I just wanted one thing.

Sleep.

Hydra was doing nothing but being repetitive of their actions. They wanted to take down what was left of S.H.I.E.L.D and take over the world. Every day, it was always some new tactic being brought up and shot down. I didn't work in the super top secret department, so I didn't know of the hush hush projects the director had set in store. That was the worst thing. I needed to know those kinds of things. It's the only way to get great information and be one step ahead of the enemy.

My head was pounding and my eyes hurt. I had been staring at a computer screen all day running through the system and its files, making sure that I had remembered every exact thing on them. Plus, I actually had to research some information for the director, which I still hadn't met. Not until next week... My boss' words swam through my mind. I glanced occasionally at the rear view mirror and would catch a peek of myself. Half of my brown hair was up in a ponytail, while the rest flowed down to my shoulders like a waterfall. My tired hazel eyes were red and nearly dry. I pushed up my glasses and kept my eyes on the road.

My cell phone started ringing as I sped down the road. I clicked on my Bluetooth to answer the call, and when it didn't work, I realized it was my burner phone that was ringing. I dug through my purse while keeping my eyes glued to the street in front of me and answered the phone when I had found it. "Hello?"

"Hey...uh, I'm on my way home. We just got done with a mission and we have a notebook that I'm probably going to need help deciphering. There are codes and secret messages everywhere," Peter spoke. His voice sounded stressed and exhausted.

I scratched the back of my head and scrunched my nose. Guess I'm not getting rest any time soon. I thought. "Yeah, I'll head over there," I made sure there was no one else driving down the street before turning my car around as my tires screeched against the gravel. "How was the mission? Anyone injured?"

"Steve got knocked in the jaw and I was nearly shot, but we're all good." Peter hesitated and huffed before asking, "What's Project Animation?"

The wheels in my head turned as I searched through my memory. I squinted my eyes to see better. "That's the super top secret project they're working on. If I get onto the director's good side, I'll get in on it."

Steve's voice erupted from the background, "It sounds like more of a children's film than an evil plot."

I laughed at his silly remark and he became silent after he realized I could hear him. "So Rogers does have a sense of humor. Shocking."

Peter chuckled and Steve whispered in the background. "Well, it looks like we can have most of the information if we just study it," Peter's voice echoed from the phone.

I pulled up to the parking lot. "I'm coming up right now..." I hung up and got out of my car. I put my keys in my small purse and made sure to put my phone right next to it. All I could hear in the garage was the clicking of my high heels against the pavement and my quick breathing. I hope I don't stay up all night again...I haven't slept for over twenty-four hours... I thought to myself.

A hand grazed my shoulder, which I immediately reacted to. I aimed to punch the culprit, but they caught my hand. Peter raised his eyebrows, which caused his forehead to crinkle. His eyes screamed worried as he let go of my fist. "You're a bit on the edge, don't you think?"

I sighed and rubbed my forehead softly, "I'm sorry. I haven't slept a lot lately..."

"Why not?"

My eyes glazed over before I looked up at him. "Too much work to do...Nightmares...My powers...Sometimes I wake up burning up like I'm about to burst into flames..." After I realized he was staring at me intently, I chuckled lightly, "I'm fine, Peter."

Steve walked over to us and handed me the notebook. His jaw was red and purple, indicating he was going to develop a bruise there. His suit was stained in blood in a few places and cut up around his sleeves. "Here. You should take a look at this."

"Thanks." I followed them to the fire escape of the apartment building and flipped through the pages. There were a few symbols that I recognized, but they really didn't mean anything special. Codes were scribbled across some pages while others contained some scientific studies of the project. They used technical terms for everything, so upon first reading it, I was extremely confused.

"Peter, when are we going to see the rest of the group again?" Steve questioned, his voice laced with a sense of longing. His eyes glanced around as they climbed up the metal staircase. We were in the middle of an alley, so no one would see us.

Peter thought for a moment and spoke, "Soon. I heard we have another lead on where the enemy might be. We're going to look sometime next week. We have enough time to rest up until then."

"I don't want to rest. I just want to find him and stop his plans once and for all. But how do we even know who it is? His name has been kept secret, so we shouldn't have any leads at all."

"It's the thought that counts. If we catch the right guy, it will all end soon," Peter remarked as he opened the window to their apartment.

Steve stepped through and stuck out his hand. I looked at him curiously and took his hand to be assisted inside. I was shocked to say the least. "That's extremely nice of you, Rogers."

"Don't get used to it," he shot back in a playful tone. "I might be a gentleman, but that doesn't mean that I want you here."

Once Peter came through the window, he shut it behind him and went immediately to the kitchen. "You want anything?"

"Ice," I replied as I plopped down on the couch. I skimmed the other pages and found a username imprinted on the side. I immediately took a picture of it before asking, "Hey, are you good at hacking?"

Peter's voice echoed from the kitchen, "Me? No. Natasha and Jarvis can usually hack things way better than anyone else on the team. Why?"

"I have a username here. I can't log into it at work because then they'll know I'm working against them. It might help to look into it. I'm sure there's a lot more information on it than there is in this notebook." I glanced up to see Steve cleaning his dirty red, white, and blue vibranium alloy shield. Peter came over and handed me the little bag of ice I asked for. I set the notebook down on the coffee table and went over to Steve.

He gazed up at me with his blazingly blue eyes and his eyebrows raised. "Can I help you?" Steve went into hostile mode for a second and the expression on his face showed that he didn't know whether to trust me or throw me across the room.

I held up the little bag of ice so he could see and then set it gently against his skin. He flinched at the coldness it brought, but calmed down. I grinned slightly, "I think this will help. You look pretty beat up." I let him grab a hold of the bag and I went to sit back down on the couch. In my mind, I patted myself on the back. If I'm nice, then there won't be a reason to have Rogers tell the rest of the Avengers I am bad news. Then, I won't get banned from seeing my cousin. Problem solved. I watched as Peter skimmed the notebook and stopped in a few places.

Rogers turned his head slightly to the right and his face became a blank slate. "Do you hear that?" Peter and I halted our actions and proceeded to listen to whatever Rogers was talking about. He set the notebook down on the table. The room's atmosphere thickened with tension. All that could be heard was the smallest breaths coming from all three of us. "The ticking sound?"

All three of us got up and lightly walked around. We listened in on where the sound was originating from and picked up on it in an instant. Peter glanced behind the bookshelf against the wall. His eyes widened and yelled, "Run!" Peter started out running, but Steve knew none of them would make it. He pulled him against the wall and covered them with his shield to the best of his ability. I knew that wouldn't protect both of them from the debris about to fly everywhere in chunks. My skin transformed into diamond and I bent over them to shield them.

The bomb went off in the next few seconds, breaking up objects in front of it to make chunks of it fly everywhere. The glass from the windows shattered and a sudden heat encumbered the room. I could feel the flames dancing on my skin, threatening to burn me, but not actually following through with its plan. It was the heat of a thousand suns, like nothing anyone has had the cruel punishment of enduring. I cried out in pain, but I had to hold my position, otherwise they'd be in danger. The couch flew against the wall and light bulbs broke. The little things in the bombs path nearly disintegrated from the amount of heat and how close it was to the blast radius. Objects reflected off of Steve's shield, clinking against the alloy every time in sharper tones.

The explosion came and went in a matter of seconds. When I was sure that the blast was over, I fell backwards in shock. I changed back to normal and felt the heat wave wash over me. The feeling got ten times worse and I was suddenly dizzy. My eyes glanced around at what I could, but all I could make out was smoke, ash, black smears everywhere, furniture on fire, and the occasional pieces of glass on the floor. Everything else was a big blur to me.

"Lilly!" Peter cried and crouched over me. "You saved us..."

I shut my eyes and tried to inhale. This type of heat seemed so familiar...That was when I remembered everything that happened that dreadful night. I began to panic in my already disoriented state, which only caused me to nearly faint. I inhaled softly, trying to get a normal intake of air. "You have to go. Now." I coughed when the black smoke began to seep into my lungs. "If Hydra knows you two are still alive, they'll come back to finish the job."

"I'm not leaving without you," Peter went to touch my arm to help me up.

I jerked away from him immediately, "Don't...I might burn you."

Steve coughed and wiped some of the ash off of his face. He turned to us and got to his feet. "We have to get out of here."

I pulled myself up using the table next to me and propped myself up. I closed my eyes for a second and tried to think. "Pull the fire alarm. That way the people will be safe and the agents will never find you in the crowd. They'll just assume you guys died." I opened my eyes to the world still spinning slightly. Peter hovered around me with worry in his eyes. "I'll be right behind you."

Steve disappeared into his room and came out with a blue duffel bag. He then ran out of the room to do what he was told. Peter pulled out his cell phone and called someone. "We've been compromised." After that, he hung up. He ran to his room and grabbed a black bag and his laptop before rushing out.

I stumbled out of the room wearily. The alarm went off, making people rush out of their rooms. A wave of citizens hit me and nearly sprinted passed me in a disorderly fashion. It was all a blur of colors that passed by me; I became disoriented. Focus. Focus. I thought. Wait...The notebook... I turned to go back, but I was pushed into another apartment before I could do anything. My body met the floor as I skidded across the room. I yelped out in pain and tried to see who my attacker was. The room was pitch black and cold, so I couldn't see a damn thing, but I noticed someone advancing towards me. The heat that radiated off of their body grazed my skin and I prepared for the worst.

"What the hell are you doing here with the enemy?" The man hissed. He grabbed me by the shirt and held me up against the wall.

An ache soared up my back and on the back of my neck. I groaned a bit and realized my glasses were crooked. "I was trying to assassinate them before the bomb went off. I knew the bomb wouldn't kill them." I adjusted my glasses and let him get his head start before I beat him. I snorted, "How stupid can you be? You were trying to blow up Captain America and Spiderman. You're ridiculous."

He grunted and slammed me against the wall again. "That's a bunch of bull shit."

My head hurt with an intensity higher than the fire had. I grinned slightly and punched him. He punched me back and kicked me in the leg. I elbowed him in the shoulder and he let me go. I dropped to the floor and stated, "This fight is a bunch of bull shit. Do you know what I can do?"

The guy caught his breath before trying to tackle me. "What? Fight?"

"Yeah, best fighter at the company," I gloated. I threw my fist into his gut and stepped back to avoid his swinging arm. I nearly fell back on whatever was behind me, and I fumbled around in the dark to find a safe spot. He doesn't know what I am capable of. I thought and listened to his footsteps. I heard him grunt as he swung his arm, so I caught it and bent it backwards. He cried out in pain and I threw him onto the floor.

"Lilly?" Peter called from outside. I punched the guy, knocking him into a lamp, which in turn fell to the floor with a loud thud. He opened the door and turned on the light to see us fighting. I tackled the man and punched him in the jaw. "Well, you've been busy," Peter remarked under his breath.

Another agent came up behind him and made him drop to the ground. Peter let go of his things and swung at the guy, putting them into a fight. Heat arose from the other room and soon, smoke made its way into the apartment. The agent pushed me up against the wall and grabbed my throat. Weary and dizzy, I set my hand on his shoulder. His hands wrung my neck out like a wet towel, but I had to do something quick. I used my powers to freeze what I touched. The ice went from his shoulder, up his neck and up to his brain. He screamed out of shock, and in seconds, his whole head froze over in ice. I pushed him down to the ground; his head smashed into a million tiny pieces all across the room. Peter noticed what happened and quickly hit the other guy's jugular, rendering him breathless. He then got the guy into a headlock and held him there until he passed out.

I held myself up using the windowsill and coughed for a second. Peter straightened up after grabbing all of his belongings again. His brown eyes glanced at the man's leftover head and back at me. He was contemplating something, but I couldn't tell what. He opened the window I was up against and poked his head outside. "Shit...The fire escape must have broken during the explosion." He huffed and turned to me. "I'll help you down. No one is around the back anyway."

"You mean use your powers? Peter, the building is on fire."

He pursed his lips, "Do you have any better ideas?" When the silence continued, he stated, "Exactly. Hold onto me, alright?"

I nodded and slung my arms around his shoulder after he was halfway out of the window. "Don't drop me..." I wheezed.

"I won't, promise." He latched onto the building using his spider powers and started to climb down. Another explosion blew up a window next to us, and I ducked my head into his chest.

He lost his grip and I almost screamed as I fell. He dropped down, grabbing my hand as he latched back onto the wall. My arm almost burst out of the socket and I glared up at him. "What happened, Amazing Spider-Man? I thought you wouldn't drop me."

He set his feet on the ground. He helped me stand straight before answering, "That was an accident." He gazed up at the building and set his hand on my back. "I caught you, though," he remarked with a small smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Spider-Man saves the day. Whatever," I joke around and push him slightly.

"I'll drive you home." Peter walked me to my car and I shook my head.

"No. I can't have you in my car. What if I'm stopped by more of them? They'll murder you, Peter." I got my keys out and unlocked my car door. There was some smoke on my glasses, so I wiped it off with part of my shirt. I knew he was staring at me, but there was no way I would let him anywhere near my apartment when I was always being watched.

Rogers spoke up from the passenger side of their car, "What's taking you so long? We need to get out of here, Peter."

"Yeah, Steve, I know," he put his hand out to Steve, indicating him to wait. "Lil-"

I cut him off, "Peter, you need to listen to me." I put my hands on his face and made sure he was looking right into my eyes so he knew I wasn't messing around. "I need to protect you. I couldn't protect my parents, so let me protect what little family I have left. Please..."

He thought for a moment before sighing a deep sigh. "Fine." He hugged me tightly before made his way to the drivers side of his car. "I will call you when we're safe."

"Peter," I called out to him. He hesitated before getting into his car. "We're never safe." I took in how my cousin looked. Exhausted. Broken. Things would get better soon. "I'm going to see the director in a few days. If I don't call you...You know I've been captured. Don't come looking for me. I could be dead."

Peter stopped and stared at me with hard eyes, trying to figure what I said out. "Fine. I won't look for you." He got into the car and quickly drove off.

My eyes glazed over with fresh tears. I never thought I would hear those words from my closest cousin in the world. I knew what I said and I meant it. Either he lied to me or he had a trick up his sleeve. Or just maybe...he was telling the truth...