Yeah. Let Lilith explain at breakfast and then decide if you want to kick her out.” Tony stared at the both of them for what seemed like forever before he sighed and spinning on his heels strode out of the walk-in
“You both coming or what.” He called out, Lilith glanced at Peter as they both began to walk out of the closet
“Whatever happens just be honest.” Peter whispered to her smiling as they caught up with Tony at the elevator. Trying to keep calm as they rode the elevator, Lilith thought about the positives of her current predicament like ‘Breakfast with the Avengers can’t suck more than sleeping in a dirty alley.’ The doors opened then onto the biggest open plan living space she had ever seen with light (almost white) hardwood floors, a kitchen and dining area at one end and a lounge area at the other and an entire wall of floor to ceiling windows.
“So, I found the security breach from last night. I would have found it earlier but someone teamed up with FRIDAY to stop me.” Tony announced to the room mock-glaring at Peter. The people standing around the kitchen and dining area all stared as Tony ushered Lilith and Peter toward them.
“This everyone, is Lilith. Apparently, she and Peter are friends and they’re going to tell us all about it over breakfast.”
“Well actually I said that Lilith would…never mind.” Peter began to sass but stopped when he was levelled with an actual glare from Tony. After that both Peter and Lilith hurried to get some food from the buffet that was set up on the island bench. Just the smell alone was enough to make Lilith’s mouth water and she quietly stuffed as much food as she could into her hoodie’s pockets before piling her plate with pancakes, bacon and eggs. There was no telling when she’d find food again once she left.
Once she reached the end of the bench she shuffled over to table and sat next to Peter, acutely aware of the people eyeing her. Especially the Black Widow who was watching Lilith with a blank, expressionless stare from her seat on the other side of Peter. Dread and panic began to stir in the pit of her stomach as she swallowed around the lump in her throat and stared at her plate. She doesn’t know stop being paranoid she screamed at herself, completely missing the flinch from the brunette at the end of the table.
“So, Lilith how did you and Peter meet?” Startled out of her internal debate, Lilith jumped, head snapping up to stare at a pair of baby blue eyes that could only belong to Captain America before she faced her plate again. Grimacing, she shrunk into herself when she heard a gasp from where he sat.
“Nice going Steve.” She heard someone mutter and watched with wrapped fascination as Captain America blushed
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to startle you.” He said softly which shocked her. Usually the gasps Lilith heard were because she had frightened someone not because they had frightened her.
“I-It’s fine. Peter…well he kind of found me in an alley last night” she began and told them the whole story of how she came to be eating with them. By the end of her retelling she was thoroughly confused. Where she was expecting to see disgust or fear, there was instead sympathy and understanding. She was so focused on trying to figure out why these people didn’t hate her that she didn’t notice the man next to her had turned until he spoke.
“Lilith, how long have you had these powers?” his tone was soft and calming and Lilith felt herself relaxing at the sound of it.
“Oh, and I’m Bruce.” he added after obviously getting kicked by the person opposite him ‘Bruce huh? Well that’s gonna be fun to try and say without sounding stupid.’
“All my life. I was born with them.” She muttered adjusting the shades she was wearing and sinking into her seat. She was trying to follow Peter’s advice and just tell the truth but she didn’t know these people and they could want anything from her, including her powers. A man near the end of the table who had been glaring at Lilith like his stare alone could melt her brain scrunched his nose in confusion and swinging his chair back on two legs asked
“What’s with the shades, we’re inside?” Without answering Lilith faced him and slide the shades off her face. The man dropped his chair back onto all four legs and glanced at Tony before smiling softly
“Pretty cool eyes. But yeah…maybe keep the shades for now.” the man, Clint, said before turning his attention to his food. It seemed that either most of their questions were answered or they noticed the Lilith had grown uncomfortable because after she slid the shades back on a semi-comfortable silence fell over the room with only the scraping of cutlery on plates and bowls breaking it. In the face of Clint’s apparent disregard of her looks, Lilith decided to be brave and glanced around the table at the others while she to dug into her food. At the head of the table was an older man who had an air of authority that was distinctly military and yet seemed pretty laid back.
“That’s James Rhodes everyone calls him Rhodey though” Peter muttered to her when he caught her staring. Rhodey, who must have heard his name, looked over at her and gave a small smile while adjusting himself in his seat before returning his attention to the bacon and eggs in front of him. On his left sat the Falcon who didn’t notice Lilith at all (which she was slightly grateful for) and on his right sat Black Widow whose expression softened slightly from cold robot to calculating human when she caught Lilith staring. Next to her was Peter who was looking at Lilith concerned when a slice of toast fell out of her hoodie pocket and onto the floor.
On Lilith’s other side Bruce was talking quietly to Tony who was sitting on his right, though she couldn’t understand what they were talking about. When she looked past Tony, Lilith began to understand why no one here looked at her like she was any different than a normal homeless chick one of them met as there was a red and green man...robot...android maybe? Sitting at the end of the table looking longingly at the woman across from him. To the left of the young woman the android was so enraptured with sat Clint who was scarfing down his food like it was going to be his last meal. When he noticed her watching him he stopped eating long enough to look at Lilith and wink, cheeks bulging like a hamster. He looked so ridiculous that she couldn’t contain the giggles that left her, which thankfully either no one noticed or just didn’t talk about.
The man sitting next to Clint was a tank. He had muscles that rivalled Captain America’s, brown hair that was tied back into a bun that he actually managed to make look tasteful, a...was that a METAL ARM! and striking blue eyes that…were looking straight at her. He gave her a small smile before asking,
“Your accent, I haven’t heard it before, where are you from?” In the 4 years that Lilith had been stuck in New York she hadn’t managed to shake the thing, not that she really wanted to.
“Australia, and if anyone asks me to ‘put a shrimp on the barbie’ I will not hesitate to claw your eyes out.” Her mumbled reply sent the man into a fit of laughter as Steve choked on his orange juice which then set the rest of the table off into a fit of giggles and laughter.
“Kotenok has claws.” The man next to Clint said as his laughter subsided.
“Buck, c’mon.” Steve groaned
“She certainly does.” The man between Steve and Falcon said. His voice was smooth and he had a rather amazing accent “I am T’challa it is a pleasure to meet you Lilith. This beside me is Sam who seems to have forgotten we have a guest.” he nudged the Falcon who nudged him back.
“I didn’t forget kitkat I just thought she wouldn’t like so many eyes on her.” Sam said smiling at her and he was right it was kind of a relief when he didn’t notice her. As she was thinking about that she realised what Bucky had just called her,
“I am not a kitten” Lilith muttered under her breath earning an eyebrow raised in her direction from him. She expected to be asked about it but Bucky just shook his head and went back to eating. The rest of the breakfast was pleasant and Lilith found herself beginning to relax as time went on. She started up a small conversation with Peter about things that differed between America and Australia and was so focused on what she and Peter were talking about that she missed the pointed stares and glares the other were using to silently communicate with.
“Hey Peter, why don’t you show Lilith around the tower.” Tony waved a hand behind him to the door of the room as breakfast was finishing up.
“Yeah that sounds great. You want to see the training rooms?” Peter was staring at her now bouncing with excitement in his seat.
“Sure, why not.” She was completely bewildered by the fact that they needed more than one ‘training room’ whatever that was. Lilith rose from her seat and was rushed out of the room by Peter who had grabbed her hand and practically ran to the elevator. Even stuck inside the small space, Peter didn’t stop moving, not until they were situated inside what could only be classed as a cinema. Instead of cinema seats though there were large arm chairs couches and bean bags surrounding a huge screen.
“So, this isn’t the training room but this is going to be so much better. FRIDAY can you play the footage from the security feeds in the communal kitchen please.” Peter began to get comfortable, stretching out on the biggest couch, while Lilith moved to a large purple bean bag in the corner.
“Of course, Peter. Would you like the others to know you are spying on them?” A disembodied voice, with a lovely Irish accent, spoke like she disapproved of his actions greatly.
“Oh…uhh no. And this is Lilith. Lilith this is FRIDAY she’s the AI that runs the tower so if you need anything just call for her and she’ll help.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you Lilith.”
“Wow, it’s lovely to meet you to FRIDAY.” Lilith scanned the room trying to find the cameras FRIDAY must use but they were hidden well and the lights were beginning to dim as FRIDAY began projecting the security feed onto the large screen. The Avengers were all arguing, still in their seats from earlier.
“We can’t just let her back out onto the streets.” Clint yelled slamming his hands onto the table making Lilith flinch. She had to get out of here now. These people could want to use her or give her back to Him. She needed to get somewhere safe.
“No wait. Lilith where are you going. Please just stay until their finished talking. I know it sounds bad but they are really good guys.” Peter had grabbed Lilith’s wrist as she stood and was pleading with those puppy eyes again. that wasn’t fair. How the hell is Lilith supposed to fight those eyes.
Slowly, Lilith sat back on the bean bag. Every one of her muscles tense, waiting for the moment that she would have to run.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think they would get that loud…or passionate.” Peter mumbled looking sheepish. Lilith just wanted to get this over with so she could escape if she needed to.
“I-It’s fine. I’m fine. Can we just keep watching please?” Lilith hated that her voice was so small and wobbly. The footage, which FRIDAY had paused, resumed without a single word having to be said.
“I mean anyone could grab her and if she has the abilities that Tony say she does it wouldn’t be by anyone even remotely nice. We can’t just let her starve either and did you see the way she reacted to all of us? She was terrified!” Clint was beginning to rant and looked genuinely distressed at the thought of Lilith being homeless, hungry and scared.
“Don’t worry Sunshine we won’t, no matter what we decide I think we can all agree that Lilith won’t be going back to being alone on the streets.” Bucky interjected before Clint could work himself up too much. He rubbed his hands up both of Clint’s arms before moving his head to rest on Bucky’s shoulder
“Well shoving a gauntlet in her face probably didn’t help with the whole terrified thing.” Tony looked down at the table sheepishly while Clint looked ready to jump it and murder him before Black Widow spoke up.
“I think we should train her, see how she goes and maybe add her to the team eventually. Her powers could prove useful if she can control them.”
“Peter seems to like her and he is a generally good judge of character.” Bruce added, absent-mindedly wiping his glasses. The conversation continued much in the same way for an hour after that. The decision had been unanimous in the end. Lilith was to stay with them and get trained to be an Avenger, with a lot of restrictions at first though. When the screen began to fade and the lights in the room grew brighter Peter turned to her with a smile that instantly fell when he saw her.
“Shit, that was supposed to make you feel better please don’t cry. I’m sorry.” he reached up and wiped at her face. His hand was wet when he pulled it back. Lilith opened her mouth to tell him she was fine but no words came out. How was she supposed tell him that he had just given her something that she hadn’t had since she was 5 years old. Lilith was still wary of course but they didn’t know they were being watched so what they had said must have been genuine, right?
“No, no Peter they’re happy tears.” Was what came tumbling from her mouth after she could actually form words. She laughed as his look of horror and guilt melted into a smile so big it threatened to split his face in half.
“Boss says that there’s a meeting in the communal lounge that you two need to be at.” FRIDAY informed them and Peter glanced bashfully at the roof before helping Lilith up and leading her back into the elevator.
The doors opened to reveal a cleaned dining and kitchen area and all the Avengers now scattered in the living area. Lilith and Peter both founds seats before Tony stood and addressed the room
“So, we were all talking and we have decided that you since you are y’know homeless and all you should probably stay here and if you want to, get trained to be an Avenger.” Tony said gesturing wildly while Bruce mouthed RUN from the couch beside him.
“There will be rules though and for the time being you will have to stay in one of the guest rooms on one of our floors and unfortunately Peter’s floor is not available.” Steve said using an I’m Captain America tone of voice.
“’s only because I don’t have a floor. Just a room.” Peter grumbled and pouted while Tony rolled his eyes. Glancing around Lilith wondered which floor she would be put on and hoped the it would be Clint’s. The man didn’t seemed phased by her and had managed to make her laugh.
“Can I stay with Clint then. I-if that’s ok.” She blurted before she could stop herself, directing the last part to Clint who looked quite surprised to say the least. After at least a minute of him gaping like a fish Bucky answered.
“It’s fine you can stay on our floor if you want.” he moved to put an arm around Clint while he smiled at her.
“Well that was easier than I thought it would be. Right then, Clint and Bucky can show you to their floor and where you can put your stuff.” Tony stood clapping his hands together before looking at Lilith.
“Umm...this is all I have.” She whispered refusing to meet anyone’s eyes. Not wanting to see their pity.
“Alright then after you’ve been shown your room you, me, Bruce and Nat are going shopping.” Tony declared, without missing a beat, and before anyone could argue with him he dashed out of the room, Bruce following close behind. Lilith just stared dumbfounded at the door and quietly pulled an apple from her hoodie and began munching on it.