An eight year old Maria curled up on her bed, shuddering with soft tears as she heard her father's voice yelling and Pepper speaking sternly. She felt the bed dip beside her.

"Hey, it's alright."

"Go away," Maria replied, feeling fingers run through her hair.

"Those reporters don't know what they're talking about."

"I said go away, Theresa!"

It was quiet for a moment before Maria spoke again.

"… Are they right?"

"What? Of course they're not, sweetheart!" Theresa said, turning Maria to look at her.

"But-."

"But nothing," Theresa said "You're not any of those things that the reporters say you are."

"A whore?"

"You're not," Theresa said fiercely "You just love. And you love more than they will ever understand."

It was quiet as Maria processed what she'd said.

"Promise?" Maria asked.

"Promise," Theresa replied "Now, let's go get ice cream before they're rational enough to notice we left."

.

"And here we are again," Maria said, her usual cheerfulness replaced with annoyance.

"Welcome to my world," Tony replied, putting the flowers on the hospital bed Maria was in.

"One day, I'd like not to be targeted by maniacs."

"Maybe you should take some self-defense classes," Tony offered.

"Yes, because knowing how to kick a guy in the groin is really going to help against the people that can breathe fire." Tony raised an eyebrow at his daughter, who sighed and slumped in the bed "Sorry, I really hate being back here is all."

"I know you do," Tony said, squeezing his daughter's hand.

"Is Pepper coming?"

"In a bit. Why?" Tony asked.

"Want to talk to her about something. It's nothing."

"What is it?" Tony asked, frowning as Maria sighed.

"… I'm useless".

"You're not useless," Tony protested.

"Really? What about when Obadiah kidnapped me? Or during the whole Vanko situation? Or the Battle of New York? I can't do anything against the people who try to kill me. All I can do is play damsel in distress and I am sick of that," Maria said.

"I could build you a suit," Tony offered, Maria smiling slightly "Hot pink and purple."

"… I don't want a suit," Maria said, leaning back on the pillows "I just…"

"You just what?"

"I just don't want to feel weak anymore."

.

"Miss Stark?" Maria turned around and smiled, shaking the offered hand.

"Ms. Hill, it's nice to finally meet you. Pepper speaks highly of you. Quite an accomplishment, if I do say so myself," Maria said cheerfully.

"Thank you," Hill said, smiling slightly "Do you think I could speak to you for a moment?"

.

"What do you remember of the procedure that brought you back?" Hill asked, Maria biting her lip.

"Not much. I remember being… being stabbed. But then nothing until I woke up."

Hill studied Maria's face, looking for any signs of lying, but seemingly didn't detect any.

"How would you feel if I told you that you weren't the only one brought back that day?" Hill asked.

"Intrigued," Maria replied, smiling.

"Why?"

"Because I want to know why you're telling me now," Maria said "Why not before?"

"It was classified to hell and back before… But, now… He's looking for answers about the procedure, and wants to meet with you."

"… How?"

.

Maria was quiet as she waited for the person she was supposed to meet. She'd gotten a physical description, but that didn't mean much in this world of face changing masks, what was important was the code phrase.

"Shouldn't you have bodyguards?"

Maria smiled to herself as she looked up at the Asian woman who'd spoken.

"I'd say you're good enough."

"Come on."

.

"How far is it?" Maria asked.

"An hour."

"Can I ask what your name is, or is that against SHIELD protocol?" Maria asked, the woman's eyebrow raising slightly.

"SHIELD's gone."

"No it's not," Maria said matter-of-factly "No way did everyone roll over and give up with the Triskelion. HYDRA sure didn't."

It was quiet for a moment and the woman began to smirk slightly.

"Agent Melinda May."

"And shall I take a guess that like most SHIELD agents, you prefer be called by your last name?" Maria asked.

"You're sharp."

.

"This way," May said, leading Maria through the maze of the base.

"Where is everybody?" Maria asked.

"We decided it'd be for the best if they all stayed contained in one area; they don't know you're coming."

"Didn't want to frighten them?" Maria asked, semi-amused.

"Didn't want to frighten you."

.

"Here we are," May said, holding a door open for Maria, who took in the person in the room, opposite of her.

"I'm sure that you were going for shocking, but I kind of put it together when Hill told me someone else came back," Maria said, smiling a half smile.

"Nice to see you too, Miss Stark," Coulson said, smiling slightly.

"So, what's up?" Maria asked "How come neither of us are six feet under?"

"That's kind of a long story."

.

"Oh my god…" Maria said slowly "So… I have alien in me?"

"Seems so. And that's not all," Coulson said "And I need you to be honest with me." He pushed a button and the wall began to move, showing, underneath, a wall covered in strange carvings "Have you been doing these?"

Maria stood up slowly, reaching a running her fingers over the carvings.

"No."

"Miss Stark, you need-."

"I know. But, I haven't been doing anything like this," Maria said, looking over the wall before turning to Coulson "Is that good or bad?"

"Not sure," Coulson said "We have another person that was brought back; Skye. She doesn't do them either. I didn't even start to do them until I saw Garret's, and in hindsight, I probably shouldn't have shown them to you."

"No, it's okay," Maria smiled "Not to be an insensitive geek; but this is fascinating."

"You should stick around a few days, see if it triggers in you. Then, if it doesn't, you can go home."

"What, are you kidding?" Maria asked "You can't drop this bomb and tell me to go home. I'm helping."

"Maria, I understand your curiosity, but this isn't a game-."

"You think I don't realize that?" Maria asked "Phil, you weren't the only one that got stabbed… Let me help."

.

Fitz laughed slightly as Mack told another story, Hunter laughing far louder before cutting off.

"Um…"

"Hunter, Mack, Fitz," Coulson said "This is Maria Stark; she's going to be consulting with us for a little while."

"W-What…?" Fitz trailed off, Maria's lip quirking slightly as she held out her hand to him.

"Maria."

Fitz took it hesitantly, smiling slightly.

"N-nice to meet you. I'm Leo Fitz. A-an Engineer"

Maria shook the others' hands.

"What're you consulting on?" Hunter asked, Maria sending a quick look to Coulson.

"Just something personal I asked her to help me with. But, maybe other things if we need her to," Coulson covered smoothly.

"Have you met Skye and Simmons?" Mack asked, Maria shaking her head "They're probably the closest to your age on the base other than Turbo here."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Although, Skye might freak out on you," Mack cautioned.

"I'm used to it."

.

"Simmons, Skye, Bobbi?" Coulson called, the girls looking up from their discussion.

"Y-you're…" Skye said with wide eyes, Maria smiling slightly.

"Maria."

"She'll be consulting for us for a little while," Coulson explained, Bobbi smiling and shaking her hand.

"Good to have you on board. I'm Barbra Morse, but everyone calls me Bobbi."

"And I'm Jemma Simmons, a doctor of bio-chem," Simmons said, smiling excitedly at Maria.

"It's nice to meet you, Doctor Simmons," Maria said, smiling slightly as Jemma giggled in surprise.

"You can just call me Simmons, or Jemma."

"I was just showing Maria where she'll be staying," Coulson said.

"I can show her," Skye said quickly before wincing at her own excitement.

.

"So, you're a SHIELD agent," Maria said.

"Yeah," Skye said, smiling as she led Maria through the base.

"Am I allowed to ask how you became one?"

"I was a part of the Rising Tide," Skye said "The Rising Tide is-."

"I know what it is," Maria said, smiling encouragingly "They tried to shut down a Stark Fundraiser once."

"What happened?" Skye asked.

"The best way to describe it is when an old person falls over; you know you shouldn't laugh because there could be a real problem, but it's too funny not to," Maria replied, Skye laughing slightly.

"Can I ask who did the tripping?"

"Our AI JARVIS," Maria said, Skye's eyes widening.

"There actually is an AI?"

"Yep. He's sassy as all hell, too," Maria said, smiling slightly "He's been sort of a third parent to me."

"I can't even fathom your life," Skye said, Maria laughing.

"Probably not. It's something straight out of sci-fi," Maria agreed "Anyway, you joining SHIELD?"

"Right, well, I got on SHIELD's radar, but instead of locking me up, they recruited me."

"I've heard that story before," Maria mumbled.

"What?" Skye asked.

"Nothing. So, are you a field agent or do you just hack?"

"Both," Skye said, Maria giving a low whistle.

"Bad. Ass."

Skye will maintain to this day that she freak out on the inside at that.

.

She'd been with SHIELD for two months (or, in Tony's mind, Milan, Paris, and London) and she found she actually liked the people she worked with. Especially Skye.

She guessed it was because she was the type of person that she was used to being around; a snarky hacker with a heart of gold.

She swore she would never introduce her to Tony.

She liked Bobbi and Simmons as well, but she sometimes got the feeling that they were being a bit patronizing.

Mack was nice to her, but they never really talked.

Trip was awesome, making her feel comfortable right away with the team.

And May, she knew she could get along with May, if she let her. In a lot of ways, May reminded her of Natasha, but, unlike Natasha, May seemed much more on the fence about her. She wasn't entirely sure why; some of her thought maybe May thought she was a rich kid that would blow everything for them. But most of her thought that May was scared of the alien running through the veins of a girl that she didn't know.

She got it, so she didn't push May (also because she didn't want to die).

She got along with Hunter at first, he kind of reminded her of Clint, but then she reached for something; her sleeve lifting to reveal her right wrist.

.

"Damn, Maria is quite a little harlot."

Maria turned a deep scarlet before turning and leaving the room.

"Nice going, Hunter," Bobbi said.

"What? I wasn't being serious."

"So?" Skye asked "Maria has to deal with that stuff all the time. Don't you keep up on current events?"

"Yeah," Hunter said crossing his arms "I just don't read US weekly."

"Does this look like US to you?" Skye asked, pulling up a video of a Fox News correspondent saying that they felt their country was going downhill because of the amount of girls that look up to a future whore.

"Oh…" Hunter said slowly.

.

Maria sighed; she didn't want to go back to her room, knowing that they would try to find her there, so she instead found herself wandering the hallways of the base.

"A-Are you alright?" Maria looked up in surprise.

"Uh, yeah, fine," She reassured, Fitz looking at her doubtfully.

"You don't s-seem like it."

"It's nothing, just something Hunter said, I'm used to it," Maria shrugged.

"W-was it about your, um," Fitz snapped his fingers.

"Marks," Maria offered, Fitz nodding "Yeah."

"That's dumb," Fitz said firmly "H-having mu-mul- a lot of marks just means you, um." He frowned looking for a word "That you… Love! That you love more th-than most people."

"Thanks, Fitz," Maria smiled softly.

"D-Do you want some, um," Fitz snapped his fingers "A drink, hot one."

"Coffee?"

"No."

"Tea?"

"Yes! Would you like some tea?" Fitz asked, smiling.

"Yeah, sure," Maria said, smiling.

.

And so began her friendship with Fitz.

Later on, Hunter, as he looked for Maria to apologize too, would find them drinking tea and Fitz explaining how the cloaking devices worked.

.

"Do you have a thing about the sun?"

"What?" Maria demanded, looking over at Skye as she tapped away on her computer.

"It's just, you never wear anything other than high collared, long sleeves, and I was wondering if you've got a thing about getting tans."

"Um, no. I just like to cover my marks," Maria said, shrugging and looking away.

"Why don't you just wear bracelets then?" Skye asked.

"Aren't you supposed to be working?" Maria asked.

"I work better when I talk. Anyway, you could just wear those thick leather bracelets."

"I don't want too."

Why not? It must get pretty hot. You could always-."

"I've got pretty nasty fucking scar, okay?!" Maria snapped, making Skye jump and look at her with wide eyes.

Maria sighed and looked away for moment.

"Sorry," She said quietly.

"No, I shouldn't have pressed you about it," Skye replied, looking back at her computer "… It's on your chest?"

"Yeah."

"… Can I see it?"

"Seriously?" Maria demanded, giving her a look.

"I was just curious."

Maria sighed and looked to see if anyone was around before reaching to unbutton the top couple on her shirt, revealing the scar in the center of her chest.

"Does it hurt?" Skye asked after she looked at it for a moment.

"Not really," Maria shrugged.

"Why…"

"Why is it blue around the edges? No idea," Maria said before buttoning her shirt back up "All I know is that if I wear revealing clothing, I'll get a bunch of false support and pity from the media and I really don't feel like dealing with that."

Maria sat back own and returned to what she was doing.

"Thanks."

"What?" Maria asked, looking up at Skye.

"Thanks for showing me," She said.

"Yeah, sure," Maria replied, smiling slightly.

.

How do I keep getting myself into these situations?

Maria sighed to herself as she followed Trip through the underground city.

"Help Phil discover what the alien blood is, they said. You'll be safe, they said," Maria grumbled, Trip's lip twitching.

"Join SHIELD, they said. It'll be fun, they said," Trip replied, Maria giggling slightly before they noticed the doors closing on the temple.

"Skye!" Maria yelled as they both jumped inside, the doors slamming shut behind them.

"What're you two doing here?" Skye demanded.

"Came to get you," Trip replied.

Maria smiled at her friend, trying to be reassuring before the obelisk began to open, showing crystals inside.

"How do we stop it?" Trip asked.

"I don't think we can," Skye replied.

"What happens now?" Trip asked again once it stopped opening.

"Something beautiful," Raina replied.

Then, a shockwave flew out from the obelisk, hitting the four hard in the chest and sending them stumbling back.

It was quiet for a moment,

Raina smiled in anticipation of her gift before looking down in surprise as stone began to crawl up her arms, but she took reassurance as it began on Skye as well.

And Maria.

Well, that was interesting.

Maria stumbled back as it continued to cover her, feeling panic overtake her as it covered her eyes.

"TRIP!" Skye yelled before it covered her completely, like Raina and Maria.

Trip debated for a moment before going and kicking the obelisk off of the stand; it exploding and sending him hurtling backwards.

"NO!"

Trip looked down, finding shrapnel in his chest before the stone began to crawl over his body; making him look just like the others'.

Until the others' started to crack away.

It started with small bits until Skye was able to break out of it and look over at her dead friend as he began to crumble like the rest of the temple under the tremors.

Whereas, Maria broke out of it, not seeming much different, but knowing the difference.

She was strong.